Two Unordered Queues

TL;DR

This paper analyzes a two-queue system where a customer must be served by two M/M/1 queues in any order, revealing counterintuitive results about optimal queue selection affecting total service time.

Contribution

It derives the expected total time for a customer to complete service in a two-queue system with independent initial lengths and shows surprising cases where joining the longer queue first is advantageous.

Findings

Expected total time for the customer is derived.

Joining the longer queue first can sometimes reduce total service time.

Counterintuitive queue joining strategies are identified.

Abstract

A special customer must complete service from two servers in series, in either order, each with an M/M/1 queueing system. It is assumed that the two queueing system lengths are independent with initial numbers of customers a and b at the instant when the special customer arrives. We find the expected total time (ETT) for the special customer to complete service. We show that even if the interarrival and service time parameters of two queues are identical, there exist examples (specific values of the parameters and initial lengths) for which the special customer surprisingly has a lower expected total time to completion by joining the longer queue first rather than the shorter one.