The Board, WIP Limits & Pull vs. Push

Visualize First

Columns represent stages (To Do → In Progress → In Review → Done); cards move left to right as work progresses — a shared, immediately visible view of all work status. Visualization comes first because you can't effectively limit or improve something you can't see.

WIP Limits — Counterintuitive But Effective

Capping how many items can be in a column at once forces finishing existing work before starting new — reducing context-switching and half-finished items, which paradoxically INCREASES overall throughput. Setting a limit even below raw team capacity encourages collaboration/swarming on what's already started rather than everyone grabbing a new item each.

Pull, Not Push

A team member pulls a new item only when they have actual capacity (respecting WIP limits) — rather than work being pushed onto people regardless of current load. A "Ready" column staging groomed, clarified items keeps what's pulled next already well-understood, not discovered mid-pull to need more clarification.

Blocked Items & Classes of Service

Explicitly flagging a blocked item (visually distinct from normal-but-slow progress) surfaces external dependencies needing resolution. Classes of service (Expedite, Standard, Fixed Date) let different urgency levels get different handling rather than treating every item identically.