Definition of Little’s Law

Front of a vocabulary card for the term Little's Law

Little’s Law is a description of the Mathematical relationship between work in progress, lead time, and throughput.

Back of a vocabulary card for the term Little's Law

Pronunciation Spelling

LI-tuhlz LAW

Example Sentence

Enforcing the assumptions of Little’s Law led the team to improve their predictability.

Significance

Agile practitioners benefit from understanding “Little’s Law” as it’s a mathematical formula used to analyze flow and predict system behavior. It assists in managing work in progress and optimizing process performance.

Additional Resources

  1. Stable Systems: Little’s Law and Kanban | getnave.com | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.
  2. The Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams | scrum.org | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.
  3. Drunk Agile: Episode 14 - Assumptions of Little’s Law | Drunk Agile | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.
  4. Drunk Agile: Episode 15 - Little’s Law Myths | Drunk Agile | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.
  5. Little’s Law for Professional Scrum with Kanban | scrum.org | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.
  6. Conway Is Killing You and Little Is Helping | hackernoon.org | Accessed 02 Jan. 2024.