School-bus-routing stories sit in a huge ready pile, and flow time keeps growing. The Product Owner wants bigger estimates to cover the wait. What should the Scrum Master/Team Coach coach?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A line of buses at one stop does not get shorter because you add minutes to the timetable; the kids still wait. Shrink the pile of work sitting in ready, and flow time drops. Padding estimates just writes the delay into the plan.
Full Explanation
Queue length drives flow time: more school-bus-routing items waiting in ready means each one waits longer, even if processing time is unchanged. The Scrum Master/Team Coach should coach reducing that queue with smaller batches, WIP on ready, and pull only what the team can start. Inflating estimates absorbs wait instead of removing it. Extra columns and deleting citizen-facing work hide or discard value rather than accelerating flow.