What does WIP stand for?

WIP stands for Work In Progress. It indicates that a task, code change, or project is currently being worked on but is not yet finished or ready for production use.

How do you use WIP in a pull request?

You can add WIP to the title of your pull request (for example, WIP: Add payment integration) or use the WIP feature in platforms like GitHub to indicate that your code is still being developed and should not be merged yet. This prevents accidental merging and lets reviewers know that more changes are coming.

What is a WIP limit and why is it important?

A WIP limit is the maximum number of tasks or items a person or team works on at the same time. Limiting WIP helps teams focus better, reduce context switching, and complete work faster. For example, if your WIP limit is 5, you should not start a new task until you have finished one of your current tasks.

Is WIP formal or informal?

WIP is casual and informal. It is used in everyday workplace communication, pull requests, and team conversations. While it is widely accepted in professional tech settings, it is less formal than saying in progress or under development.

What is the difference between WIP and MVP?

WIP (Work In Progress) is something that is incomplete and still being worked on. MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is a finished product with the fewest features needed to satisfy customers and gather feedback. An MVP is complete; WIP is not.

WIP meaning in tech — Speak Tech English

Commonness	5/5
Versatility	4/5
Formality	CasualFormalCasual
Spoken ↔ Written	SpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ Diplomatic	DirectDiplomaticDirect
Region	US and UK

Say it like this

✓This is still WIP, do not merge yet

✓Let me mark this as WIP for now

✓We have too much WIP in the pipeline

Real examples

in a standup

"I have the authentication feature as WIP and should have it ready for review by tomorrow."

in a pull request

"I am opening this as a WIP PR so you can give me feedback on my approach before I finish the implementation."

in a team meeting

"Our WIP limit is 8 items per developer, so we need to finish some tasks before starting new ones."

Don't say this

Handle with care. WIP is sometimes confused with MVP (Minimum Viable Product). WIP refers to something currently being worked on, while MVP is a complete product with minimal features.

✕This project is WIP so we can ship it this week.

✓This project is still WIP so we cannot ship it this week.— WIP means incomplete, so you cannot ship or release something that is WIP. You must finish it first.

✕The WIP is completed and ready to merge.

✓The code is completed and ready to merge, so we can remove the WIP tag.— Once something is finished, it is no longer WIP. You remove the WIP status when work is complete.

✕We released a WIP version to customers.

✓We released a production version to customers; the WIP is still in development.— WIP code should never reach customers. Only finished, tested code goes to production.

Other forms

abbreviation

WIP

"This feature is WIP and will be ready next sprint."

noun

WIP (as a noun phrase)

"We need to reduce our WIP to improve team velocity."

adjective

WIP (used as adjective)

"The WIP pull request needs more testing before it can be merged."

Often used with

mark as WIPTo indicate that something is not finished; used in pull requests and task tracking

WIP limitMaximum number of tasks a team member or team should work on at the same time

WIP PR (pull request)A pull request that is still being developed and not ready for review or merging

remove WIPTo take off the WIP status once work is complete and ready for next steps

WIP pipelineThe collection of all work in progress across a team or project

Similar words

in progressMore formal and descriptive; means the same thing but is longer and less commonly used in tech slang

draftOften used for documents or designs; implies something preliminary but not as commonly used in code development

under developmentMore formal and general; less specific than WIP in technical contexts

Opposites

completedshippedreleasedproduction-readyfinished

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. Your team member just opened a pull request with unfinished work. What is the most natural way to respond?

Merge this right away.This looks like WIP, so we should wait for more changes.This is not WIP, so ignore it.This feature is completed.

Complete the sentence

2. Please do not review this PR yet. I marked it as _______ because I am still making changes.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses WIP incorrectly?

The database migration is WIP and should be finished next week.We deployed the WIP version to production this morning.Our team uses WIP limits to avoid overloading developers.I marked the API endpoint as WIP in my pull request.

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this in natural tech English using WIP: 'The authentication system is not finished yet, so we should not let people use it.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "wip" in a standup this week?

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