A Simple Guide to Setting Work In Progress Limits

The acronym WIP stands for Work In Progress. The team should establish initial limits they are comfortable with and can commit to following for a period.

As the team becomes more experienced, the WIP limits should become smaller. A good starting point may be to set a limit of two tasks per person/role. For example, if two testers are on the team, the WIP limit for a testing column on a Kanban board would be four.

Regardless of the limit, the team should revisit it and consider if any adjustments could enhance their process and keep work flowing.

WIP limit is the most significant amount of work that can be in progress in a team or system. Teams should set initial limits they feel comfortable with and can commit to following. Limiting the amount of work that can be handled at any time prevents people from starting new work when tasks still need to be finished.

Setting an appropriate WIP limit can be tricky at the beginning of any project, especially for a team with little experience.

Is outside help needed? Do the requirements need to be clarified? Are more developers required?) and then focus on doing whatever is necessary to finish it so that more work can start to come in and the flow of work through the system can resume. This will be the same when beginning to put WIP limits for a team.

Make the limit too strict; people will get discouraged, frustrated, or even worried.

WIP represents the number of ongoing tasks in a team’s workflow. Implementing WIP limits allows teams to narrow their focus and complete work units.

[¹]: Agile Project Management with Kanban (Developer Best Practices)