How Ninety Uses Ninety: The 'Work in Progress' (WIP) Label

Today we're going to kick off a series highlighting the unique ways that Ninety uses Ninety to Get Smart Stuff Done™. The beauty of Ninety is that we can bend it to fit our needs – needs that may not fit into a traditional system but allow us to work smarter.

This week's focus on "How Ninety Uses Ninety" is on a trick we use when working through our Issue list – we call it a WIP, pronounced "whip," and it's short for "Work in Progress."

WIP It Good 

When discussing issues during our Weekly Meetings, we find that occasionally an Issue needs to be revisited, even if someone takes a To-Do to solve part of it. The Issue isn't really "solved," so we can't check it off, but it's also something that needs to happen in a tighter time frame than a long-term Issue. This situation is when we WIP the Issue – the Issue continues to live on, but we know that it's already been discussed and deserves an update in the coming weeks.

How do we WIP? 

WIPs are easy to apply – we simply place the letters "WIP:" at the beginning of the title, renaming it. Dropping this modification into the title is enough to signal where the Issue stands as we work through the Issues list during future Weekly Meetings. Leaving the Issue ranked as a 4 or 5 keeps it top of the list and top of mind.

There's no need to overthink it. It's simple to WIP an Issue, keeping it easily identifiable moving forward.

Example Situation 

Here's an example of a WIP in action. Let's say that we're getting ready to release a new product, and we want to create a thread of fresh content to accompany its release. New product releases are a relatively common occurrence here at Ninety, so a 90-day Rock timeline would be too drawn out to be practical, but a week-long To-Do isn't quite enough time to convey the importance of the Issue. It also isn't enough time to allow the owner to make proper progress and report back.

While this situation sounds like a highly specific set of circumstances, we often find ourselves running into the situation enough to merit a standard operating procedure around it. In fact, at any one time, we might have 2 or 3 WIPs per team being documented and managed in Ninety. 

Hopefully, this series of insights into how we tool Ninety to work for us can inspire others to realize the complete customizability of the platform and how we can bend it to fit our specific needs. Using WIP to navigate an Issue better might not work for how some companies operate,  but knowing there are no steadfast rules can be a freeing experience.

Sign up for a free trial with access to all of Ninety's functions, features, and support. We guarantee that you'll love it.