WIP policies shows every WIP limit on a board in one panel: whether the board keeps it, how it is counted, and what your team agreed. From there, one press lists the work items behind any number.
Open WIP policies #
- Open the board’s Work section (The Work board).
- Select Explain this number in the WIP strip.
The panel lists the limits on this board and the shared limits that count it. It measures them over the work items you can read at this moment. A board with no limit reads “No WIP policy yet”. A Board owner then sees Agree one, which opens Policies and WIP limits.
Read one limit #
Each limit is one row. It names the policy and its scope: “This board”, “Across boards”, “Column”, “Column group”, “Swimlane”, “Cell”, “Per person”, “Team” or “Class of service”. A lozenge gives its state:
- Within limit (green): the count is inside the agreed band.
- At limit (yellow): the count equals the maximum. One more work item takes it over.
- Over limit (red): the count is above the maximum.
- No limit: no maximum is agreed for this scope.
- Not measured: the app could not count this scope. A sentence says why, such as “This board’s swimlanes are being recalculated, so this scope is counted once its work items are placed in the new lanes.”
Under the state, the row says how the limit counts and over what:
- How it counts: “Counted by cycle” counts a reopened work item once for each cycle in progress. “Counted by unique work item” counts it once.
- What it counted over: such as “Counted over the 24 committed work items on this board that you can read”. A shared limit counts “across every board you can read”.
- What it left out: such as “Left out: 2 outside this board’s counting level”. Deleted, archived and unconfirmed work items are left out too.
- What it sums: a limit can count the sum of a Jira number field instead of work items. Its row reads “Numeric sum of the Jira field …”, and a line says how many work items carried no value and so added nothing. If none carried a value, the scope is Not measured: that is not a sum of zero.
- The agreement: the version in force, who agreed it and when, such as “Version 2 · agreed by Dana Whitfield”, then the date. “Why:” gives the reason saved with that version.
A paused limit carries Paused: its Board owner switched it off.
Shared limits that count this board follow. These are limits stored on other boards that count this board’s work too. Each names the board that owns it, and only that board can change it.
For example #
Checkout agrees “at most 9” on the whole board. The panel shows “This board” with Within limit, “Counted by cycle”, and “Counted over the 7 committed work items on this board that you can read”. The agreement line names Dana Whitfield, who agreed it. When a ninth work item is committed, the row turns to At limit. A tenth takes it to Over limit.
See the work items behind a number #
Select Explain on a limit to open What this measure counts. Beside the measure and its state lozenge, a line says where the count stands against the agreed band: “Below the agreed minimum”, “Inside the agreed band”, “Above the agreed maximum”, or “No band to compare with”. A paused limit shows neither.
- Counted under these rules: the rules the count follows, such as “Committed and active” or “Blocked”.
- Contributors: every work item behind the measure that you can read, with Contribution, Counted as and Counting from (the commitment the count starts at).
- Classification of these contributors: how many of them have a state class, the same coverage the context strip states.
WIP counts a work item only from a commitment to the delivery that follows it, and only at the board’s counting level. “Counted as of” gives the moment of the count.
Work items in Board WIP lists the work behind the board’s own figure, with each item’s Column. It is there even when no policy is agreed.
While a quick filter is on, a second number stands beside each measure: the WIP the filter matches. The filter never changes the measure itself.
If something looks off #
- “This explanation is out of date”: select Read the measure again.
- “This policy is no longer among the board’s policies you can read.”: it was deleted, or your access changed. Close the panel.
- “More limits of other boards may count this board, so this list may not be complete.”: the list may miss a shared limit. Each one is shown on the board that owns it.
- “No measure is shown: Jira cannot read the JQL of …”: press that quick filter again to turn it off and read the measures.
- “The filter sweep did not finish, so no second number is shown.”: every measure still stands. Turn the quick filter off and on again later.
