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Make sense of queues, work in progress, forecasting, and team capacity. These concepts explain why a busy team can still struggle to finish work.
Terms beginning with W
14 termsWaiting work
Waiting work is unfinished work that is not currently receiving the next processing action it needs. It includes queue time and may include explicitly blocked items, depending on the workflow definition.
Flow and capacity planningWeighted shortest job first
Weighted shortest job first is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningWhat-if analysis
What-if analysis is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningWIP capacity ratio
A WIP capacity ratio compares the amount of work currently in progress with a stated capacity measure, such as active processing slots or typical concurrent work. It is a diagnostic signal, not a universal target.
Flow and capacity planningWIP expansion
WIP expansion is an increase in work in progress over time. It can result from higher arrival rate, lower throughput, longer cycle time, more blocked work, or a change in what counts as in progress.
Flow and capacity planningWIP limit
A WIP limit is a maximum amount of unfinished work permitted in a defined workflow state or system. It encourages finishing, unblocking, and pulling only when capacity exists.
Flow and capacity planningWork breakdown structure
Work breakdown structure is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningWork in progress
Work in progress is work that has started but has not reached the workflow's agreed finish point. It includes active implementation as well as started items waiting for review, clarification, testing, or another dependency.
Flow and capacity planningWork item age
Work item age is the time that has passed since a selected start event for an item that is not yet complete. It makes unfinished work visible and helps teams find items at risk of exceeding a service expectation.
Flow and capacity planningWork item priority
Work item priority is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planningWorkflow boundary
A workflow boundary is a defined event at which measurement begins or ends, such as ready, implementation started, merged, deployed, or released. Boundaries make two otherwise similar flow measures comparable or explain why they differ.
Flow and capacity planningWorkflow state
A workflow state is a meaningful condition in a work system, such as ready, implementing, reviewing, blocked, or done. States should have explicit entry and exit policies so movement can be observed consistently.
Flow and capacity planningWorkflow transition
A workflow transition is an observable change in a work item's state, such as entering review, becoming blocked, or reaching done. Transitions supply the event history used to measure flow and waiting.
Flow and capacity planningWSJF
WSJF is a concept used in software delivery planning to describe a condition, relationship, estimate, or decision about engineering work.
Flow and capacity planning