Why Less is Always More When It Comes to WIP
Iâm sure most of you in the Agile world have heard the acronym WIP, which stands for âwork in progressâ. đ€
I think thereâs much more to unpack on this principle that might initially sound quite counterintuitive. đ
For example, âIn Work in Progress (WIP), Less is Indeed More.â
Let me explain.
Stop Starting. Start Finishing
Ever felt overwhelmed by juggling too many tasks at once?
In the world of Kanban, there is a saying: âStop starting work and start finishing work.â This isnât just a catchy phrase; itâs a profound realisation. âł
Wow, thereâs a lot of math to unpack there if you want to go into it," but in the heart of Kanban, the mantra resonates differently: âStop starting work and start finishing work.
Why, you ask?
Itâs simple. The Kanban principle understands that the more items we have in play simultaneously, the more our attention gets fragmented, making us less productive overall.
The Real Cost of Multitasking Context Switching Dilemma
Have you ever considered the real cost of âmultitaskingâ? đ
When you have a myriad of tasks on your plate, you invariably find yourself jumping between them. This constant shift, in essence, results in losing more time to jumping between those things.
So, hereâs a geeky analogy for you - consider how your computer system, like âpaging in Windows, manages multiple tasks. If your computer tries to do too much, it continually unloads and reloads tasks. This results in significant lag, often causing the system to freeze. đ»
Our brains operate similarly. Every time we shift focus, we undergo a mental âcontext switch,â which makes multitasking less efficient than weâd like to believe.
As I often say, âOur brains are just big computers.â Overburden them, and youâll see the repercussions.
An Interesting Insight
In Gerald Weinbergâs âSystems Thinkingâ book, an analysis reveals that context switching could cost us about 20% of our time per additional project. đ
So, if youâre working on five projects, youâre left with a mere 20% of your time for all of them.
Sounds counterproductive, doesnât it?
Let that sink in!
Too Many Marbles
Picture this: marbles flowing through pipes. Now, throw in a couple of rocks. Those marbles will struggle to move around the rocks. In the realm of product development, these ârocksâ are large tasks that clog up our workflow, slowing everything down.
I like to refer to this as the âpipeâ analogy.
The solution?
Keep tasks smaller. Think of them as water molecules seamlessly flowing through pipes. Such tasks move through systems effortlessly, enabling teams to achieve more in less time. đŻ
As I like to put it, âHave less stuff on the go and youâll get more stuff done.â
The Bottom Line
To wrap this up, when building products or undertaking any engineering work, essentially in any realm of work, remember â âless is always moreâ.
And having fewer tasks in progress means more genuine productivity.
Focus. Finish. Then move on. â
Itâs not about reducing quality or output but streamlining processes and focusing on completion rather than juggling.
For those interested in diving deeper into Agile, Kanban, or Scrum and learning how to create a more efficient work environment, consider checking out our upcoming courses.
in work and progress less is more
wow thereâs a lot of math to unpack there if you if you really want to go into it but but ultimately the the Mantra in kanban is is um a different way to phrase what you just said is stop starting work and start finishing work and itâs the idea that the more stuff you have on your plate the more youâre jumping between the things that you have on your plate
um and the more time you lose to Jumping between those things
um a great analogy that maybe only works for the Geeks out there is paging in Windows right you have to when you want to do another task you have to unload all of the information and contacts that youâve got from the previous task and reload the next task and then continue doing that for a period of time and then you every time you swap you have to unload and reload thatâs why your computer goes mental and stops running when you try and get it to do many things because itâs having to unload and reload all the different tasks and people are just the same our brains are just big computers if you give people too many different things to work on then theyâre they just get overloaded and arenât able to to function so the that matters not just for for projects right so if you thereâs a thereâs a book by Gerald Weinberg systems thinking book by Joe Weinberg that did a bunch of data and Analysis on um context switching and the cost of context switching and itâs about 20 of time that you lose per additional thing that you have all theyâll be up to I think if they analyze one to five projects and if youâre working on five projects at once
you get about 20 of your time to split between those five projects everything else is lost for this paging right context switch and thatâs just as true for scrum teams in sprints when they have a bunch of random crap in their Sprint backlog right rather than focusing on one thing are you having a a Sprint goal and having focus and moving in One Direction if they just have uh 10 things they have to do
then youâve got fragmentation and if they start too many of those things at once thereâs too many of those things in progress at once theyâve got more whip work in process then it starts to grind to a halt because theyâre struggling to switch between them struggling to get things done
um so less is always more smaller is always better in in engineering work in Building Products you want to do smaller things and you want to have less things on the Go at once and then things move through your system more quickly whatâs a great analogy for that I think of it like oh this is a terrible analogy maybe Iâll maybe get shot at for this one but I I think of it like pipes right and marbles flow through pipes less effectively than water flows through pipes right because waterâs smaller molecules than marbles are and if you throw a couple of rocks in with those marbles big things itâs potential to clog up the pipe right it might get stuck and then the marbles have to flow around the this rock when it gets stuck so then the amount of flow is smaller and thatâs the way I think about work flowing through the system of your team
right if youâve got things that are too big they can more easily get stuck and then once they get stuck everything else has to flow around it and itâs a struggle right because youâre trying to get rid of this big thing while youâre doing these other things
smaller things are better right they flow through the system better
so have smaller stuff have less stuff on the go and youâll get more stuff done
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