Arkadiusz Kondas • 4/15/2026

What hospital ERs know about code reviews that your team doesn't

This article applies queueing theory, originally developed for hospital emergency rooms, to software engineering code review queues. It explains how PR queues face similar problems to ERs—variable arrival rates, limited reviewer capacity, and urgent items—and introduces Kingman's formula to predict wait times. The article argues that most engineering teams ignore these mathematical principles, leading to slow code reviews and reduced velocity. It covers key metrics like TTFR, cycle time, and utilization factor, showing how understanding these equations can improve review flow and team productivity.

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#pull requests #code review #Engineering Metrics