WIP by Parent
One of the charts built into JiraMetrics is WIP by Parent, as shown below. What this shows is the total work in progress (WIP) on each given day. The WIP is then grouped by colour according to the parent (Epic in this case) that the original ticket belonged to.
High WIP invalidates prioritization
The more items we have in progress at once (WIP), the less important our initial prioritization is. When we work on one item at a time then items get done in the order we started them so we are completing them in the order of most importance.
Massively overburdened with WIP
About once a year I run across a team that has at least ten times as many items on the board as there are people on the team. The worst I’ve ever seen was a team of ten people with 227 items in progress.
Setting initial WIP limits
When starting a team up with Kanban, one of the earliest questions is how to you set initial WIP limits. The simple rules we use are covered in this video.
Lowering the Water Level - the metaphor explained.
Toyota has this metaphor of “lowering the water level” that they use when looking for opportunities for improvement. This video explains the metaphor and how it applies to your Kanban system.