The Backlog Reality Check
Measure your maintenance backlog in labor hours and crew weeks, not in work orders.
GET THE FREE WORKSHEET
Bring your CMMS backlog report and your crew roster. Print it and fill it in by hand.
MEASURE THE WORK, NOT THE RECORDS
One hour and 200 hours count the same in a work-order count. That is the whole problem. The number may be accurate. It just cannot tell you what is holding the work up.
I have spent 35+ years inside plants, and this is how I answer it when a maintenance manager asks how much backlog is the right amount. Work out capacity in hours, put the backlog in hours, divide one into the other, and you have crew weeks to read against a target.
Jeff Shiver, CMRP, Founder of People and Processes, Inc.
WHAT'S IN THE WORKSHEET
✅ Three steps. Weekly labor capacity, backlog in hours, then both divided out into crew weeks.
✅ A table that points at the constraint, with the target printed under your result: four to six crew weeks total, two to four ready to schedule.
✅ A fully worked example, so you can see how it goes before you run your own.
KNOW WHICH QUESTION TO ASK
You shouldn't have to argue about a number nobody trusts.
© 2026 People and Processes, Inc.
