Visual Management Gone Wild
A visual management system is a low-tech tool with a simple mission—to visually represent the work that the team is doing. When used regularly and correctly, it can be a project acceleration tool. However, teams often go wild with visuals, decorating every inch of free wall space with gridlines, Sticky Notes, and project stats until it looks like the arts and crafts store vomited all over the office. Nichole Vanderlaan refers to this as “wallpaper,” which is often static and fails to provide much benefit. She highlights common failure modes that result in wallpaper such as not huddling regularly, absence of shared team goals, and over complicated systems. The primary benefit of a visual management system is its impact on team behaviors such as team accountability over individual contributions, problem identification, and continuous improvement. Stop going wild with wallpaper and learn how to create a visual management system that drives team accountability and urgency.
Nichole Vanderlaan is an agile program manager whose management and military experiences have led her to play an instrumental role in an agile transformation. Her work varies from removing daily impediments to partnering with executives on improving planning and delivery. Nichole’s efforts as the champion of agile have created visibility and interest in agile across the company within IT, supply chain, finance, product development, marketing, and sales. When not on the water with her family or on a golf course, Nichole can often be found teaching agile via lunch and learns, book clubs, mentoring, and looking for broader opportunities to share her passion for agility.