Discussion: How (well) can you do Visual Management when working remote?

In this article, I'd like to discuss ways to implement Visual Management methods, Gemba Walks and Team Standards when working remotely. 

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❓One of the things that I don't have much real-life feedback to yet is how much you can replace absolutely recommendable visual ways of working, when everybody is working distributed and remote? 

Following are three areas: Project rooms (Obeya) and team boards - Gemba Walks as a leader - and Team Standards - each with my thoughts

➡️ What are your ideas - and what is your experience, if you have it yet?

I'm talking about knowledge workers here, so: people who are working on computers plus communicating, not involved in physical work. 

... I think being physically present 2 or 3 days per week will allow most of good Lean team-working and leadership practices to still work. With deductions even 1 day per week ... but how close to that can you come "purely remote"?

 
Project rooms (Obeya) and team boards

⚡I don't see any real substitute for this great tool in a digital form. I don't think that Miro or other digital whiteboards can create the same kind of "wide-screen everything in one place" overview. Or do you have experience?

➡️ Actually, I would try to create team boards, project boards, A3 boards etc. also with a virtual team, since I don't know a better way. Or do you?

As a leader:

How do you "go to the Gemba" to really observe and be with your team/employees when they work? This intense support in presence can be 30 - 50 % of a leader's time every day!

⚡ ... the individual 1:1 support seems the most difficult to me remotely; I ask myself if it doesn't easily lead to high effort and awkwardness ...

➡️ so do you really schedule basically daily (?) 1:1 video calls ("Check Ins") with your employees where you walk through tasks, projects, improvements/problem solving and challenges? ...

➡️ do you include metrics, review tickets and lead more outcome-oriented?

As team members: 

⚡I see the risk that standards and good ways of working will fall apart, since employees work "just on their own" even more and don't exchange on how best to do certain processes 

➡️ An antidote to this that I have heard of in practice is people still doing pairing and peer reviews, just via video conference 

➡️ Also, standards can be documented and reviewed by the group with and without the leader about the same as in presence - just on video calls with shared documents/online whiteboards. Tickets, issues etc. can be analyzed for trends and improvements. 

Further possible formats and tools that I see are 

• Daily online Stand-ups or short sessions
• Knowledge-sharing sessions
• Problem-solving and improvement sessions (team with or without leader)
• Feedback surveys on workload, challenges, and areas for improvement. 

What do you think or can add? 

Regards, 

Thorsten Speil  

PS the core pillars of Lean are Respect for People and Improvement. Not "respect for people who you think are like you." To all people, everywhere. This is the only way to improvement: working together. I wish you good luck all these times to promote this in society against those that want to push their own power and ego at the cost of others, by division and trying to get "more" by taking it from others. 

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