What’s on the Little's Law poster
The rule, 3 worked examples, and the mistake everyone makes.
- Work in progress equals throughput multiplied by flow time.
- WIP = throughput × flow time
- 50 items in process, 10 finished per hour = Flow time is 5 hours
- Halve WIP at the same throughput = Flow time halves
- Applies to = Queues, factories, software teams
- Common mistake: Adding more work in progress to go faster → Limiting WIP to cut flow…
It holds for any stable system, whatever the arrival pattern. That generality is why it is used everywhere.
Questions about the Little's Law poster
- What’s on the Little's Law poster?
- The rule, 3 worked examples, and the mistake everyone makes. Work in progress equals throughput multiplied by flow time.; WIP = throughput × flow time; 50 items in process, 10 finished per hour = Flow time is 5 hours; Halve WIP at the same throughput = Flow time halves; Applies to = Queues, factories, software teams; Common mistake: Adding more work in progress to go faster → Limiting WIP to cut flow…. It holds for any stable system, whatever the arrival pattern. That generality is why it is used everywhere.
- Who is the Little's Law poster for?
- Little's Law belongs to the Business & Management section rather than to a school year, because business is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning operations can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Little's Law poster?
- Three variables, one equation. Fix any two and the third is determined. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Little's Law belongs on the wall where that business work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Little's Law?
- Agile & Waterfall, Capacity and Critical Path sit alongside Little's Law in the Business & Management section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Agile & WaterfallCapacityCritical Path
- Is the Little's Law poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Little's Law downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Business & Management section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Little's Law poster print at?
- Little's Law is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Little's Law loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Little's Law on the same wall.
Browse every Business & Management poster, or start from the full catalogue.