RA-01
Expert Bottleneck — Single Person on Critical Path
Resource Allocation
Default severity: medium
ProcessOutputRiskEffort
What it detects
One team member is the assignee or primary worklog contributor for a disproportionate share of In Progress issues on the critical path — a single expert is the throughput constraint for the entire initiative or epic. When this person is absent, blocked, or overloaded, the whole delivery stalls. Detected via the value stream graph (VS-10 equivalent at person level).
Detection formula
FOR each_person P: critical_path_issues(P) = issues WHERE is_critical_path=true AND (assignee=P OR primary_worklog_author=P) portfolio_critical_issues = total critical path issues person_share(P) = COUNT(critical_path_issues(P)) / max(1, portfolio_critical_issues) IF person_share(P) > config.ra.expert_bottleneck_threshold // default: 0.35 (35% of critical path on one person) THEN FLAG expert_bottleneck IF person_share(P) > config.ra.critical_bottleneck_threshold // default: 0.50 THEN CRITICAL — single point of failure at person level Report: person, critical_path_issues_count, person_share, downstream_issues_blocked_if_unavailableExamples in practice
- That epic is the primary work focus — risk if it blocks
- One person owns a disproportionate share of critical-path or high-WIP work.
- Delivery risk rises when a single expert becomes the throughput bottleneck.
Suggested response
Reduce single points of failure—spread critical skills and lighten overloaded contributors.
Coaching playbook
Symptom
One team member is the assignee or primary worklog contributor for a disproportionate share of In Progress issues on the critical path — a single expert is the throughput constraint for the entire initiative or epic. When this person is absent, blocked, or overloaded, the whole delivery stalls. Detected via the value stream graph (VS-10 equivalent at person level).
Why it matters
When "Expert Bottleneck — Single Person on Critical Path" keeps appearing, the team is signalling a repeatable process gap. Left unexamined, the pattern hides where work really stalls and makes improvement metrics harder to trust.
What you can achieve
Reduce single points of failure—spread critical skills and lighten overloaded contributors.
Facilitation questions
- What system change would stop "Expert Bottleneck — Single Person on Critical Path" from firing again?
- What do the cited issues have in common — same root cause or same workaround?
- Who owns the two-week experiment and how will we verify on the next import?
Run this rule against your own tracker data with Flow Analyzer.