Stop starting, start finishing.
Limiting WIP & reasons for high WIP
My first post on Kanban deserved a sequel for sure! While it isn’t possible to have literally no work in progress, the overall goal of a project team is to finish as many things as they can, and not be in a state of continually starting. Having too much #WIP makes this goal even more difficult.
The impact of too much WIP on efficiency and throughput is one of the reasons it is often regarded as a concern. According to studies, the cost of context change is frequently far more than people anticipate. It is evident that dropping one object and taking up another cannot be done in such a way that no time or energy is spent between the two. However, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the loss is rarely worth the gain.
These apparent consequences of having too much going on are easy to identify once you know what you're looking at. Looking around the team, you'll notice that there are many tasks open, few of which are done, and many more that are making no progress at all. Those tasks are often not "blocked," but there is no one available to bring them forward. In this scenario, a simple management strategy is to stop taking new work or starting anything new until some of the tasks on the board can be completed.
Uncertain priority
Having too much Work in Progress is often a sign of a team that is having trouble prioritizing. There’s a saying – “if everything is important, then nothing is important”. There may also be a team’s symptom that it isn’t sure of priority of items. The team may think, that since everything is important to work on, it doesn’t matter which one a team member picks. When this happens, the team starts working on the things that they either know how to do, want to do, or they use their own internal prioritization. Ironical, but team may view this as a good thing as they will probably at least get something done!Adding just one more little thing?
Development teams should strive to reduce the number of distractions and interruptions they encounter. The more time the team spends on diversions, the less time it spends on genuine work. This is exacerbated by a high WIP! More projects in flight means more invites on the calendar, potentially to the point where the team is unable to complete their work. While adding a second project doubles the distraction, a third project can be eight times as much, and a fourth can absorb all of the individual's time. From the perspective of a manager, it can be difficult to recognize that these activities are what normally occupy the day. The math may seem to work to simply add “one more little thing”, but the cognitive load placed on the team, takes a toll on the team members.Impact on Swarming/Collaboration
During stand-ups, team members may discuss who needs assistance or how one person can support another. Another activity is "swarming," that happens when most or all of the team members stop what they are doing to finish a task. By putting many hands to work, the team may complete the task in much less time than one or two persons could. Besides these considerations, team members often enjoy working together and collaborating.
Isn’t that one of the best part about "being a team" in the first place! A high WIP can stifle communication and even encourage team members to work in silos, which can be detrimental to team dynamics.
Key Takeaways -
- Too much work in progress may be a sign of team struggling to prioritize; work on improving task prioritization.
- With each additional project, the time required to align and communicate grows tremendously.
- A large work in progress might stymie team communication and the capacity to swarm on a project or task. The effort necessary for the team to collaborate may be too great to overcome, causing the team to work in silos.
- Maintaining a high WIP might pose issues that go beyond ordinary productivity. It can have long-term negative consequences for the team.
From the desk of,
Jasdev Singh | PMI-ACP, PSM, ICP-ACC
(Humanitarian, Agilist, Minimalist)
(Humanitarian, Agilist, Minimalist)
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