How to Improve Team Productivity by Limiting Work in Progress

The acronym WIP stands for Work In Progress. WIP represents the number of ongoing tasks in a team’s workflow. Implementing WIP limits allows Agile teams to narrow their focus and complete work units.

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. 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. Setting an appropriate WIP limit can be tricky at the beginning of any project, especially for a team with little Agile experience. Make the limit too strict; people will get discouraged, frustrated, or even worried.

Establish a better team rhythm by working in sprints. Sprint is a unit of time during which you must complete a goal. Limiting work in progress increases productivity. Create a Kanban board with three columns: “To Do,” “Doing,” and “Done.” 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.