If you’re already using Personal Kanban or another kanban system, you are likely at least thinking about limiting your work in progress (WIP). You’re probably finding that challenging.

We know that the more work we take on, the more our brains’ resources are taxed. That tax limits our ability to focus, to process, and to complete quality work. We want to limit our WIP so that we can finish quickly and with quality.

One thing to remember is that if it were easy to limit WIP, we’d all be doing it already. Limiting WIP is challenging in a world filled with demands and distractions. Often we’ll be watching our Personal Kanban and, as long as there are three things in DOING, we will feel pretty good about ourselves.

Then, one day, we’ll catch ourselves working on something that isn’t in DOING and we’ll realize, “Oh no, I have hidden WIP.”

Write down your WIP and be honest

Hidden WIP is that work you do all the time that you don’t tell your board about.

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