In the beginning, I try to avoid bought in setups. The obeya (team spot) is about the team first, they need to go through the learning process of defining what is important to them.
Bought in setups are great, but people tend to want to fill them and make them look pretty, this means they become window dressing from the beginning.
Too often a standard layout is regarded as standardisation – but it’s really just a uniform.
“The uniform does not make the person, the person makes the uniform.”
The aims are to:
1- be very functional, 2- allow for change, 3- create a team activity (the obeya is not for the manager), get everyone involved, 4- understand what Stupid Simple means for your team (KISS = keep it stupid simple).
A magnetic white board (with magnets) and a box of 3mm electricians tape is generally where I start.
Once they know what is important and how to make the obeya/ team spot work for them, then the team will naturally use it to achieve their deliverables.
Key concept:
If everything is given to you, you expect everything to be given to you, and you don’t take ownership for your own needs.
The obeya is all about making ownership visual.