KNOW YOUR LIMIT :)

The sign that reads "Give way to faster vehicles" is a common sign seen on highways. It does not mean that fast-moving vehicles must honk nonstop until the slower-moving vehicle moves out of the lane or begins to accelerate ahead. When you continuously horn expecting the vehicles to move faster the repercussions of honking would be adverse on environment. Understanding that the driver may be a novice learner, experiencing personal difficulties, or experiencing any difficulty requires empathy and maturity.

???In the same way, even though the items are still in the development stage, we shouldn't keep pushing more in an attempt to shorten the time to market, increase throughput and decrease delivery time. The outcome will have an adverse effect on quality by creating unnecessary pressure on teams. Prior to making a decision, one should evaluate the team's commitment, capacity, and capability parameters. Similar to car driving analogy, even in this case, one requires empathy and maturity. Doing regular agile maturity assessments,? retrospectives, considering historical data, conducting lessons learnt sessions, effective maintenance of backlog health, diligent planning, productive refinements would help in getting the team to a consensus and setting up WIP (Work In Progress) Limits.

In this article, let's see how to ensure work in progress (WIP) is limited by considering the following points :

1. Spread Knowledge About the Value of WIP Limits:

• Describe the idea: Emphasize how restricting work-in-progress (WIP) enhances concentration, minimizes context switching, and produces better work more quickly.
• Use?metrics : Provide evidence of how excessive WIP causes burnout, more faults, and longer lead times./kj hg0

2. Establish clear policies:

• WIP Limits: Set WIP limitations for your team or for individual developers. Visualize the limits, for example, on a Kanban board. (How to calculate/setup WIP Limits : WIP Limits Calculate)
• Setting priorities : Define a clear method for prioritizing tickets, ensuring that only the most urgent activities are put to the Work In Progress.

3. Implement a Pull System:?

• Developers Pull Work. Support a system in which team?pull new incidents?when they are available, rather than management pushing work onto them.
• Visualize?Flow: Use tools such as Kanban boards to view the workflow and ensure that new tickets are only added when there is available capacity.

4. Communicate with management :

• Set expectations: Everyone in the team including management?should be clearly informed about the team's capability and work-in-process restrictions.
• Regular check-ins: Schedule regular meetings to discuss current work, capacity, and any issues with WIP.
• Escalate, if necessary : If managers routinely ignore WIP limitations, raise the problem with senior management, underlining the hazards of overloading the team.

5. Promote Team Ownership:?Empower the?Team :

• Ask developers to speak out if they are experiencing overload or if work-in-progress restrictions are being exceeded.
• Peer Accountability: Encourage a climate in which team members hold one another responsible for adhering to work-in-progress limitations.

6. Apply Agile Practices:

• Sprint Planning: Use sprint planning sessions to discuss and agree on the amount of work that can feasibly be achieved in a single sprint.
• Retrospectives: Use retrospectives to examine issues relating to work in progress and task management, as well as to establish improvement plans.

7. Monitor and adjust:

• Track Progress: Keep track of your work in progress and make corrections as necessary. Use tools and measurements to monitor the impact of work in progress on productivity and quality levels.
• Adapt throughout time. Be adaptable and change WIP limits based on team capacity, work complexity, and other variables.

Implementing these tactics can help you build a more resilient workflow that respects your team's limits, resulting in greater outcomes and a healthier work environment.

Have a Happy Limits :)