How to create a knowledge worker Gemba

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?

What makes a great company? Recognizing you are not one yet...

The statement in the title is true even for those that are commonly recognized as great, as they say "here today gone tomorrow". If you really want to be great you should not shout it out loud at every opportunity, you should recognize what your strengths are, play to them and always, always be on the look out for what you can learn to do better.

Follow the example of Toyota: get back to basics, visit the Gemba and be faithful to the only thing that can help you succeed: Learning.

The Demise of modern management

Modern managers think they are good and infallible because, after all, they were promoted or head-hunted to manage. Well, reality is a bit more complex than that. Managers can only do their job properly if they visit the Gemba often. You need to understand deeply the problems at hand before you can make good decisions. And this is true for all levels of management, but especially for the highest levels.

Modern managers, especially top-of-the-pyramid ones need to be more "workers" and less managers (which nowadays translates to bean-counters with fat wallets).