_The easiest move for a manager is to say yes. Often, it's also the costliest._ --- ## The hidden queue In knowledge work, queues don't sit on factory floors. They pile up invisibly — in inboxes, contracts awaiting review, features half-built. Because they're unseen, managers underestimate them. A request lands, a project starts, a colleague asks for help. Saying yes feels incremental. Surely one more won't make much difference. But it does. Each extra item lengthens the wait for everything else. Delivery slows, stress builds, and costs ripple out to customers. The "cheap" yes isn't cheap at all. --- ## The maths Little's Law makes the relationship concrete: > Lead time = Work in Process ÷ Throughput Think of a coffee shop. If one barista serves 30 drinks an hour and there are 15 drinks in the queue, the average wait is 30 minutes. Add five more orders without extra capacity and the average wait jumps to 40 minutes. The extra yes doesn't just delay those five customers — it slows everyone. Knowledge work is no different. Each new commitment stretches every other delivery already in progress. --- ## Where the cost lands The cost spreads across layers. Individuals work longer hours and carry hidden stress. Teams chase local priorities and firefight instead of improving flow. The business sees customers waiting longer, sales cycles dragging, reputation eroding. These costs rarely trace back to the yes that triggered them. They surface later, detached, as if from nowhere. --- ## A different instinct Perfect WIP control is rare. Priorities shift, resources are constrained, politics intrude. But discipline starts with a habit: before saying yes, ask what it does to the queue. Is this the piece of work worth slowing everything else for? Making WIP visible — contracts in review, invoices in flight, features in development — gives managers and teams a shared language for trade-offs. Suddenly the hidden queue is no longer invisible. The maths meets lived reality. At heart, this is about leadership discipline. A generous yes feels easy in the moment. The harder move — and often the wiser one — is knowing when that yes is too expensive. --- **Related:** [[Notes/Stop Starting Start Finishing|Stop Starting, Start Finishing]] · [[Notes/Variety Kills Flow|Variety Kills Flow]] **See also:** [[Ideas/Little's Law|Little's Law]]