Queuing Theory Articles

All processes are subject to some variability.  More common explanations of variability describes variability as either Common-Cause or Special-Cause.  The former is easiest explained as expected variation within a process that is produced by the process itself.  The latter, on the hand, is variation that is produced by the process by is assignable to some [...]

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This weekend my wife and I waited in the cold, wet, Utah winter weather to go through a haunted house — The Castle of Chaos.  In the course of trying to enjoy an annual American holiday tradition — Halloween — I received another lesson on the Psychology of Queueing instead. Before I tell my story, [...]

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More and more gas stations have television displays that play commercials and T.V. shows as you pump gas.  While the primary motivation for these firms is to increase brand awareness through commercialization and penetration, this entertain-while-you-wait is also a manifestation of Queueing Psychology. There are a few key behavioral responses or reactions to queues, or [...]

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I went to California earlier this week for business.  I rode in an elevator and that experience reminded me of a simple, yet effective way to aleviate the negative feelings that accompany waiting, or the Psychology of Queueing — mirrors in an elevator. There are a few key behavioral responses or reactions to queues, or [...]

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I found this nice case study of Queueing Theory applied to the problems of terrorism.  In general, the problems of terrorism can be summed-up as a constraint problem, where there is more demand for a thing than there is suppy to meet it.  Couple that dynamic with the fact that people’s lives are at stake, [...]

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There is a predisposition for firms and people to think that multi-tasking is heroic, leads to more productive employees and, is generally, becoming more and more the accepted norm in business. All of this would be nice, except that multi-tasking actually leads to lower productivity and lower morale. To belabor my point, here is a [...]

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In a previous article, I discussed the Psychology of Queueing and my experience at Disneyland while on vacation with my family.   In this post, I want to briefly talk about FastPass at Disneyland, in the context of Queueing. FastPass is a feature that Disneyland offers its customers, wherein a customer is invited to obtain a [...]

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