Interactive Simulator

Why Your Teams Can't Ship: The Queue Theory Simulator

See how work really flows (or doesn't) through your organization

Ever wonder why that “quick feature” took 6 sprints? Watch as work items pile up, teams get overwhelmed, and queues grow beyond control. This real-time simulation reveals the hidden dynamics that kill your delivery predictability.

Note: This simulator is an interactive illustration meant to visualize queue dynamics and flow constraints that exist in all multi-team systems. This is not meant to be a decision making framework or a prescriptive model. It's a conceptual visualization to help you see the invisible queues and bottlenecks in your organization.

For context-specific modeling of your teams' operational dynamics, visit napkin-ops.com. There you can make napkin analysis of regular operational scenarios factoring in queue theory, WIP limits, and probability distributions.

Use realistic organizational presets with what-if scenarios, or create custom configurations

Quick Start Presets

Select a preset to quickly populate the calculator with example scenarios. You can then fine-tune the parameters.

What-If Interventions ▼

Explore realistic interventions available for your current organizational context. These change based on your selected preset and current bottlenecks.

The interventions listed above are a mix of common reactions, and theoretical advice.

Team Dependencies & Flow Animation

1.0x

Queue Overflow Statistics

Run the flow animation to see queue overflow statistics.

1. Team Configuration

3

Teams will be auto-generated as Team 1, Team 2, etc. with randomized sizes (4-8 people)

How well do teams meet sprint goals?

What is the team's general experience?

Work Mix

50%

Strategic initiatives, major projects

20%

Roadmap features, product backlog items

20%

Bug fixes, tech debt, incidents

10%

Standups, planning, reviews

2. Project Parameters

1

Active projects running in parallel

Medium

Small: 1-2 teams | Medium: 2-3 teams | Large: 3+ teams | XL: 5+ teams

25%

How much scope creep vs completion - 0% = projects shrink, 50% = balanced, 100% = high growth

4. Project Configuration

Advanced Override: Configure specific projects with custom parameters. Auto-generated from Project Parameters sliders when not specified.

5. Custom Team Configuration

Advanced Override: Customize team names and sizes here. When configured, these override the auto-generated teams from Section 1.

6. Workflow Configuration

Advanced Override: Define how work flows between teams. Auto-generated workflows are created from your project parameters.

7. Team Dependencies Matrix

Advanced Override: Manually configure team dependencies. Auto-generated from the "Team Dependencies" slider in Section 3.

3. Queue Noise Parameters

These parameters add realistic organizational noise that affects queue dynamics and flow predictability.

Medium

Queue Impact: High switching increases arrival variability and reduces service rates

Some

Queue Impact: Auto-generates dependencies in the dependency matrix (can be customized in Advanced Settings)

Medium

Queue Impact: Unstable requirements cause rework, effectively reducing service capacity

Occasional

Queue Impact: Frequent priority changes disrupt queue ordering and increase cycle time variance

Some

Queue Impact: External deps create random blocking events, increasing queue variance

Team Dependencies & Flow Animation

1.0x

Queue Overflow Statistics

Run the flow animation to see queue overflow statistics.

Want to optimize flow in your organization?

Discover how queue theory and flow principles can transform your team's delivery. Get context-specific modeling of your teams' operational dynamics.

Explore napkin-ops.com