The importance, benefits and best practices of the work in progress (WIP) limit
In many cases, projects are stalled because there are so many tasks left to be completed. The team is losing an inexplicable amount of time despite everyone working hard. In such cases, a good solution can be to introduce a work in progress (WIP) limit, which focuses on completing the current workflow, significantly increasing efficiency. In this article, we'll look at what exactly a work in progress (WIP) limit is, what its benefits are and how to put it into practice.
What is the work in progress limit?
In agile development, the work in progress (WIP) limit defines the maximum amount of work that can be done at each stage of a workflow. The use of the WIP limit is most widespread in Kanban.
This limitation makes it easier to identify inefficient elements in the team's workflow. Bottlenecks in the delivery process become clear before serious problems in progress occur.
Limits allow agile organisations to create smooth workflows and prevent overload.
Benefits of work in progress limit
Work in progress (WIP) limits restrict the maximum number of work items in the different stages of the workflow (columns in the Kanban table). They can be set per person, per work phase/type or for the whole workflow.
The benefits of introducing a work in progress (WIP) limit:
- It allows you to complete each work item more quickly by ensuring that your team can focus on completing the current tasks before starting new ones.
- It reveals blockages, bottlenecks, areas of chronic inactivity or overload that reduce productivity.
- The team will be able to understand and solve the problems that are hindering. Once these are removed, work will start to flow again throughout the team, increasing efficiency.
- It makes it easier to deliver value to customers faster.
This is crucial because it is common in development that, when there are several tasks in progress, one is abandoned while the team is working on another, leading to a loss of time and focus. It is much more rewarding to focus on a job and complete it than to get stuck in tasks and not follow through. WIP limits therefore help us to avoid limiting our own workflow.
Things to look out for when using work in progress limits: best practices
When introducing a new workflow, it is important to establish WIP limits. These should be set after observing the average number of work items in each state for a few sprints.
In Kanban, the limits for work in progress should be modified if necessary. There is no predefined formula that tells you how to calculate the WIP limits to set an optimal number.
Here are some things to look out for:
- It is useful to review how services are provided at team level and to consider how the work items on the board age. This can be done in a Kanban retrospective discussion.
- Remember that workflows will change dynamically, as this is not an isolated system.
- Regularly monitor the team's workflow and check how the work in progress is constrained by ever-changing factors, such as new business requirements, customer demands, team size and capacity, unexpected technical problems, etc.
To this end, most modern online Kanban platforms are equipped with powerful data analysis capabilities. This allows metrics to analyse relevant information about the team's workflow.
What can we do to make the Kanban system work for the team?
- It is good practice not to exceed WIP limits unless there is a good reason (e.g. an urgent task with a higher priority).
- It's also wise to give a signal (e.g. the top of the Kanban board column turns red) when this happens, so that the team can see immediately what is happening in the workflow.
If we don't pay attention to these, we can miss out on creating a smooth workflow and increasing team efficiency. It is therefore important that the team understands the principles and practices of Kanban.
Of course, WIP limits should be set according to the current work capacity of the team. Once set, monitor the workflow and adjust the limits if necessary.
What should agile teams look out for when using work in progress limits?
Like anything new, ongoing work limits can be uncomfortable at first. The goal is to optimise processes in the medium term, and the short-term inconvenience is actually a positive. Indeed, it forces the team to feel some pain points in the processes. And after using the WIP limits for a few weeks, modify them as necessary.
It is worth using this period to increase capacity, ideally by training the team to ensure that all members acquire new skills, or by making some aspect of the development process more efficient.
1. Consistent distribution of the volume of each task
When breaking down the requirements and user stories, it is important that each task should not be too large. This increases the team's ability to estimate with confidence and helps prevent bottlenecks. Nothing slows the team down and makes WIP deadlines more difficult than a large work item clogging the pipeline.
2. Matching the work in progress limit to the team's capabilities
Team members may have different skills. If there are professionals in the team, the limits of the work in progress may be different if a person of this quality is involved. Therefore, it is worthwhile to create a condition that is also typical of the professional's tasks, to give additional capacity to the professional's skills and to increase the workflow in the whole team.
3. Reducing idleness
If a team member has some idle time, it is worth encouraging them to help other colleagues. This can contribute to the overall team for productivity, and learn while you do it.
4. Protecting a sustainable engineering culture
Limiting the work in progress does not mean that developers have to rush work to avoid overloading the work in a given status. Rather, the goal is to support sound agile engineering practices that protect product quality and the health of the code base.
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