Column Group WIP Limits (CONWIP)

Where configured	«Board Settings» → «Columns» → «Column group WIP limits» or Board toolbar → «Jira Helper» → «Column WIP Limits» tab
Where visible	Board (detail view)
Settings apply to	For the whole team

Purpose

Group multiple columns under a single work-in-progress limit, so cards across those columns count toward a shared cap. Optional scope by swimlane and issue type, plus visual per-group coloring and overload alerts.

Ready to Test + Testing3/5

Code review + In progress5/3

Backlog

Ready to Test

Testing

Code review

In progress

Done

PROJ-3

PROJ-5

PROJ-1

PROJ-4

PROJ-2

PROJ-6

PROJ-12

PROJ-7

PROJ-8

PROJ-9

Left: group «Ready to Test + Testing» — 3 tickets, limit 5 (within limit). Right: group «Code review + In progress» — 5 tickets, limit 3 (overload).

How to configure

Where to find settings

The column WIP limits dialog opens in two ways:

Via «Board Settings»:

1. Open «Board settings» for your Scrum or Kanban board.
2. Go to the «Columns» tab.
3. Click «Column group WIP limits».

Via the Jira Helper panel on the board:

1. On the board toolbar, open the «Jira Helper» panel.
2. Switch to the «Column WIP Limits» tab.

Both methods open the same dialog.

How to configure

In the dialog you can:

• Create a group: drag a column into the empty area and name the group. The group gets a shared WIP limit — issues across all group columns are counted together.
• Add columns to a group: drag more columns from the list into a group.
• Set a limit: enter the maximum number of issues allowed across the group's columns.
• Choose a color: pick a color for the group's column headers — helps visually distinguish groups on the board. If skipped, a color is chosen automatically from the group name.
• Choose swimlane scope: restrict the limit to specific swimlanes.
• Choose issue types: specify which issue types (Bug, Task, Story, etc.) count toward the group's limit.

Click «Save» to store the configuration for the entire team on this board.

How to use

• On the board, each column group shows a current / limit badge on its first column header.
• Grouped column headers are styled with the group's color so the group is easy to identify.
• When a group exceeds its limit, affected column areas turn red to make the overload obvious.
• If subtask counting is enabled in the board's column settings, subtasks are also counted toward the limit.

Usage scenarios

• "I want to limit the total work-in-progress across Dev + Code Review + Testing as one shared cap."
• "I want bugs in the development columns to count separately from feature tasks."