Work in Progress

Work in Progress, or WIP, is the number of work items that have started but not finished according to the system’s explicit definitions. WIP makes parallel work and committed attention visible. Its meaning depends on consistent start and finish points and a clear definition of the work items counted.

Use WIP when investigating overload, queues, context switching or weak completion, and when active work needs to be limited deliberately.

Only visible board columns are counted while blocked, waiting or hidden work is omitted. A WIP limit may also be treated as a rigid utilisation target rather than a policy for focus and pull.