Does your team ever feel overwhelmed, juggling too many tasks at once and struggling to keep everything on track? If so, you’re not alone. The good news is, WIP (Work In Progress) limits can be a simple yet powerful solution to help your team regain focus and deliver results with confidence.

Let’s set the stage with Kanban—a visual workflow management system that empowers teams to see their work, streamline processes, and continuously improve. Born from Toyota’s innovative manufacturing approach, Kanban is now a cornerstone for IT and product teams across industries. Why? Because it makes managing work intuitive and transparent.

Picture this: an online Kanban board with tasks flowing through columns like "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." This visual setup allows your team to easily spot bottlenecks, stay aligned, and focus on what matters most. When combined with WIP limits, it transforms chaos into clarity, helping your team work smarter—not harder.

Ready to learn how WIP limits can help your team thrive? Let’s dive in.

What are WIP limits in Kanban?

WIP limits, or Work In Progress limits, are a core component of Kanban. They cap the number of tasks that can be in progress at any given time. Imagine a highway with a speed limit; WIP limits ensure your workflow doesn’t get congested. By setting these limits, teams can focus on completing tasks before starting new ones, leading to a smoother, more efficient process.

For example, if a team sets a WIP limit of three tasks in the "In Progress" column, no more than three tasks can be worked on simultaneously. This encourages team members to complete existing tasks before taking on new ones, promoting a culture of finishing work rather than starting new tasks prematurely.

Why are WIP limits important?

WIP limits are crucial for several reasons. First, they enhance productivity by preventing team members from spreading themselves too thin. When you limit the number of tasks in progress, you reduce bottlenecks and ensure a steady flow of work. This leads to faster delivery times and higher quality output. Plus, it helps teams identify and address issues more quickly, keeping projects on track.

Consider a scenario where a team without WIP limits has ten tasks in progress. Team members might constantly switch between tasks, leading to context switching and reduced efficiency. With WIP limits, the same team might only have three tasks in progress, allowing them to focus and complete tasks more quickly and with higher quality.

How to set effective WIP limits

Setting WIP limits isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Start by analyzing your team’s workflow and capacity. A good rule of thumb is to set limits slightly below your team’s maximum capacity to leave room for unexpected tasks. Regularly review and adjust these limits based on your team’s performance and feedback. Remember, the goal is to find a balance that maximizes efficiency without overloading your team.

For instance, if a team of five developers typically handles five tasks simultaneously, setting a WIP limit of four might be effective. This slight reduction can help manage workload and prevent burnout. Additionally, involve your team in the process to ensure buy-in and make adjustments as needed based on real-world performance and feedback.

Who's supposed to set WIP limits?

Setting WIP (work in progress) limits isn't a top-down mandate — it's a collaborative decision that works best when the people doing the work have a voice in defining the constraints.

The team sets their own WIP limits. In most successful Kanban implementations, the team members who actually move work through the board should establish their initial WIP limits. They understand their capacity, the complexity of their tasks, and the realistic flow of work through their process. This bottom-up approach creates ownership and increases the likelihood that limits will be respected rather than ignored.

Managers and leaders facilitate, not dictate. While managers shouldn't unilaterally impose WIP limits, they play an important role in the process. Leaders should:

Encourage teams to experiment with WIP limits if they haven't adopted them yet
Ask questions that help teams think critically about their capacity ("How many items can you realistically work on at once while maintaining quality?")
Support the team when WIP limits create uncomfortable conversations about priorities
Help remove organizational obstacles that make it difficult to respect WIP limits

Start with the team's current reality. When first introducing WIP limits, begin by observing how many items your team typically has in progress simultaneously. If your team usually works on 8-10 items at once, don't immediately drop to a limit of 3 — that's too drastic a change. Instead, set your initial limit slightly below your current average (maybe 7 in this example) and adjust from there based on what you learn.

Revisit and adjust limits regularly. WIP limits aren't set in stone. Schedule regular retrospectives where the team can discuss whether current limits are helping or hindering flow. You might discover that:

Limits are too restrictive, creating unnecessary idle time
Limits are too generous and not preventing multitasking
Different workflow stages need different limits
Team capacity has changed due to team size or skill development

Different roles, different responsibilities. In larger organizations or cross-functional teams, consider who sets limits for different parts of the workflow:

Individual contributors set limits for their personal work-in-progress
Teams set limits for team-level workflow stages (development, testing, review)
Program/portfolio managers might set limits for how many projects are in flight across multiple teams

The key principle: those closest to the work should have the strongest voice in setting constraints on that work.

How to use WIP limits depending on your goal

WIP limits aren't one-size-fits-all. How you implement them should align with what you're trying to achieve. Here's how to adjust your approach based on common goals:

Goal: Reduce cycle time and increase delivery speed

Strategy: Set aggressive WIP limits that force work to flow quickly through your system.

Start with lower limits (1-2 items per person or stage)
Create a "pull" culture where team members actively pull new work only when capacity opens up
Use Miro's AI to quickly generate workflow documentation that helps everyone understand the new constraints
Monitor your cycle time metrics weekly and tighten limits further if you're not seeing improvement
Be prepared for initial discomfort — tight limits will expose bottlenecks that were previously hidden

Example: A software development team wants to ship features faster. They set a WIP limit of 2 items in their "In Development" column and 2 in "In Review." When a developer finishes coding, they can't start new work until code review capacity opens up — which motivates them to help with reviews rather than starting yet another feature.

Goal: Improve quality and reduce defects

Strategy: Use WIP limits to create space for thoroughness and prevent the rush that leads to mistakes.

Set moderate WIP limits that prevent overwhelm but allow for careful work
Pay special attention to limits in quality-critical stages (testing, review, validation)
Consider implementing WIP limits specifically for rework or bug fixes to prevent technical debt from consuming the team
Use the breathing room created by limits to implement better quality practices (pair programming, peer review, automated testing)

Example: A design team struggling with revisions sets a WIP limit of 3 concepts in their "Design Exploration" stage. This forces them to fully develop and critique each concept before moving to the next, resulting in stronger initial designs that require fewer rounds of client revisions.

Goal: Balance workload across team members

Strategy: Set personal WIP limits that prevent individuals from overcommitting while ensuring no one is idle.

Implement per-person WIP limits (typically 1-2 active items)
Make individual workload visible on your Miro board using color-coding or swimlanes
Create a culture where "my plate is full" is an acceptable and respected response
Use limits to surface skill gaps or capacity imbalances that need to be addressed through training or hiring

Example: A marketing team assigns each team member a color and adds their initial to cards they're working on. Each person has a personal WIP limit of 2 active projects. When someone hits their limit, the visual cue prevents colleagues from assigning them additional work, and they know to offer help to team members with capacity.

Goal: Minimize context switching and improve focus

Strategy: Use WIP limits to create extended periods of deep work on fewer items.

Set strict limits on simultaneous work (ideally 1 item at a time, maximum 2)
Implement "no interruption" agreements when someone is working within their WIP limit
Consider time-boxing work sessions to align with your WIP limits
Use Miro's Sidekicks to automate routine board updates so team members don't need to context-switch to administrative tasks

Example: An engineering team implements a "1 item per engineer" WIP limit for complex infrastructure work. Each engineer works on a single card until it's complete, which results in features being finished in 3 days instead of 10, despite the same amount of total work time.

Goal: Expose and eliminate bottlenecks

Strategy: Use WIP limits strategically to make constraints visible and force the organization to address them.

Set WIP limits on downstream stages first (testing, review, deployment) to expose capacity constraints
When upstream work piles up against a WIP limit, resist the urge to increase the limit — instead, investigate why the bottleneck exists
Use Miro's board to visualize where work is accumulating, using the visualization tools to make bottlenecks obvious to stakeholders
Treat blocked work as an emergency that needs immediate attention

Example: A product team sets a WIP limit of 3 in their "Ready for Development" column. Within a week, they have 8 items backed up trying to get into development, making it obvious that product definition is happening faster than the team can build. This visible constraint triggers a conversation about either hiring more engineers, reducing the product pipeline, or simplifying requirements.

Goal: Manage dependencies across multiple teams

Strategy: Implement WIP limits that account for cross-team coordination needs.

Set limits that include "waiting" states — if an item is waiting for another team, it still counts against your WIP
Create explicit columns for "Blocked - External Dependency" with their own WIP limits
Use lower limits when work requires significant cross-team coordination
Establish clear escalation paths when dependency-related blocks prevent new work from starting

Example: A mobile app team that depends on a backend API team sets a WIP limit of 4 total items in development, but explicitly includes "In Development" and "Waiting on API" in that count. This prevents them from starting new features that will just end up waiting, and creates urgency around resolving API dependencies.

Adjusting your approach over time

Remember that your goals may change as your team matures in their Kanban practice. You might start with WIP limits focused on exposing bottlenecks, then shift to limits that optimize for cycle time once those bottlenecks are resolved. Regularly revisit not just your limit numbers, but also your underlying objectives.

Use your Miro board as your single source of truth for how WIP limits are working. With Miro's AI-powered canvas, you can visualize flow patterns, identify where work accumulates, and quickly experiment with different limit configurations. The visual nature of the canvas makes it easier to have data-informed conversations about whether your WIP limits are helping you achieve your goals.

The most successful teams treat WIP limits as an ongoing experiment rather than a permanent rule, adjusting their approach as they learn more about their capacity, their workflow, and their objectives.

Overcoming challenges with WIP limits

Implementing WIP limits can come with challenges. Teams may initially resist the change, fearing it will slow them down. To overcome this, involve your team in setting the limits and explain the benefits. Another common issue is setting limits too high or too low. Regularly review and adjust your limits to find the sweet spot that works for your team. Use data and feedback to guide these adjustments.

For instance, if a team initially sets a WIP limit of five but finds that tasks are still piling up, they might reduce the limit to three. Conversely, if the limit is too restrictive and causing delays, increasing it slightly can help. The key is to remain flexible and responsive to your team’s needs and performance.

Boost your team productivity with Miro

Managing WIP limits effectively requires the right tools. Miro’s innovation workspace offers robust collaboration features that support both real-time and asynchronous work. Our AI-powered visual canvas makes it easy to set and track WIP limits, ensuring your team stays on top of their tasks.

For example, Miro allows teams to create customizable Kanban boards with WIP limits clearly displayed. This visual approach helps teams stay aligned and focused. Miro has also integrations with other project management tools like Jira and Asana.

Ready to boost your workflow efficiency? Try Miro's Kanban tool today and see how WIP limits can transform your team’s productivity.

FAQs About WIP Limits in Kanban

1. Can I integrate my Kanban board's WIP limits with other project management tools?

Yes, Miro integrates seamlessly with popular project management tools like Jira, Azure DevOps, Asana, and Monday.com. These integrations allow you to sync your WIP limits across platforms, ensuring your team respects flow constraints regardless of which tool they're working in. You can set up bi-directional syncing so that when items hit your WIP limit in Miro, the constraint is reflected in your other tools, preventing over-commitment.

Additionally, you can use workflow automation platforms like Zapier or Okta Workflows to send Slack alerts when stages approach their WIP limits, automatically block new work from entering at-capacity stages, and generate reports on WIP limit adherence.

2. How does the Miro community approach WIP limits differently across industries?

Different industries apply WIP limits in ways that suit their unique workflows. Software development teams typically use aggressive limits of 1-2 items per developer to maximize cycle time, while marketing teams prefer more flexible limits of 3-4 campaigns per person to accommodate creative processes. Design teams often use loose limits during exploration phases but tighten them to 1-2 projects during detailed work, and manufacturing teams align their limits with physical constraints like warehouse space or production capacity.

You can explore these diverse approaches by joining the Miro Community, browsing industry-specific Kanban templates in Miroverse, and participating in community events where teams share their WIP limit strategies. The common thread across all industries: WIP limits work, but the specific numbers vary dramatically based on the nature of work and team goals.

3. Is my team's WIP limit data secure and private in Miro?

Yes, your Kanban board data is protected by enterprise-grade security including AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, and SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, and GDPR compliance. You can control access through SSO, two-factor authentication, board-level permissions, and audit logs that track all changes to your boards and WIP configurations. Enterprise customers also have access to data residency options (EU, US, Australia) and advanced security features through Miro Enterprise Guard.

For teams in regulated industries, Miro provides audit trails, SIEM integrations, sensitive data detection, and encryption key management where you control your own keys. Your workflow data often contains competitive intelligence about how your team operates, and Miro treats it with the highest level of security. Learn more at the Miro Trust Center and in our Security and Compliance whitepaper.

4. How can I get community support when implementing WIP limits for the first time?

The Miro community offers extensive support through the community forum where you can search existing discussions, post questions, and get responses from community experts and Miro employees. You'll find ready-to-use Kanban templates with pre-configured WIP limits in Miroverse, and can attend live webinars, office hours, and industry-specific meetups to learn from experienced practitioners.

Common challenges have well-tested solutions from the community: if your team won't respect limits, start with less restrictive numbers and visualize the benefits with data; if limits create idle time, you've exposed a bottleneck that needs organizational attention rather than higher limits. Once you've successfully implemented WIP limits, contribute your experience back to help the next team — the community thrives on this reciprocity.

5. Can I use Miro's AI features to help optimize my WIP limits?

Yes, Miro's AI capabilities streamline WIP limit optimization. Use AI to generate Kanban boards with AI-suggested WIP limits tailored to your team size and workflow, complete with explanatory documentation. Miro Sidekicks can analyze your board patterns to identify bottlenecks, summarize retrospective feedback about your limits, and generate reports showing cycle time improvements after adjusting WIP constraints.

Author: Miro Team

Last update: January 27, 2026