Limit the Work in Progress

One of the most powerful ideas in agile approaches is to limit what a team works on for now. Iteration-based agile approaches limit WIP by timeboxing the work. Flow-based agile approaches create explicit WIP limits.

When the team limits its work in some way, the team is more likely to finish the work it does. The team is more likely to use technical excellence as it completes work.

Consider creating a kanban board so the team can see its flow. On that board, create WIP limits. Make sure the WIP limits are no higher than the number of people on the team, divided by two. That will force people to collaborate on a limited amount of work.