The elections-canvass support board shows WIP limits, but the team pulls past them whenever a new ticket arrives. What should the SM/TC focus on?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A WIP number nobody honors is wallpaper. Limits only work when the team stops and talks before pulling the next canvass ticket. Policies plus daily management beat pretty digits.
Full Explanation
WIP numbers that nobody honors need coaching of active management of the limits with explicit pull policies—not decorative numbers. A WIP number nobody honors is wallpaper. Limits only work when the canvass or service team stops and talks before pulling the next item, especially under elections or other high-visibility civic pressure.
Raising every limit until the board never shows a violation fails because eliminating signals destroys the control system. Hiding the numbers because they embarrass the supervisor fails because embarrassment is not a reason to remove transparency. Replacing WIP limits with a daily status slide for the director fails because slides are not a pull system.
Exam caveat: visualization without behavior change is theater; coaches insist on the stop-and-discuss moment. Operational check: facilitate pull-policy agreements, practice stopping at the limit in team sync, keep limits visible, and escalate chronic override patterns as process impediments rather than quietly inflating numbers. Active limit management is a coaching habit: celebrate the stop-and-talk, not the board that never turns red. Active limit management is a coaching habit: celebrate the stop-and-talk, not the board that never turns red.