How to see workload per assignee in Jira

Q: Which status counts as in progress?

statusCategory = "In Progress" covers every status in that category, so you don’t have to list them by name.

By Kayabyte · Updated 4 November 2026

Short answer: Save a filter of open work, then add a Two dimensional filter statistics gadget to a dashboard with Assignee on one axis and Status or Project on the other. That shows how many work items each person holds, across projects. Use Workload pie chart only if your team keeps time estimates. Jira shows the numbers but doesn’t stop anyone from taking more.

Disclosure: I make Personal WIP Limits, a Jira app, mentioned at the end. Nothing before that section needs an app. I checked that these gadgets are available and that the JQL runs on a Jira Cloud test site on 4 November 2026.

First decide what workload means

Question	Measure	Use
Who’s juggling too much right now?	Work items in progress per person	Filter with status category In Progress
Who has the biggest queue?	Open work items per person	Filter with status category not Done
Who has the most hours left?	Remaining estimate per person	Workload pie chart, if you estimate
How is one person split across projects?	Work items per project and person	Two dimensional filter statistics

Counts are rough, because one large item can outweigh five small ones. They’re still the only measure that works without estimates.

Step 1: save a filter

For work in progress:

statusCategory = "In Progress" AND assignee is not EMPTY ORDER BY assignee

For everything still open:

statusCategory != Done AND assignee is not EMPTY ORDER BY assignee

To narrow it to one team, add a condition such as AND assignee in membersOf("your-team-group") or AND project in (WEB, API). Save it under Filters and share it with the people who will read the dashboard, or they’ll see an error on the gadget.

Step 2: choose a gadget

Add these from Dashboards → your dashboard → Edit → Add gadget:

Two dimensional filter statistics. The most useful one. Set your filter, Assignee on one axis, and Status or Project on the other. You get a table with a row per person, and it works across projects.
Pie chart. Set the statistic type to Assignee for a quick picture of how work is split. It shows shares, not whether anyone is overloaded.
Work item statistics. A plain list of counts per assignee, good for a small dashboard.
Workload pie chart. It reads time fields rather than counts, so it tells you little if your team doesn’t estimate.
Filter results. The actual work items, for when you want to see what’s behind a number.

Step 3: agree what “too much” looks like

A table only helps if someone reads it. Pick a number with the team, such as three items in progress, and look at the table in stand-up or planning. For the reasoning behind per-person limits, see Kanban WIP limit per person in Jira.

What this won’t do

It doesn’t stop anything. People can still pick up a fourth or tenth item. For the options that warn or block, see how to set a WIP limit per person.
It reflects what’s assigned. Work done on behalf of someone else, or waiting unassigned, doesn’t count towards anyone.
It isn’t capacity planning. It doesn’t know about holidays, part-time schedules or meetings. For planning hours ahead, look at Plans in Jira or a resource planning app.

If you want a limit, not just a table

Personal WIP Limits is the app I make for that. It adds a workflow rule to the transitions that start work. When the assignee is at their limit, Jira refuses the move and says why.

The limit counts work items in progress, across all projects or per project, and you can exempt groups.
It doesn’t plan capacity or show hours. It won’t replace the dashboard above, and it doesn’t check when an item already in progress is reassigned.
It’s new and has no reviews yet.

It’s on the Atlassian Marketplace.

FAQ

How do I see how many tickets each person has in Jira? Save a filter of open work and add a Two dimensional filter statistics or Pie chart gadget, grouped by Assignee.

Can I see workload across several projects? Yes. Dashboard gadgets use the filter, so include the projects you want in its JQL, and put Project on the second axis.

Which status counts as in progress? statusCategory = "In Progress" covers every status in that category, so you don’t have to list them by name.

Can Jira limit how many items a person has? Not with built-in settings. Column limits count a column, not a person.

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