Feature idea: WIP limits

[aaronkurz]

It would be very useful to be able to set a WIP limit (work in progress limit), that enables us to set a limit of how many items can be in one "column" (probably most useful for "doing column", but also for other colums).

This is important since it is one if the central ideas of Kanban board. See here:

As described in books on Kanban for software development,[4][3] the two primary practices of Kanban are to visualize your work and limit work in progress (WIP).

Importance: High

Use cases:

1. Managing (mental) workload
2. Helps keep task list SMART
3. If used in physical production, helps minimize resources and therefore capital kept "in production"

[chenilim]

Thanks @aaronkurz! That's a great idea. Some quick thoughts on how Focalboard could implement this:

• Add additional column summary metrics (currently the number above columns show the card count)
  • E.g. sum of "estimate" property, etc.
• Add a "warning limit" setting per column
• E.g. show warning if sum of estimate >= 40
• That could turn the indicator or column red for example

I'm not sure if we should forcibly enforce the limit (e.g. prevent cards from being dragged), but setting up warnings per view could be very handy.

Appreciate other thoughts. Has anyone seen this implemented in other systems?

[mblennegard]

Maybe this could go hand in hand with issue #342. The calculated / expression property type could be used for rolling up the number of cards in a particular filter, e.g. the count in the current column, which could then be used for setting the warning.

[tomdavidson]

Without WIP limits (enforceable), then its really just a to-do list. Superscribing to this older issue because virtually all the other "kanbans" out there are really just fancy to-do lists like Trello.