Feeling swamped with features in your software development process? Little’s Law can help you make sense of the chaos. Think of it like this: your backlog is a queue for new features, just like a line of customers waiting for service.
Little’s Law says the average number of features waiting (backlog size) is equal to the rate new features enter the queue (added to backlog) multiplied by the average time each feature spends waiting (development time).
In simpler terms, if your backlog is overflowing, it’s because either too many new features are being added too quickly, or features are taking too long to develop and release.
Here’s the good news: Little’s Law empowers you to tackle the backlog from two angles. You can either:
- Reduce the inflow: Streamline your intake process. Prioritize ruthlessly and limit the number of new features entering development at once.
- Improve the flow: Focus on development efficiency. This could involve using better project management tools, identifying bottlenecks that slow progress, or implementing techniques to streamline workflows and get features out the door faster.
By understanding Little’s Law, your team can make data-driven decisions to optimize your workflow, keep the feature queue moving smoothly, and ultimately, deliver features to your users faster.
Side note: Little’s law is inherently implemented in the Kanban flow.
Try this: instead of working several tasks parallel, the team could on the delivery of one task at a time and then start the next one. By doing this, the customer ontains their feature successively and all of them at the end.
Albrecht Günther 