Understanding the WIP Run Chart: Your Ultimate Guide to Controlling Work in Progress in Jira

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If you’ve ever looked at your Jira board and thought:
“Looks fine… right?”
Only to discover later that half of your “In Progress” issues have been sitting untouched for 12 days -
then yes, this article is for you.

Managing Work in Progress (WIP) is one of the core practices of Agile and Kanban. But while the theory sounds simple (“just keep WIP low”), teams often struggle to see the real state of their in-progress work.

That’s where the WIP Run Chart comes in - one of the most powerful, yet underrated visualizations for understanding flow, bottlenecks, and delivery risk inside Jira.

This article breaks down:

• what WIP actually means,
• how the WIP Run Chart works,
• key definitions every team should know,
• how to interpret the chart like a pro,
• and how you can bring this visualization into Jira dashboards using Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses.

Let’s dive in.

                                   

What is WIP (Work in Progress)?

Work in Progress (WIP)

The total number of work items that are currently “in progress” - meaning they have started but are not yet finished.

Depending on your Jira workflow, this may include statuses like:

• In Progress
• In Review
• QA Testing
• Blocked
• Pending
• or any status with statusCategory = “In Progress”

Why WIP matters:
The more items you have in progress at the same time, the slower everything becomes.
This is not a theory - it’s queuing science and Little’s Law.

High WIP → longer cycle time → poorer predictability.

Low, controlled WIP → faster delivery, smoother flow, happier teams.

What is a WIP Run Chart?

A WIP Run Chart is a day-by-day visualization of:

1. How many items were in progress each day (WIP Count)
2. How old those in-progress items are (WIP Age or Average WIP Age)

It turns your messy board into a clean trend line that tells you:

• Are we accumulating too much work?
• Are items aging instead of moving?
• Are we respecting WIP limits?
• Where is the flow getting stuck?
• Is our process stable or unpredictable?

In short: it makes invisible bottlenecks visible.

Key Definitions (Clear & Practical)

WIP Count

The number of issues that were in an “In Progress” status at the end of each day.

WIP Age

How long a single issue has already spent in any “In Progress” status.

Example:

• 2 days in In Progress
• 1 day in In Review
• 0.5 days in QA
  Total WIP Age = 3.5 calendar days

Average WIP Age

The average age of all WIP items for a given day.

If 3 issues have WIP Ages of 2, 4, and 6 days:
Average WIP Age = (2+4+6) / 3 = 4 days

Trend (Stable / Increasing / Decreasing)

Shows whether your WIP is trending upward (danger), downward (healthy), or staying stable.

Status Age

The time an issue spends in a specific status (e.g., 1.2 days in In Review).
Useful for identifying slow workflow steps.

Why the WIP Run Chart Is a Game-Changer

                                     

1. It highlights hidden bottlenecks

Your board might show “10 tasks in progress,” but the chart shows something deeper - how long they’ve been stuck.

Example signals:

• WIP Count going up
• WIP Age going up

→ This means work is accumulating faster than it’s being finished.

2. It exposes aging work

You might see only one new task started, but the chart will tell you the average age jumped from 3 days to 7 days.

That’s a big deal.

Aging work:

• increases cycle time
• delays releases
• reduces throughput
• often hides quality issues

3. It helps you run meaningful standups and retros

Instead of
“Does anyone have blockers?”
teams can say:
“We have a 9-day-old ticket aging in QA - can we swarm on it?”

4. It teaches teams to respect WIP limits

WIP limits are useless unless you have visibility.

The chart shows if your team keeps exceeding them - and what happens when they do.

5. It helps with forecasting and planning

Stable WIP → stable delivery.
Unstable WIP → unpredictable delivery and painful surprises.

The WIP chart makes this relationship obvious.

How to Read a WIP Run Chart Like an Expert

Case 1 - WIP Count increasing + WIP Age increasing

🚨 The worst combo.
Work is aging, flow is slowing, and the team may be overloaded.

Usually caused by:

• too much work started
• review bottlenecks
• overwhelmed QA
• priority switches
• dependencies

Case 2 - WIP Count stable + WIP Age decreasing

🎉 A healthy sign. Work is moving, cycle time will likely be shorter.

Case 3 - WIP Count decreasing + WIP Age increasing

👀 Suspicious.
This might mean:

• only “easy” items are being finished
• old and complex work is being ignored
• your flow is split unevenly

Case 4 - Frequent spikes

⚡ Indicates workflow volatility.
Probably too many interrupts, expedited tickets, or unclear priorities.

How to Use the WIP Run Chart in Jira

Jira Cloud does not offer a native WIP Run Chart in dashboards.

The closest built-in reports (e.g., Control Chart, Cumulative Flow Diagram) provide partial insights but cannot show WIP trend + aging on a daily timeline.

To fill this gap, teams usually rely on marketplace apps.

One of the most complete implementations of the WIP Run Chart is available in the Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses app.

WIP Run Chart in Time Metrics Tracker (What You Get)

Here’s how the gadget works inside Jira dashboards:

✔ Daily WIP Count (blue line)

See how much work is currently in progress.

✔ Average WIP Age (orange line)

Spot aging work instantly.

✔ Drill-down into any day

Open a modal showing:

• all issues in WIP on that date
• their individual WIP ages
• assignees
• status breakdown

✔ Status Age timeline per issue

See where tasks spend most of their time:

• In Progress
• In Review
• QA
• Blocked
• etc.

Great for identifying bottlenecks.

✔ Trend analysis

Automatic detection of:

• Stable
• Increasing
• Decreasing WIP patterns

✔ Works with any Jira workflow

No hardcoded status names.
Everything is based on statusCategory = “In Progress”.

Why Agile Coaches Love This Chart

Because it turns vague observations into actionable insights:

Instead of:

“We should reduce WIP.”

You get:

“Our WIP has been growing for 2 weeks, and average WIP age jumped from 3 → 7 days. Most issues are stuck in Review. Should we review the review process?”

This is how data starts driving conversations.

Why Managers Love It

Because it finally connects effort → flow → delivery.

It answers questions like:

• Why are releases slowing down?
• Why does cycle time keep rising?
• Why is the team always “busy” but not delivering?
• Where do we need to add capacity?
• Which step of the workflow is the real bottleneck?

Why Developers & QA Love It

Because it helps unblock work faster.

Instead of scrolling through a messy board, they get:

• the oldest items on top
• clear aging timelines
• visibility into who’s stuck with what

It reduces noise and makes the right issues visible.

Final Thoughts: WIP Is Not Just a Number - It’s a Signal

Most teams treat WIP as a decorative number on the board.
But WIP is actually the heartbeat of your delivery pipeline.

If WIP rises quietly, everything slows down.
If WIP stays healthy, everything flows.

A WIP Run Chart is the simplest and most powerful tool to keep your delivery predictable, your bottlenecks visible, and your cycle time under control.

If you're looking to bring this capability into Jira dashboards, you can try the WIP Run Chart Gadget available inside the Time Metrics Tracker | Time Between Statuses app.
It’s simple, visual, and helps teams make better decisions based on real flow data - not guesses.