Reduce your Team's Work in Progress (WIP)

🛠️ About the “Reduce Your Team’s WIP” Template

Nothing slows down a team more than having too much work in progress (WIP). Do you struggle to achieve your Sprint Goal? Are your team members working in silos on unrelated topics with little collaboration? Does work constantly spill over into the next Sprint, never really getting done? Is everyone busy, but the team makes little meaningful progress?

If this sounds familiar, this template is for you.

Working on too many things at once creates high context-switching costs. According to Gerald Weinberg’s research, switching between just two work domains leads to 20% waste. Juggle four, and you’re already losing 60% of your productive time. That alone is reason enough to rethink how your team works.

But breaking old habits and expectations is hard — especially when the chaos feels normal.

That’s where this template — and the idea of Hummingbird Scrum — comes in.

🧠 Inspiration: Hummingbird vs. Anaconda Scrum

This template is inspired by a concept introduced by Maarten Dalmijn in his book Driving Value with Sprint Goals. He contrasts two approaches to Scrum:

• Anaconda Scrum – rigid, overloaded planning with little room to adapt

• Hummingbird Scrum – flexible, focused, and responsive to change

I’ve added a third, more painful reality that many Scrum teams will recognize:

A chaotic, scattered version of Scrum that leads to low delivery and high frustration.

This template helps your team visualize these modes of working, identify your current state, and improve over time.

👥 Who is this template for?

This template is for any team that works iteratively toward goals — not just Scrum teams.

Whether you’re a Scrum Master, Developer, Product Owner, or even outside of Scrum entirely — if your team works in iterations and toward shared goals, this template can help.

⚠️ If you don’t work in iterations, this template probably won’t benefit you.

🧭 How to use the “Reduce Your Team’s WIP” Template

1. Explore the Three Scrum Modes

Read through the first three sections to understand the differences between:

• Hummingbird Scrum

• Anaconda Scrum

• The dysfunctional “Overload” version

Discuss these differences together as a team. Which one feels most familiar?

2. Assess Your Current Situation

In the fourth section, use the Sprint Boards to model how your team currently works. You don’t need to match the exact number of backlog items — instead, focus on reflecting your typical approach.

💡 Use the light bulb icons to leave comments explaining your way of working.

🎚 Use the slider to indicate where your team falls — more Hummingbird or more Anaconda?

3. Start Your First Iteration

Now that you’re aware of your WIP patterns, start experimenting! Use the section 5 to reflect after your next Sprint or iteration. Be honest — you probably won’t achieve Hummingbird Scrum right away. But maybe you’re one step closer.

🎚 Use the slider again to reflect on your progress.

💡 Use the light bulbs to capture what worked and what didn’t.

4. Inspect & Adapt

Keep experimenting in future iterations. Use the lower sections of the template to document changes, observations, and outcomes.

Ask yourself:

• How is our working style evolving?

• What changes are we making to reduce WIP?

• What impact are we seeing?

Continue inspecting and adapting — and watch your team’s focus, flow, and delivery improve.

✅ Final Notes

This template is not about being perfect. It’s about building awareness and starting the conversation. It helps teams reflect on their current state and deliberately reduce work in progress to achieve more with less effort.