LexiconExpansion
Little's Law
قانون ليتل
Definition
Little's Law is the relationship stating that the average number of people in a queue equals their arrival rate multiplied by the average time each spends in it. John Little proved it in 1961; in a branch it shows why a campaign, which raises only arrivals, lengthens the drive-thru line unless the kitchen shortens the time in it.
In plain words
A queue grows when more people arrive or each takes longer; a campaign only adds arrivals.
Saudi usage
- At Monsha'at: نظرية الاصطفاف (opens in a new tab) Accessed
Also searched as
- L = λW
- queueing formula
- queue length formula
- قانون ليتل
Formula
L = λ × W
Variables
- L
- average number in the queue
- λ
- arrival rate
- W
- average time each spends in it
Example
Illustrative example · hypothetical figures
Illustrative arithmetic from Episode 3: 2 cars arrive every minute and each spends 10 minutes from joining the lane to leaving the window, so there are 20 cars in the lane on average.
Origin and credit
The concept comes from John D. C. Little. What the series adds is the application to Saudi multi-branch groups and the decision rule.
Original source
Where it is used
In the Doctrine and the Playbook
In Beneath Marketing
Related terms
Try the Branch Gate on your numbers
How to cite this definition
Alhajj, S. (2026). “Little's Law”. In The Revenue Engineering Lexicon, version 1.0. Riyadh. https://seiflden.com/lexicon/littles-law/
For the concept itself, cite the original: John D. C. Little, “A Proof for the Queuing Formula: L = λW”, Operations Research 9(3), 1961, pp. 383–387.