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Delivery Management

Little's Law (explained with tacos)

Learn about the simple and elegant formula known as Little’s Law and apply it to a vast range of business management and team leadership scenarios.

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Toggl Track
Oct 08, 2018 • 4 min read
4.38 (21)
Delivery Management
Production Systems
Cycle Time
Lead Time
Throughput

Summary

Businesses have applied Little's law across their models to calculate the capacity of their systems. However, what is really Little's law? This article widely explains Little's Law, why it's important for businesses, and how it relates and differs from other "throughput" measuring concepts like Kenban strategies and Cycle Time.

Takeaways

  • Little law is applied across vast business models and has proved insightful to business leaders.
  • Little’s Law states that the long-term average number of customers in a stable system L is equal to the long-term average effective arrival rate, λ, multiplied by the average time a customer spends in the system, W.
  • The power of Little's law lies not just in the simplicity of what it does, but what it doesn't do.

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