Work in progress
In practice, both terms are often used as synonyms. The technical distinction is:
- Work In Process: WIP within a column or phase of the board. "The testing WIP is 3."
- Work in progress: WIP across the entire production chain. "The team has 12 stories in progress across all active sprints."
Just as at the phase level, an entire production chain can have its own WIP limit: a maximum number of projects or initiatives active at the same time, to avoid spreading resources too thin and the context-switching problems that arise at the organizational level.
Why global WIP matters
When an organization has too many projects active at the same time, all of them move forward more slowly than if they were worked on sequentially. It is the same principle as the WIP limit on the board, applied at the portfolio level: less work in progress means each project gets done sooner.
Common mistake
Using "Work in progress" and "Work In Process" interchangeably in technical contexts. In an informal conversation it doesn't matter; when configuring a kanban board or discussing WIP limits, the distinction between the phase level and the chain level can be relevant for determining where the limit applies and what problem you are trying to solve.
See also
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