Following the light accompaniment kick-off (which I had described in this article), the next module goes into a little more detail on what Visual Management is. To do this, a combination of theory + practice was required and it seems to me today difficult to miss the excellent " To the blackboard ", workshopAlexandre Boutin. I will therefore focus on this practical part here to describe a typical process and the learning that participants can draw from it.
Good reading ! 🙂
You can find the original instructions on the Alexandre Boutin's blog.
Material
- Post-its of different colors, sizes, shapes
- Colored markers
- Painter's tape, patafix
- Various stickers or stickers
- Flipchart sheets
- Instruction sheets for the participants (provide several copies per team)
- Set of 12 books per team
- Walls available
Keep in mind that the more varied the material provided, the more participants will have the opportunity to let their creativity run wild! Test and you will gauge for yourself what seems most important to you to guarantee quality learning for the participants.
I who in my first animations never brought stickers, they have almost become my essentials now! 😉
The workshop
The objective of the workshop is very simple: visually represent textual information.
To do this, the participants will evolve in 2 iterations including:
- a production phase: where they will work to visually represent the instructions that will have been provided to them
- a review phase: where they will take a moment to discuss with the other teams (and/or the facilitator)
In terms of duration, so that the workshop lasts in an hour, I carry out iterations of 15′ (production) + 10′ (review) with therefore ten minutes of slack to manage the imponderables and give myself a little flexibility in animation! 🙂
Otherwise, I find that a duration of 1h30 can be relevant to obtain more successful results and exchanges that are all the more enriching.
A process
Despite the simplicity of the objective, it often happens that participants are biased by their Scrum or Kanban knowledge and try at all costs to rebuild something they know. I therefore make sure each time to make it clear at the start that the objective is simply to visually reproduce the information that will be written on the instruction sheets. 🙂
After distributing the instruction sheets, I show all the participants that all the material is gathered in the same place so that everyone can come and help themselves. I insist on the fact that everything available is made to be used: indeed, I realized that giving permissions could radically change behavior in the workshop, so why deprive yourself of it? 😉
Let's start with a 1 hour workshop configuration with 2 teams (3-6 people per team)
1st iteration: progress report
The 1st iteration aims to make the participants represent the progress of the different works: we then mean process, granularity, state, allocation…
Production (15′)
Typically, the participants all gather around a table or stick the instruction on the wall to be able to discover the content together.
For my part, I observe and listen to the different groups to note the way in which they construct their strategy. Generally, the groups stay thinking and developing their plans for a while. The reminder of the remaining time sometimes helps them get moving: besides, I do a reminder at 10′, 7′, 5′, 3′, 2′, 1′ roughly. 😛
If a group still hasn't moved about halfway through, I insist on taking a first step and posting items on the wall to start seeing things. This sometimes allows groups that still disagree on details to put in place what they already agree on! 😀
Now, I have already had bands that, despite multiple reminders, only started posting things around 3′ and therefore didn't have much to “show” during the review. Even if this is an apprenticeship, I think it's a case to be avoided as much as possible because it would take time away from the second iteration to catch up, while it has a different perspective.
Review (10′)
As for Top Chef, I ask everyone to stop at the allotted time! Everyone takes a step back on their production and we move towards one or the other production. Each team will therefore have a time of 5′ to share and get feedback.
To get to the point, I then ask the teams to explain the logic of their production rather than explaining the content (similar to the 2 teams).
Indeed, we especially want to know how they represented the different states of the elements, the double granularity (works and works), who is working on what… rather than knowing that a work has 2 works in progress and 1 finished! 😛
I also allow myself to structure the feedback by asking these 2 questions to the other team:
- What are the things that you find good in this production?
- What suggestions for improvement could you offer?
All this to get people used to building their feedback in a positive way and maximizing constructive feedback.
It is during this first review that the teams generally realize that despite similar instructions, the solutions can sometimes vary completely, the logic of the strategy depending on the team which implements it.
The idea of the review is therefore not to report on what has been done, but really share strategy of each of the teams to draw out good ideas and improve.
2nd iteration: situations
The second iteration has updated item progression, but I generally ask participants to focus on the requirements at the end. Indeed, these are usual situations that can be encountered in teams and this is for me where we want to challenge the participants in the visual representation: we therefore hear here emergencies, absences, newcomers, dependencies, problems...
Production (15′)
The second phase of production is generally much more dynamic in the sense that everyone left with new ideas and with a new challenge.
Most teams continue on the basis of what they built in the first iteration: a common human cognitive bias in the sense that we don't like to throw things that we put effort into even if we know that this does not completely suit us. Now, it is interesting to discuss with the teams who actually choose to start over again following their previous learning.
We also see new “zones” appearing on visual management: a legend, calendars for absences, a list of team members, a space for points of attention, etc.
This is typically what we want to share in this 2nd iteration: visual management is not reduced to a simple table with columns indicating the progression of elements. It is possible for us to materialize many more things allowing in the blink of an eye to have the maximum of (relevant) information, thus encouraging better decision-making because informed, collective and shared.
Review (10′)
The second review is generally easier in the sense that the participants already know the process.
We focus once again on the logic of each of the productions and we share on how to visually represent the different information.
I usually close the 2nd review by inviting each team to take a step back from their production and by asking them the following question:
Imagine that your manager asks you for a status on your project. Looking at your visual management, what can you tell it in a few minutes?
This is where the teams realize the effectiveness (or not) of their production structure. Can they find the relevant information? Is it sufficiently structured so as not to require too much additional explanation? Do they have a sufficiently high-level vision to give a status in a few minutes? 🙂
Learnings
The benefit of experimentation
A bit like the Marshmallow Challenge, it is the desire to find THE right solution the first time that prevents the teams from getting moving at the start. Yet they soon realize that it's when they start putting things on the wall that the real collaboration begins. Indeed, at the start when the members of the team are around a table, the instructions are not in the right direction, there is not always room for everyone and therefore the commitment of the whole n is not optimal. In addition, we often have debates on solutions which, as long as they are not implemented, are based only on personal feelings.
So experiment to see together, learn together and act together. 😉
Visual management is not that simple...
Continuing the experimentation, we quickly realize that finding a common visual management for a team is not something obvious.
This is also supported by the observation that each team obtains a different result while the instructions are exactly the same. So there are plenty of good practices, but the important thing is to find those that correspond locally to the team that will use them.
We observe in the different productions that for the same information, different means have been used to visualize it: colors, stickers, spaces...
… but it must be kept simple!
The simpler visual management is, the more flexible it is to evolve. We can see it between the 2 iterations when teams restrict themselves to their first design while others decide to completely rethink their production. We must not forget that visual management is a team tool and therefore for this tool to be used, it must first be useful and usable ! Start small, scale it up like that if you have to start over, the emotional cost will probably be less! 😉
Examples of realization
Conclusion
To the blackboard is a very rich workshop allowing participants to discover the power of visual management through practice. It is quite simple to animate and I find it rather pleasant in terms of rhythm and exchanges with the participants.
I therefore highly recommend it for your future workshops (if you haven't already!). For my part, it is already an integral part of my Scrum / Kanban training 🙂
Thank you again Alexander for this share!
