Why bottlenecks happen and how smart teams avoid them

What is a bottleneck — and why does it matter? In the race to deliver faster — whether that’s code, cabinets, cables, or content — bottlenecks are the silent killers of flow. They stall progress and frustrate teams, not to mention the clients left high and dry. In this article, we’ll show you how to spot them, measure their impact, and eliminate them for good. 

What is a bottleneck?

A bottleneck is any situation where work is delayed. Everyone has faced one in the workplace at some point — either as the cause or on the receiving end. They can be a short-term hiccup, like someone being sick, or they can happen regularly due to bad planning or a lack of resources. 

Popular (but costly) ways to get things moving again include working overtime, hiring extra help, or pushing back delivery dates. These stopgap fixes might work in the moment — but they quickly drain resources, budgets, and patience.

The better option? Prevent bottlenecks before they start. That means forward planning, strong communication, and the right tools for the job. No one’s psychic, but with proper planning, you can come pretty close.

Examples of a bottleneck

Bottlenecks can occur in all industries. Here are two examples: one from the manufacturing world and the other from the services industry. 

A cabinet production line

A factory produces custom kitchen cabinets, and the cutting station can process 50 panels per day. But demand has increased, and the assembly team can now handle 70 panels daily. 

Since the cutting station can’t keep up, unfinished panels pile up in front of it — causing delays in the entire production line. Until the cutting station’s capacity is increased, it remains the bottleneck holding everything back.

A marketing agency

A team of writers is producing campaign content at speed, but only one creative director is available to review it. As submissions pile up in her queue, deadlines start getting missed — not because the work isn’t done, but because it’s waiting on approval. The bottleneck here is in the review stage. Unless it’s addressed, the entire process stays stuck.

Why are bottlenecks bad for business?

Bottlenecks don’t exist in isolation. In any workflow, each stage depends on the one before it. When one part can’t keep up, the entire system slows — no matter how fast the rest of it moves. 

They also take a toll on your team. Constant pressure and rushed work can lead to burnout and reduced quality — all of which hurt your reputation and bottom line. And if your operations can’t scale cleanly, growth becomes harder to sustain.

The impact of bottlenecks:

• Delays delivery and erodes client trust
• Increases costs due to overtime or rework
• Frustrates teams and lowers morale
• Reduces product or service quality
• Slows down business growth.

Long-term and short-term bottlenecks

Bottlenecks can be one-off issues — like someone calling in sick — or ongoing structural problems, like inefficient processes or outdated tools. Short-term issues often sort themselves out, but persistent ones can quietly drag down productivity until they become critical. New companies are at a higher risk, because they haven’t necessarily refined their processes yet. 

Constraints vs. bottlenecks: What’s the difference?

Bottlenecks and constraints both limit your output — but a bottleneck is something you can usually fix. A constraint, like a legal cap or a fixed machine limit, is often baked into the system. Focus on bottlenecks first — they’re where small changes can make a big impact.

• Constraints = long-term limits built into the system

• Bottlenecks = short-term slowdowns that cause delays
• Bottlenecks often reveal constraints — but they’re not the same thing.

The top 7 causes of a bottleneck

Bottlenecks happen when the team or individual can’t process their work on time, causing a delay. While it’s tricky to predict employee sickness and broken computers, there are things you can keep an eye on and catch early.

1. Poor planning

When a project kicks off without a clear timeline, proper scoping, or a realistic sense of how much people can actually get done, you’re setting the team up for trouble. Overestimating capacity or skipping the planning phase entirely is a fast track to things grinding to a halt.

2. Uneven workload distribution

If one team member is buried in tasks while others are sitting idle, you’ve got a bottleneck. It’s not always about working harder — sometimes it’s about redistributing the work so progress can keep flowing.

3. Lack of resources

Whether it’s a missing tool, an outdated system, or not enough people on the job, lacking the resources you need to work well will always slow things down. This can also include limited access to information or subject-matter experts.

4. Slow decision-making

Bottlenecks aren’t always about doing — sometimes they’re about waiting. If approvals are stuck in limbo or leadership can’t make a call, work starts to pile up fast.

5. Communication breakdowns

Missed messages, unclear expectations, or teams working in silos can all lead to confusion and delay. Without strong communication, even the best-laid plans can unravel.

6. Outdated or inefficient processes

If your team is following clunky workflows or relying on tech that can’t keep up, that friction will eventually cause things to slow down. Regular process reviews help keep everything running smoothly.

7. Manual data handling

Does your team hit mud at certain manual data processing points? Maybe quality checks or bureaucracy are slowing things down? There’s a reason automation is the word on everyone’s lips. Let the tech do the heavy lifting where you can to keep things running smoothly. If you’re in product design, continuous delivery is essential. 

How to find a bottleneck

Bottlenecks tend to leave a trail. If you know what to look for, you can catch them before they become serious problems. Watch for signs like:

• Work piling up at the same stage again and again
• One person or team is constantly overloaded
• Delays that ripple out from a single point
• Work is slowing down even when demand stays steady.

Start by watching the work, not the plan

Plans tell you what should be happening. Bottlenecks show up in what is happening. Sit in on the process or review it in real time. Are tasks being handed off smoothly? Is someone waiting on approval? Are team members spending more time chasing information than doing the work? These are the clues you’re looking for.

Map the full workflow

Start by mapping your process from start to finish. 

Look for where tasks:

• Sit idle
• Spend too long in progress
• Hit repeat, delays, or long queues.
  

Pay attention to:

• Task durations — What consistently takes longer than expected?
• Handoff points — Are they smooth or sticky?
• Work-in-progress (WIP) — Are some stages overloaded while others sit empty?
  

Talk to your team

Visuals like Kanban boards, Gantt charts, or a whiteboard sketch can help — but so can simple observation and conversation. 

Ask:

• Where does work tend to “go quiet”?
• Where do people feel blocked or slowed down?
• What stage of the process regularly creates frustration?

Bottlenecks have a habit of hiding behind symptoms like missed deadlines, stressed team members, or an overreliance on one person. Trace those symptoms back to their source.

How to contain a bottleneck once it’s happened

Too late? Not every bottleneck needs to be a disaster. Here’s how to turn ‘uh oh’ into ‘oh phew.’

1. Act fast

Bottlenecks have a domino effect on the rest of the workflow and introduce an element of chaos: schedules can change, deadlines can be ignored, and emotions can start to rise. The key to containing the fallout here is to act quickly. If a bottleneck has already begun, address it immediately rather than letting it spiral further.

2. Don’t compromise quality

It may be tempting to skip stages — like quality control — when work is piling up. But that’s a bad idea. Following a methodology like Lean means quality is built-in as part of the process because the product is reviewed at the end of every cycle.

3. Keep WIP limits low

Limit the amount of work that can be held in Work in Progress (WIP). Don’t allow jobs to be pushed through faster than the team is pulling them. Not only does this keep the WIP queue manageable, but it’s also less daunting and stress-inducing for the person working on that particular project.

4. Increase resources

If you do have people available to help out (or budget to spare), then consider moving more people onto the job to get it done quickly and more efficiently. 

If you rarely have team members free but often need an extra pair of hands, have a list of trusted freelancers or contractors on speed dial as a backup. It’s also a good idea to have a little budget set aside in case of emergency — plus a spare computer kitted out with relevant software for the same reason.

5. Prepare for all eventualities

The best way to solve a bottleneck is to plan for one before it happens. Invest in a project management tool with Kanban workflows, targeted notifications, and task-tracking tools and charts that help you stay on top of things.

That way, you’ll never be caught on the back foot — and your project will keep running smoothly, whatever curveballs come your way.

How to banish bottlenecks

Once you’ve found the bottleneck, don’t just patch it — fix it properly. That means addressing the underlying issue, not just the symptoms. This might involve reworking the process, changing responsibilities, or giving your team the tools they need to keep things flowing.

1. Cut unnecessary steps

Processes often grow bloated over time. Old approval steps, double-handling, or outdated systems can all slow things down. Trim anything that doesn’t directly contribute to the outcome. Streamlining doesn’t mean rushing — it means clearing the path so work can move smoothly.

2. Balance workloads more realistically

If one person is always buried and another is twiddling their thumbs, something’s off. Reassign tasks so workloads are more even, and make sure capacity matches responsibility. If someone is constantly firefighting, they can’t do their best work — and they become a bottleneck through no fault of their own. 

As Microsoft puts it, resource leveling is “the act of taking a project with people assigned to a bunch of tasks and making it so that they don’t have to work overtime.” 

3. Automate where it makes sense

Manual steps — like data entry, status updates, or chasing approvals — are slow, error-prone, and sap morale. Automating these tasks with the right tools frees up people’s time and keeps things moving even when they’re offline.

4. Make information easier to access

If people have to dig through folders, send emails, or chase updates just to do their job, it slows the whole process down. Centralise key documents, standardized formats, and use clear naming conventions. The goal is to reduce friction at every step.

5. Test your fixes

Don’t assume it’s solved just because you made a change. Roll out improvements gradually, watch how they affect the rest of the system, and tweak as needed. Bottlenecks don’t disappear overnight — but consistent, thoughtful adjustments make a big difference.

How project management tools help you spot and solve delays

Project management tools don’t just keep your to-do list tidy — they give you a bird’s-eye view of the entire workflow. By tracking work in real time, you can spot delays before they snowball, balance workloads better, and keep everyone aligned on what needs doing — and when.

Visual tools like Kanban boards and Gantt charts help you spot where tasks are piling up. Meanwhile, time tracking, task dependencies, and workload views give you data-backed insight into who’s at capacity, what’s blocking progress, and where to make adjustments.

Good tools also improve communication thanks to built-in notifications and live comments. No one’s left guessing — meaning fewer delays from unclear responsibilities or missed updates.

Crucially, they let you plan better. You can map out your critical path, adjust for absences or resource gaps, and scenario-plan for the “what ifs” — long before they cause a problem. In short: if you want to stop bottlenecks before they start, the right project management tool is your trusty sidekick. Try Backlog for free today, and see what it can do to keep your team moving.

This post was originally published on March 20, 2020, and updated most recently on April 2, 2025.