Traffic Jam

This smell occurs when one problem causes a backlog of jobs that produces wide variability in response time which persists long after the problem has disappeared.

Solution: Begin by eliminating the original cause of the backlog. If this is not possible, provide sufficient processing power to handle the worst-case load.

Reference

Smith, C. U., & Williams, L. G. (2003). More new software performance antipatterns: Even more ways to shoot yourself in the foot. Computer Measurement Group Conference.