What is WIP Limits?
Work-in-progress limits cap how many items can occupy a workflow stage at once. They feel counterintuitive — limiting work to finish more — but they attack the real enemy of flow: too many things started, nothing finishing, context-switching burning capacity.
When a WIP limit blocks new work, that's the system working: it forces the team to swarm the bottleneck. "Stop starting, start finishing" is the whole philosophy in five words.
Worked example
The "In Progress" column is capped at 3. A developer finishing an item can\'t start a fourth while the testing column is full — instead they help clear testing. The bottleneck becomes everyone\'s problem, which is exactly the point.