Fixing “Too much WIP”

“too much WIP” means too many things being worked on at the same time

WIP refers to “work-in-process”, that is how many things are being processed or worked on at the same time.

“Too much WIP” refers to having too many tasks / Stories / Initiatives / Bets being worked on at the same time. This applies at the individual, team, department, and company-level.

“too much WIP” is a problem because it makes things take longer

“too much WIP” makes things take longer because of two associated effects: overburdening and multitasking.

When there is too much WIP, people will tend to feel overburdened. This leads to lower engagement and mistakes.

Overburden is known as “muri” in Lean / TPS.

When there is too much WIP, people will tend to multitask. Multitasking will lead to everything taking longer to complete.

Multi-tasking is slower than one request at a time

Why does “too much WIP” happen?

I generally suspect two main contributing factors for why “too much WIP” happens: lack of strategy, overemphasis on utilisation.

Too much WIP is a lack of focus; a lack of focus reflects a lack of strategy; a lack of strategy reflects incoherent…