Okay, so you just read “The Phoenix Project” and you are super curious about this nifty little chart:
But you’re wondering, how exactly does this work? Why does “wait time” rise so rapidly? And what does this really mean for my software development shop?
Start your journey with this handy little article that breaks down the formula and provides further links to solid examples.
Looking for the bottom line? If the work items that enter your software development queue have any variability at all (which they always do) then driving high utilization for your team is actually compromising your ability to respond to change. This applies at a team level, but also at the level of individual contributors who may be key bottlenecks in your process (e.g. your tech lead, PM, or QA folks).