The following is a very simple suggested order of work for #Kanban teams that has worked for me in the past:
- Fix an unhealthy increment (broken build, recently introduced defects, etc.)
- Help remove a flag (Block)
- Help an existing swarm move their work forward
- Refill a queue (if low before the bottleneck) but don’t exceed the WIP Limit
- Start a new item. However, if all at limits, join an existing swarm
The guiding principle is to start new work if and only if you cannot contribute to the completion of an item already in-progress.