Productivity & Efficiency
These principles explain how time, effort, and workflow efficiency impact Agile teams. Understanding them helps optimize velocity, predictability, and sustainable delivery.
| Concept | Agile Relevance | Usage in Agile |
|---|---|---|
| Parkinson's Law | "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." | Supports timeboxing techniques like Sprints in Scrum, Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits in Kanban, and setting deadlines for MVP releases. |
| Hofstadter's Law | "It always takes longer than expected, even when taking Hofstadter's Law into account." | Encourages Agile teams to use buffer time in Sprint planning, set realistic expectations, and embrace uncertainty in estimates. |
| Little's Law | The average number of items in a system equals their arrival rate multiplied by their average time in the system. | Used in Kanban flow optimization, WIP limits, and throughput tracking to increase efficiency. |
| Boehm's Curve | The cost of fixing defects rises exponentially the later they are found in the development cycle. | Reinforces Shift-Left Testing, Test-Driven Development (TDD), Continuous Integration (CI), and automated testing to catch issues early. |
| Kingman's Formula | Queueing delays increase exponentially as system utilization approaches 100%. | Encourages Agile teams to control Work-In-Progress (WIP), maintain buffer capacity, and reduce variability to improve lead time predictability. |