As stated earlier, one of the key differences between Scrum and Kanban is that Scrum limits the amount of work per iteration and Kanban limits the amount of work per workflow status. This is done by setting column constraints. Column constraints tell Jira the maximum and/or the minimum number of issues that should be in a column at any given time.

To set up column constraints, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the Kanban board you want to customize.
2. Click on the Board drop-down menu and select the Configure option.
3. Select Columns from the left-hand navigation menu.
4. Choose how you want the column constraint to be calculated from the Column Constraint field. If you select the None option, column constraints will not be applied to this board.
5. Set the minimum and maximum constraint value for the status in its corresponding columns. For example, as shown in the following screenshot, for the Selected for Development column, the team should have a minimum of five issues, and no more than ten issues in the status:

Once you have set the minimum and maximum constraints for workflow statuses, the Kanban board will let you know if those constraints are violated. For example, as shown in the following screenshot, we only have one issue in the Selected for Development status, which has a minimum constraint of five issues, and so the column is highlighted in yellow.

We also have six issues in the In Progress status, which has a maximum constraint of five issues, so the column is highlighted in red:

When you start seeing these constraint violations, it means the team should start reassessing the current workload. Remember, the goal with Kanban is to help you identify and improve efficiency, not get in the way of your work.