Poka Yoke eða error proofing, þýðir að hanna hlutina þannig að ekki sé hægt að gera þá vitlausan máta. Á ferð minni til skotlands þá borðaði ég tvenns konar hafragraut, annan sem hafði línuna utan á og erfitt var að mæla vatnið og hinn þar sem línan var innan á og því auðvelt að sjá hvort að nægilegt vatn hafi verið hellt á.

Þegar ég var á fótboltaleik með fjölskyldunni þá gat ég ekki annað en dáðst af hvernig sjónræn stjórnun er notuð þarna. Fyrst af öllu er það að sjálfsögðu völlurinn, línurnar og mörkin á honum. Liðin eru í mismunandi litum ásamt dómurum. Fyrirliðinn er með sér tákn fyrir sig og markverðir í öðrum búningi. Gefin eru gul og rauð spjöld af dómurum. Þegar komið var inn á völlin voru allar merkingar góðar til þess að koma öllum sem fyrst á sinn stað. Síðan var það öryggisgæslan sem var öll í skærgulum úlpum og voru við alla útganga. Líka fyndið að sjá aukna öryggisgæslu hjá aðdáendum mótherjanna :)

Þegar við fórum á AME 2017 í Boston þá fengum við að heimsækja lean.org. Það var frábær ferð, við hittum m.a. Jim Womack og sáum hvernig þeir nýta sér lean hugmyndafræðina í skrifstofu umhverfi. Hér að neðan eru þær myndir sem við tókum af töflum og þeirri sjónrænni stjórnun sem þeir nota hjá sér. 

​Many organisations are using visual management tools for the management of their projects. Unfortunately, most of them are not able to sustain for a long time and everything goes back to computers and long meetings.
The reason can be that employees are not properly trained to use the boards and that they don’t to the PDCA cycle to improve it when it fails. The organisation needs to avoid the misunderstandings with the system if they want to gain the following amazing benefits. 

​With the help of visual management boards, you can display the importance and metrics of the tasks. It should display all the required measurements and goals that the employees have to meet in the limited time. All the goals and targets should be clearly mentioned so the employees and managers are all on the same page.  

​One of the best things about the visual management tools is that they will clarify the present condition related to the management of the projects. It will show that which employees are over loaded and the others that have room to take more on. In this way, one tries to balance the load on the team and “pull” new projects out of all the task when one is completed.  

​The biggest attraction of the visual management is that it will display the entire plan on to the board. In the past, most of the employees often did not receive the plan due to which the progress was delayed. However, now everyone will get the access to the plans and so the team sees the goal together, then they can work on it together and they all know it.

A common issue in the organisational environment is that most of the companies do not pay attention to the risk factors and ideas their employees have. Lack of communication increases the issues and projects are not accomplished in time. However, now with visual management boards, it will become easier to communicate on all levels. Leaders will listen to what others have to say and it will build trust within the company. The structure should also be built to cascade up and down the organisational chart so if front line staff can not complete a task it will be put on the board above their level. Coaching is also an important factor in this as coaching and problem solving needs to happen at each level.

​When everything will be properly managed, and the projects will be completed on time, there should be a higher chance that your projects will be successful. It will allow the companies to gain the satisfaction of their clients and customers. In this way, the company will have a positive image and their revenue will enhance. 

When you have planned to implement the visual management tool in the office to improve the workflow. There are a few things you have to consider to assure that the system will be used successfully.
Assure that your visual tool is aligned with the visual state of future design. There should a normal and abnormal flow within the design of the system. The tool should show the employees what they will be doing next and how they have to manage all their work properly. The board should promote coaching and problem solving and it should enhance the efficiency of staff. 

Lean office is a management system spun from lean manufacturing. It is though the same process as in manufacturing where the workflow within the organization is improved by eliminating the waste. Now waste can be in the form of extra steps used for project accomplishment or anything else.
There are many companies that are planning to implement the lean in their offices however, they are unable to maintain it properly. The reason is that they do not know the basic requirements and don’t understand how much of it is a change of culture. Here are some of the important things you should consider making your lean implementation successful.  

The first thing that you have to assure is what your customers require. Remember that your customer is your biggest asset and you have to manage the workflow of your office in such a way that it will be accepted by your customers. It will have a positive impact on the production system of the office. If you are in a supporting function you might want to consider looking at your internal customers and talk to them about what they want from you. This is often never done! Some companies have even started to send out NPS survey out to their customers.
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NPS stands for Net Promoter Score and is a customer loyalty metric developed by (and a registered trademark of) Fred Reichheld, Bain & Company, and Satmetrix. It was introduced by Reichheld in his 2003 Harvard Business Review article "One Number You Need to Grow".

There are many unnecessary steps in the project accomplishment due to which the productivity and efficiency of the office is reduced.

• Assure that all useless steps are removed
• Advice the employees to pay attention to the quality of work and better yet put things in place so that they can’t do errors and that quality checks are automatic
• Make sure that all the projects are accomplished according to given deadlines
• Applying for extensions will lower your importance
• Create standardised work for as much as you can

​Visual management tools are very important in the office. You must assure that your projects, its goals, and plans are properly displayed so that the employees will not have to wait to receive the required knowledge. With visual management boards, it will become easier to even display the performance of all the employees. In this way, employees will work dedicatedly to assure that they will get the appreciation. 

In this age of rapid advancement, your office cannot succeed without the implementation of technology. Assure that your employees know how to use the latest tools and high-tech devices so it will help to enhance the workflow. You can use content management and file management system that will make it easy to store and share the information with employees and clients. Freeware such as Trello is a great source for managing projects. 
But don't forget that Taiichi Ohno said "always do process improvement kaizen's before you buy anything - including new software :)"

​Once you have implemented lean in the office make sure that you properly educate your employees. If they will not know what exactly you are doing it will become hard to maintain implementation and there will be no change in the culture. You should also start with small changes and train your employees accordingly so that they can easily adjust to the new way of doing. Once they learn how it works, you will notice an improvement in everything related to your business.