# Jira: Kanban Board with WIP Limits and Cycle Time

> A beginner Jira walkthrough on real screens: set up a Kanban board whose columns match your support process, cap In Progress with a WIP limit, see what…

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/jira-kanban-wip-limits · Updated 2026-10-23 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/jira-kanban-wip-limits)

[Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/jira-for-beginners/2)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Jira. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 12 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/jira-kanban-wip-limits)

Free · Live now · [Project management](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/project-management) · [Jira](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/jira) · ~12 min · 22 steps · Beginner

Updated October 23, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

A beginner Jira walkthrough on real screens: set up a [Kanban board](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/kanban-board) whose columns match your support process, cap In Progress with a [WIP limit](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/wip-limit), see what happens when you go over it, and read the cumulative flow diagram. Jira Free.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | A beginner Jira walkthrough on real screens: set up a Kanban board whose columns match your support process, cap In Progress with a WIP limit, see what happens when you go over it, and read the cumulative flow diagram. Jira Free. |
| Tools | Jira |
| Time | About 12 minutes, 22 steps in 5 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/jira-kanban-wip-limits) |

### The 5 parts, in short

1. Create a Kanban space: Pick Kanban, Use template, Name it and create it.
2. Match the columns to your process: Add a column, Name the status, Pick its category, It lands after Done, and 2 more steps.
3. Add the requests: Add six requests.
4. Set a WIP limit: Open In Progress actions, Set column limit, Maximum 4, Start four requests, and 2 more steps.
5. Read the flow: Find the reports, Reports, Add to navigation, More reports, and 2 more steps.

**Start here first:** [Jira: Plan and Run Your First Sprint](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/jira-scrum-first-sprint) (module 1 of Project management)

## What you'll build

Your 4-person support team has 8 or more requests each and takes about a week to close them. In this lesson you build a Kanban board on [Jira](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/jira)’s free plan with a Waiting on customer column, put a limit of 4 on In Progress, go over it to see how Jira warns you, and add the Reports view to read the cumulative flow diagram. Every screen is a real Jira screen.

You created a Kanban space, added a Waiting on customer column and moved it before Done, added six requests, set a maximum of 4 on In Progress and saw the red warning at 5, then added Reports and read the cumulative flow diagram, where the widening In Progress band shows the pile-up. Now set it up on your own Jira site: the lesson page has the checklist.

- Tools: Jira
- Time: about 12 minutes, 22 steps in 5 chapters
- Level: beginner, no coding needed
- Price: free

## Practice first, then build it for real

Practice copy built from real Jira Cloud screens (Free plan, captured 22 October 2026). Nothing here touches your Jira site. The Support practice space is practice data. To build it for real you need your own Jira account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Jira, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Jira: Kanban Board with WIP Limits and Cycle Time”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/jira-kanban-wip-limits)

## Step by step: Jira: Kanban Board with WIP Limits and Cycle Time

All 22 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. Create a Kanban space

1. **Pick Kanban.** In Jira, click **+** next to **Spaces**, then **Software development**. Click **Kanban**: a board of to do, doing and done, with no [sprints](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/sprint).
   Create a space, Software development, then click Kanban.
2. **Use template.** The features include **Limit work in progress**. Click **Use template**.
3. **Name it and create it.** Name it **Support practice** (key **SP**) and choose **Team-managed**. Click **Next**, **Next**, then **I’ll do this later** to skip invites.
   Name it Support practice, Team-managed. Then Next, Next, and skip the invites.

### 2. Match the columns to your process

4. **Add a column.** The board starts with **To Do**, **In Progress** and **Done**. Your requests also wait on customers, so add a column: click **+** after Done.
   Your requests also wait on customers.
5. **Name the status.** Type **Waiting on customer** and click **Create ‘Waiting on customer’ status**.
6. **Pick its category.** Under **Status category**, pick **In progress**: the request is still open, just not with your team. Then click **Submit**.
   Set the category to In progress. It is still open work. Then Submit.
7. **It lands after Done.** The new column appears after **Done**, which reads wrong. Hover its header and click **•••** (More actions).
   It lands after Done.
8. **Move column left.** Click **Move column left**. (Dragging the header works too.)
9. **Create a request.** Now the columns read **To Do**, **In Progress**, **Waiting on customer**, **Done**. Click **+** at the bottom of **To Do** to add a request.
   Now the columns match the real process.

### 3. Add the requests

10. **Add six requests.** Type a request, such as "Refund request: order 1042", and press **Enter**. The box stays open, so add five more.
    Then add five more.

### 4. Set a WIP limit

11. **Open In Progress actions.** Six requests in **To Do**. Your team is 4 people, so In Progress should hold at most 4. Hover the **In Progress** header and click **•••**.
    Four people, so at most four in progress.
12. **Set column limit.** Click **Set column limit**.
13. **Maximum 4.** The dialog has **Minimum** and **Maximum**. Type **4** in **Maximum** and click **Save**.
14. **Start four requests.** A small limit icon now sits on the **In Progress** header. Move four requests into In Progress: drag them, or use each card’s **•••** > **Change status** > **In Progress**.
    Move four requests into In Progress.
15. **Start one more.** In Progress shows **4**: at the limit. Now start a fifth one anyway: move **SP-5** to In Progress.
    Four, at the limit. Now start a fifth one anyway.
16. **See the warning.** Jira lets you do it: the count says **5** and the limit icon turns **red**. It warns, it doesn’t block, so the limit is a team agreement the board makes visible. Click the red icon.
    Jira doesn’t block you. The limit icon just turns red. The limit is a team agreement.

### 5. Read the flow

17. **Find the reports.** **Board insights** (the chart button) shows time spent in status. For the full charts, add the **Reports** view: click **+** at the end of the tabs.
    For the full charts, add the Reports view.
18. **Reports.** Click **Reports**.
19. **Add to navigation.** Click **Add to navigation**. Reports becomes a tab.
20. **More reports.** The **Project and team overview** includes a **Work item cycle time** chart once work reaches Done. Click **More reports**.
    The overview has a cycle time chart.
21. **Cumulative flow diagram.** Kanban spaces get the **Cumulative flow diagram** and a **Cycle Time Report** (the sprint reports need sprints). Click **Cumulative flow diagram**.
22. **Read the bands.** One coloured band per column. The **In Progress** band keeps getting wider: work is piling up there, which is exactly what the WIP limit is for. Click the **In Progress** band.
    A band that keeps getting wider shows where work piles up. Here, In Progress.

## Screenshots

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/jira-kanban-wip-limits)

- Previous in Project management: [Jira: Plan and Run Your First Sprint](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/jira-scrum-first-sprint)
- Next in Project management: [Trello: Track Client Onboarding on One Team Board](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/trello-client-onboarding)

## More in Project management

- [Trello: Mark Work Complete Automatically with a Free Rule](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/trello-butler-done-rule): A beginner Trello automation on real screens: one free rule that marks every card complete the moment it reaches Done, so the board stays true without anyone tidying…

[All 4 modules in Project management](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/project-management)

## Free cheat sheet

Print it or save the PDF: the key steps and checks from this lesson on one page, free.

- [Jira Cheat Sheet: Sprints, Story Points, Kanban, WIP](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets/jira-sprint-and-kanban): A free one-page Jira cheat sheet: create a space, fill and run a sprint, story points, a Kanban board with a WIP limit, and the reports that show progress.

[All free printable cheat sheets](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/cheat-sheets)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[WIP limit](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/wip-limit) · [Kanban board](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/kanban-board) · [Sprint](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/sprint)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

## Browse related tutorials

[Project management (4)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/course/project-management) · [Jira tutorials (2)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/tool/jira)

Want AI working like this in your business? Robert Breen, the instructor behind this lesson, helps small and mid-sized teams put AI assistants, agents and automations to work. [Work with Robert on AI consulting](https://ynteractive.com/)