What the calculation means
Average time = average WIP ÷ throughput. The working-day display multiplies the result in weeks by the selected working days. Use consistent item definitions, system boundaries and observation windows. The relationship is commonly called Little’s Law.
Check the assumptions first
- Use averages from a reasonably stable system; a growing queue is a warning.
- Count the same class of work at entry, while active and at completion.
- Keep blocked work inside WIP if it remains within the chosen boundary.
- Do not mix story points with a count of delivered items.
- This is an average, not a percentile, a service-level expectation or an individual promise.
A change is a hypothesis
Changing WIP while holding throughput fixed illustrates the model. A real change may also affect throughput, demand or quality. Observe the result rather than presenting the calculator as evidence of an improvement.
Reference and next step
MIT OpenCourseWare operations-management lecture on queueing; The Kanban Guide for flow metric definitions. Apply the WIP-limit experiment with your own observations.