What a wip run chart is
A WIP run chart tracks how many items are in progress each day alongside their average age, against an explicit WIP limit. Rising WIP with rising age is the clearest early warning that a team has started more than it can finish.
When to use one
- Diagnosing why cycle time is climbing despite the team being busy
- Making the case for a WIP limit to people who think more parallel work means more output
- Monitoring whether a newly introduced WIP limit is actually being honoured
The data format
Optional 'limit, N'. Then one day per line: Day, WIPCount, AvgAgeDays.
Paste rows like this — copy the example straight into the builder to see it render:
limit, 8 Mon, 5, 2 Tue, 6, 2.5 Wed, 8, 3 Thu, 9, 4 Fri, 7, 5 Mon, 6, 4 Tue, 5, 3
How to make one
- Paste your data into the Studio, or upload a CSV or XLSX file.
- Set your colours — by hand, from pasted brand hex codes, or extracted from your logo.
- Generate and export as PNG or SVG for your deck or report.
One thing people get wrong. Average age matters more than count. Five items averaging two days is a healthy team; five averaging fifteen is five stalled items.
Why it runs in your browser
Charts are parsed and drawn entirely on your own device. No rows, files or logos are uploaded, so a wip run chart built from confidential project or process data never touches a server. You can verify it: open your browser's network tab while you generate one.