How can a team help to maintain low WIP limits?

Maintaining low Work In Progress (WIP) limits is essential for optimizing flow and improving focus within a team. Implementing strict prioritization of tasks enables the team to concentrate on the most critical work first, ensuring that they only take on a limited number of tasks at any given time.

When tasks are prioritized, the team can focus on completing high-priority items before moving on to those of lesser importance. This helps them avoid overloading themselves, which can lead to bottlenecks and decreased productivity. By using prioritization effectively, team members are encouraged to finish current tasks before taking on new ones, which directly contributes to keeping WIP limits low.

On the other hand, increasing the batch size of tasks, encouraging context switching, or assigning multiple tasks to each team member would generally lead to higher WIP limits. These practices can result in the team juggling too many responsibilities at once, which can hinder their effectiveness and delay overall progress. Therefore, prioritization stands out as the best practice for maintaining low WIP limits.