I am a big fan of the work by Jim Benson and Tonianne Barry ever since I read their book: Personal Kanban.
In this article Jim describes an idea that I would like to highlight and expand. He says: we need a knowledge worker Gemba. He goes on to describe how to create that Gemba:
- Create a workcell for knowledge work: Where you can actually observe the team work and interact
- Make work explicit: Without being able to visualize the work in progress, you will not be able to understand the impact of certain dynamics between the team members. Also, you will miss the necessary information that will allow you to understand the obstacles to flow in the team – what prevents value from being delivered.
These are just some steps you can take right now to understand deeply how work gets done in your team, your organization or by yourself if you are an independent knowledge worker. This understanding, in turn will help you define concrete changes to the way work gets done in a way that can be measured and understood.
I’ve tried the same idea for my own work and described it here. How about you? What have you tried to implement to create visibility and understanding in your work?