diff --git a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
index e0b056e5b..284b36b18 100644
--- a/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/queue_manager_test.go
@@ -908,6 +908,189 @@ func TestCalculateDesiredShards(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, int64(0), pendingSamples, "Remote write never caught up, there are still %d pending samples.", pendingSamples)
 }
 
+func TestCalculateDesiredShardsDetail(t *testing.T) {
+	c := NewTestWriteClient()
+	cfg := config.DefaultQueueConfig
+	mcfg := config.DefaultMetadataConfig
+
+	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "TestCalculateDesiredShards")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	defer func() {
+		require.NoError(t, os.RemoveAll(dir))
+	}()
+
+	metrics := newQueueManagerMetrics(nil, "", "")
+	samplesIn := newEWMARate(ewmaWeight, shardUpdateDuration)
+	m := NewQueueManager(metrics, nil, nil, nil, dir, samplesIn, cfg, mcfg, nil, nil, c, defaultFlushDeadline, newPool(), newHighestTimestampMetric(), nil, false)
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name            string
+		prevShards      int
+		dataIn          int64 // Quantities normalised to seconds.
+		dataOut         int64
+		dataDropped     int64
+		dataOutDuration float64
+		backlog         float64
+		expectedShards  int
+	}{
+		{
+			name:           "nothing in or out 1",
+			prevShards:     1,
+			expectedShards: 1, // Shards stays the same.
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "nothing in or out 10",
+			prevShards:     10,
+			expectedShards: 10, // Shards stays the same.
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "steady throughput",
+			prevShards:      1,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 1,
+			expectedShards:  1,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "scale down",
+			prevShards:      10,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 5,
+			expectedShards:  5,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "scale down constrained",
+			prevShards:      7,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 5,
+			expectedShards:  7,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "scale up",
+			prevShards:      1,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 10,
+			expectedShards:  10,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "scale up constrained",
+			prevShards:      8,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 10,
+			expectedShards:  8,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "backlogged 20s",
+			prevShards:      2,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 2,
+			backlog:         20,
+			expectedShards:  2, // ? should be trying to catch up
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "backlogged 90s",
+			prevShards:      2,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 2,
+			backlog:         90,
+			expectedShards:  4, // ?! should be trying to go much faster
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "backlog reduced",
+			prevShards:      4,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         20,
+			dataOutDuration: 4,
+			backlog:         10,
+			expectedShards:  3, // ?! shouldn't downshard from 4 to 3: less than 30% change
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "backlog eliminated",
+			prevShards:      3,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 2,
+			backlog:         0,
+			expectedShards:  2, // Shard back down.
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "slight slowdown",
+			prevShards:      1,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 1.2,
+			expectedShards:  1, // no reaction - less than 30% change
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "bigger slowdown",
+			prevShards:      1,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 1.4,
+			expectedShards:  2, // now it shards up
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "speed up",
+			prevShards:      2,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 1.2,
+			backlog:         0,
+			expectedShards:  2, // No reaction - 1.2 is rounded up to 2.
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "speed up more",
+			prevShards:      2,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 0.9,
+			backlog:         0,
+			expectedShards:  1,
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "marginal decision A",
+			prevShards:      3,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 2.01,
+			backlog:         0,
+			expectedShards:  3, // 2.01 rounds up to 3.
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "marginal decision B",
+			prevShards:      3,
+			dataIn:          10,
+			dataOut:         10,
+			dataOutDuration: 1.99,
+			backlog:         0,
+			expectedShards:  2, // 1.99 rounds up to 2.
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			m.numShards = tc.prevShards
+			forceEMWA(samplesIn, tc.dataIn*int64(shardUpdateDuration/time.Second))
+			samplesIn.tick()
+			forceEMWA(m.dataOut, tc.dataOut*int64(shardUpdateDuration/time.Second))
+			forceEMWA(m.dataDropped, tc.dataDropped*int64(shardUpdateDuration/time.Second))
+			forceEMWA(m.dataOutDuration, int64(tc.dataOutDuration*float64(shardUpdateDuration)))
+			m.highestRecvTimestamp.value = tc.backlog // Not Set() because it can only increase value.
+
+			require.Equal(t, tc.expectedShards, m.calculateDesiredShards())
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func forceEMWA(r *ewmaRate, rate int64) {
+	r.init = false
+	r.newEvents.Store(rate)
+}
+
 func TestQueueManagerMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 	reg := prometheus.NewPedanticRegistry()
 	metrics := newQueueManagerMetrics(reg, "name", "http://localhost:1234")