🎯 Multitasking Name Game

Browser version of the classic simulation by Henrik Kniberg (Crisp, 2011) — shows how costly it is to run many tasks in parallel.

What's coming

You play the Developer — your job is to write the names of 5 customers.
You'll play the game twice, under two different corporate policies.
After both rounds, you'll see a side-by-side comparison.

Time: ~5 minutes. Best played on a physical keyboard.

Step 1: Estimation

Before we begin, a quick gut check:

⏱️ How many seconds does it take to write one name?

⏱️ How many seconds does it take to write five names?

Remember these numbers — we'll come back to them after the game.

Round 1: Multitasking

How it works

All 5 customers place their orders at the same time.
So that nobody waits, you write one letter at a time, rotating between customers.
First letter for customer 1, then first letter for customer 2, and so on. After the fifth, you go back to the first and write the second letter.
The active customer's card is highlighted in orange. Press the letter shown in the orange box.
When a name is complete — the card is delivered, time logged.

Type on your keyboard. Wrong letters are ignored.

Policy: Never keep a customer waiting

Delivered: 0 / 5

00.0s

Type the letter highlighted in orange on the active card.

Round 1: Results

Your estimate

—

5 names

Total time

—

5 names (actual)

Median delivery

—

per name

🤔 Hmm…

Let's check which factors caused this. The killer question: did any of these really cause the delay?

Length of name? — no
Complex spelling? — no
Bad tools? — no
Lousy Developer? — probably not 😉
MULTITASKING. ✓

Let's see what happens when we change the corporate policy.

Round 2: Limit WIP

How it works

Only one card is active — you type the entire name from start to finish.
After delivery — the next card automatically becomes active.
The customer's project starts only when the Developer pulls it (start time logged).
Per-customer metric: project length = delivery time − start time.

Customer #5 has to wait the longest. Does it bother them?

Policy: WIP Limit = 1

Delivered: 0 / 5

00.0s

Type the entire name of the active customer. When you're done — it'll automatically jump to the next.

🎉 Comparison

Estimate

—

5 names

Round 1 — total

—

median per name: —

Round 2 — total

—

median per name: —

📊 Delivery chart (Gantt)

Each bar = length of one customer's project. Shorter is better for the customer.

Round 2 — WIP Limit:

💡 What we learned

"Start early = finish early" — busted. In Round 2 almost every project started later and finished earlier.
Little's Law — doing X things in parallel makes each one take ~X times longer. Even with zero context-switching cost.
Quality: a bug in Round 1 wouldn't surface until near the end; in Round 2 — right after the first delivery.
Forecasting: halfway through Round 1 you have no idea when anything will be done. Halfway through Round 2 you've already delivered 2–3 cards and can predict the rest.
WIP limit doesn't have to be 1. Any limit is better than none. In practice: 1 main project + 1 background (when the main one is blocked).

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🎯 Multitasking Name Game

What's coming

Step 1: Estimation

Round 1: Multitasking

📋 Corporate Policy

How it works

Round 1: Results

🤔 Hmm…

Round 2: Limit WIP

📋 New Corporate Policy

How it works

🎉 Comparison

📊 Delivery chart (Gantt)

💡 What we learned

🎯 Multitasking Name Game

What's coming

Step 1: Estimation

Round 1: Multitasking

📋 Corporate Policy

How it works

Round 1: Results

🤔 Hmm…

Round 2: Limit WIP

📋 New Corporate Policy

How it works

🎉 Comparison

📊 Delivery chart (Gantt)

💡 What we learned

📖 How to play — Multitasking Name Game

What is it?

The two rounds

Controls

What you'll see