Has anyone come up with a good automation to help enforce WIP Limit goals?

Question

I know I can set up WIP limits on the Jira boards. I was wondering if anyone has experimented with using Global automations to notify users that have more than X issues in a status or group of statuses on a daily or semi-weekly basis. We struggle with honoring WIP limits we're aiming for, and I'm looking for ways to have the system yell at people for me. :D

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @paul.clarke -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community

Have you tried using an automation rule with the lookup work items action to count the items in each status to send an email / message to the entire team?  That could be checked when a work item transitions status, or using a scheduled trigger to check daily, hourly, etc.

Kind regards,
Bill

paul.clarke · Answer

That doesn't really answer the above question of how to write an automation that can notify people if the WIP limit is exceeded.

I'd like to know how to do this as well. I don't need 'coaching' on why this has occurred, just technical example of how to write a Jira automation to do this notification.

Bill Sheboy · Answer

Hi @Philip Culver

How does your team normally collaborate together on a day-to-day basis?

I ask this question because if your team is using methods such as Scrum or Kanban, those have the concept of a "daily standup" where the team makes a plan for the day.  And during that, the team could review the board to check progress toward goals and any variation from the team's agreed upon board policies and working agreement.

Additionally, the team could use just-in-time discussion or the retrospective to understand why someone exceeds the agreed upon WIP limits, perhaps using the CFD to see high WIP without notification messages.  Some possible root causes for the why could be:

* there is an expedited issue to manage, and that is not accounted for in the board policies
* blockages are not managed, leading to pulling in more work rather than solving the blockage
* lack of focus upon the prioritized work items
* people are bored / unchallenged, and so "cherry picking" what to work on
* etc.

Understanding the why to solve the root cause may eliminate the need for automated notifications.  Otherwise, such notifications could lead to unintended consequences:

* the notifications are ignored, leading toward "broken window" challenges (please see The Pragmatic Programmer to learn more about that one)
* avoiding confrontation, people start hiding work by not updating Jira when working on an issue
* people start bundling small, discrete work items into larger ones to reduce WIP
* etc.

Kind regards,
Bill