The Problem
Too Much Work In Progress
The board is full. Every card is in progress. Every person is busy. And yet almost nothing is finishing. Welcome to the scoring-zone flood.
Does this sound familiar?
- Everything's "in progress" — almost nothing is "done"
- Teams chasing the urgent, losing the important
- Constant context-switching between half-finished work
- Hidden dependencies revealed only at the finish line
- Stakeholders losing patience with "almost done"
You're not alone
Too much WIP isn't a team failing — it's the predictable result of confusing motion with progress. Starts feel productive. Finishes compound. Without a behavioural discipline for sequencing, the scoring zone gets flooded cycle after cycle.
The IMIRT response
How the plays address this
Two IMIRT plays work together here. Fresh Perspectives visualises delivery as a Work Pitch — upstream, midfield, scoring zone — so the overcrowding is visible. Game Management then sequences work deliberately: high-probability items move first, the scoring zone is protected, concurrency is reduced, and fragile items are strengthened before they advance. Finishing becomes a habit, not a heroic act.
Tease and gate
Get the complete plays with step-by-step guided exercises.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why does reducing WIP usually fail?
- Because teams reduce WIP in the abstract without changing the structure that created it. Until the team can see the Work Pitch, sequence for flow instead of fairness, and strengthen fragile work before it advances, starts will keep winning the argument.
Run the plays
Run the plays. Free playbook.
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