Great Boards Have Nothing To Do With The Board

I am working with a team that has a great VMB. It's the first thing people say when they walk past and see a stand-up in progress - "what a fantastic VMB" they say. And it is indeed fantastic. It represents the team's work really well. It's clear and easy to understand. It shows obstacles and what the team is doing to overcome them. It really assists the team in their stand-ups. It facilitates discussions between the team and its stakeholders.

The next question people invariably ask is -"can we set up our board like that?" Of course they can. The VMB design isn't proprietary to the team. Anyone can use it. So they do. Copies of this fantastic board are springing up everywhere, but pretty soon they come back and say "there's something wrong. Our stand-ups don't flow as well as yours and the board just doesn't work. Have we copied something wrong?" Yes they have. They have copied the wrong thing entirely. The thing they haven't realized is that my team's fantastic board, and the fantastic stand-ups and discussions it facilitates, has nothing at all to do with the layout of the board, and everything to do with the performance of the team.

AgilityDave Martin18 March 2015visual management, teamComment

Let's Get Physical

At work I do a lot of stuff. I help teams produce software that is used by millions of people. When I am home on the weekend I do more work, but it's different work. I work with my hands producing things. Physical things. Although what I do at work is valuable (far more valuable in dollar terms than my attempts at DIY) I almost feel more of a sense of satisfaction at seeing a finished thing worth $50 roll out of my workshop than a million dollar project roll out of one of my teams. Because it's real. Because I can touch it and pick it up ( well, maybe pick it up... some of them are quite heavy). Because it is a physical thing.

AgilityDave Martin3 December 2013visual managementComment