A good solution would be:
If the Review column exceeds its WIP limit, I would stop pulling new work into Review and focus the team on clearing the bottleneck. The goal is to finish and move existing work forward before starting or adding more work.
Step-by-step action
| Step | What I would do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stop adding more items to Review | Do not move another story into Review until space is available. | WIP limits are meant to prevent overload. |
| 2. Swarm on Review work | Developers/testers/team members help review, test, or validate the items already in Review. | The team should focus on finishing work, not starting more work. |
| 3. Identify the bottleneck | Ask why Review is overloaded: not enough reviewers? unclear acceptance criteria? testing environment issue? too many stories completed at once? | The team needs to fix the cause, not only move cards. |
| 4. Prioritize review items | Review the highest-priority or most urgent items first. | This keeps customer/business value moving. |
| 5. Resolve blockers | If an item is stuck because of missing information, failed test, or unclear requirement, assign someone to resolve it. | Blocked items should not silently sit in Review. |
| 6. Move completed items to Done | Once a story meets acceptance criteria and Definition of Done, move it to Done. | This frees Review capacity. |
| 7. Improve the process | After the issue is cleared, discuss why Review exceeded the limit and adjust the workflow if needed. | Continuous improvement prevents the same problem from repeating. |
Example answer
Suppose the Review WIP limit is 2, but there are 4 items in Review.
I would not allow another item to move from In Progress to Review. Instead, the team should help complete the review of the 4 existing items. If the issue is that only one person is doing all reviews, another qualified team member should help. If the issue is unclear acceptance criteria, the Product Owner should clarify them. Once two items pass review and meet the Definition of Done, they can move to Done, and then new items may enter Review.
Best short answer for students
If Review exceeds its WIP limit, the team should stop starting new work, focus on finishing the items already in Review, identify and remove the bottleneck, and only move new items into Review when capacity becomes available. The team should also discuss the cause and improve the process so the overload does not continue.
REF: AI Tools/ChatGPT
