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WIP-Limit per Person, without Kanban Board

Last post 12:27 am August 6, 2020 by Simon Mayer
2 replies
04:53 pm August 5, 2020

Hello everyone,

I am really interested in this case (above).

Im not quite sure what will happen to your cycle time, if you set a WIP-Limit per person (for example 1) without setting any WIP-Limit in the columns of your board (You will not be able to detect bottlenecks)

Do you think in this case in a protected sprint the team members will work more efficiently in this case?

 

the result is a shortened cycle time per Work Item? And will the total cycle time decrease?

 

Thank you! :) 

kind regards

Pete


07:30 pm August 5, 2020

Im not quite sure what will happen to your cycle time, if you set a WIP-Limit per person (for example 1) without setting any WIP-Limit in the columns of your board (You will not be able to detect bottlenecks)

How would this fundamentally differ from using avatars to limit WIP?


12:27 am August 6, 2020

How much collaboration is expected on each single item?

If there is a Peer Review stage, will an item spend more time in the Ready for Peer Review column, as each team member focuses on completing the item they're working on? Will switching to a queued item be allowed, or encouraged?

Will a team member be expected to start work on a new item whilst they wait for their first item to be reviewed? What will this team member do if the review identifies the need for rework?

Could this potentially allow an even greater amount of WIP than limiting by column?

Are team members cross-skilled, and does this way of limiting work reinforce siloed division of the work in any way?

Might a team miss an opportunity to identify the impact of techniques like pair programming, buy avoiding more aggressive WIP limits that are set below the size of the team?

What if starting work on new items is deliberately restricted until the first one is done? Can that lead to a reduction in throughput?

Do you foresee regular scenarios where the board enters a state of paralysis, or it becomes necessary for the team to violate their WIP limits?

If the team are using an explicit workflow and are disciplined in keeping the board up to date, it should be possible to measure the change in cycle time, throughout, and also the flow efficiency.

If the experiment is given enough time, these metrics should aid in any assessment about whether the initiative is helpful.


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