What is a WIP Limit and how to set it up?

Table of Contents:

1. WIP limit definition and types
2. How to configure your WIP limit system behavior? 
3. How to set up WIP Limits in the workflow? 
4. How to configure the WIP limit per user? 

1. WIP limit definition and types

Applying "Work in progress" limits to your workflow is one of the core Kanban practices.
In general, a WIP Limit or "Work-in-Progress" limit stands for the maximum amount of work items that a given stage can hold.  Literally, WIP frames the capacity of your team’s workflow at any moment. 
Limiting your work in progress makes it easier to identify inefficiency in your workflow and bottlenecks become clearly visible. 
Using "WIP" limits, you build a pull system in your workflow and reduce the waste in your process.
Only  users with "Account Owners" privileges or Workspace Managers could manage the WIP limits.   

There are two Types of WIP LIMITS: 
 
CARD COUNT: limit the work on the basis of the number of task items that each stage can hold. 
For example: if any of your columns has a WIP limit of 2 (number of cards), then the user will not be able to pull more than 2 cards in that column. They have to finish one of the tasks before pulling a new one.

CARD SIZE:  limit the work on the basis of tasks' size. 
For example: if any of your columns has a WIP limit of 6 (size you tasks) and each task has a "size = 3", then the user will not be able to pull more than 2 cards in that column. They have to finish one of the tasks before pulling a new one. In case that there are three tasks, each having a "size = 2" the system will allow your team members to work on 3 cards simultaneously.  

You can define the limit type from the "edit workflow" mode of your board.
Go to the Limit type option and choose between Card Count and Card Size.  

2. How to configure your WIP limit system behavior? 

As a second step, you have to define the WIP limit system behavior. With this configuration option, you decide what happens in the system when the WIP limit is exceeded. 

• Allow exceeding limits (Always allow) - this way the limits serve only as indicators. When the limit is exceeded the column header becomes red. 
• Allow to exceed limits with a reason - the team members are allowed to exceed the limit but they have to provide a reason
• Don’t allow to exceed limits (always deny) - the team members will not be able to exceed the limit and the card will be automatically moved to the previous column.

3. How to set up WIP Limits in the workflow? 

When you define the Limit type and the WIP limit behavior, you can start setting up WIP limits in the workflow. The system allows you to set up WIP limits:
- per column
- per group of columns (CONWIP)
- per individual board cells
- per swimlane 
- per user  

• Set up a COLUMN WIP Limit 

Open the edit mode of the board and click on the gear settings icon that belongs to every column in your process.

Enter a number to define the limit in the respective field. 
The WIP limit number becomes visible at the column header of the respective column in your board. 

• Set up a limit per group of columns (CONWIP)

In this scenario, you have a column (for example "Engineering") that has three sub-columns.
With this case, the system allows you to set up a limit for the main column only.  
Go to the edit workflow page and click the gear settings icon of the main column to input the CONWIP limit. This will be the total limit for the three columns.  

• Set up a CELL WIP limit

You can set up a WIP limit on particular cells one. A cell is the intersection between a column and a swim lane on your Kanban Board. Each limit has a gear icon to hold the limit you specify. 

• Set up a Swimlane WIP Limit 

The system allows you to set up a Swimlane Limit by using the respective gear icon.
In general, you create swim lanes to differentiate classes of work, priorities, SLAs, etc.
To learn more about the swimlanes practical implementation, you can check out the dedciated blog article. 

With the swim lane limit, you control the number of cards allowed in the "In progress" area of the board. This allows you to manage the distribution of your team capacity across the different work types and/or classes of service. In the Kanban domain this is called "Capacity Allocation".

For example, you can allocate 20% of the available capacity to change requests, 60% to regulatory requirements and 20% to unplanned, expedite work.
Note: Whether this limit can be exceeded is controlled by a setting in the Board Settings panel. 

* Open the image in a new tab to get a closer view. 

• Set up a USER WIP Limit 

In Kanbanize, you can set up a WIP limit per user. You perform this action from the User Management panel in the Administration.

Note: this action is only available for users with the "Account Owner" privilege. 

The dedicated panel provides a list with all team members In Kanbanize.

*Open the image in a new tab to get a closer view. 

The "Current Cards" column shows the actual distribution of cards per area, which are currently assigned to the users. The letters stand for:
G - Global level*, B - Backlog, R - Requested, P - In Progress, D - Done, and A - Archive.
*The Global limit represents the maximum number of cards that can be assigned to a person on account level.

The "WIP Limits" column displays the WIP limits that you have configured for each of the areas.  

The "Exceed Limits" column displays if a user can exceed the WIP limit or not.

Please note that Initiatives (from the Initiatives or Timeline workflows) will not be counted in the User WIP limit. The calculation would only consider standard cards (from the Cards Workflows).

4. How to configure the WIP limit per user? 

Hover over the "Exceed Limits" cell of the selected user and click on the pencil icon to make all sections editable. 

Please, check the image below.
The Global limit represents the maximum number of cards that can be assigned to a person.