Most of you have likely never heard about the term Obeya. However, Obeya rooms once invented for the project management of the first-generation Toyota Prius are becoming a more and more popular tool for making lean and agile management decisions based on large amounts of data (Aasland & Blankenberg, 2012).
What are Obeya rooms?
Obeya is a concept originating from Japan and the translation means “big room”. The idea is pretty simple: you have a space that contains large charts, tables, and other forms fo data visualization (IndustryWeek, 2018). In this room, all the data will be displayed on dashboards people from different disciplines will come together to make decisions or get informed about the current state of the project. Obeya rooms can be used for several reasons such as a board room.
How to set-up an Obeya board room
Once an Obeya room is used as a board room, it will be strictly for information purposes. The idea is that the board members can walk inside an Obeya room and get real-time insights on the state of the entire project with the problems and delays visible. Therefore, the walls of the room will be structured by showing different departments. The content of the various walls will contain performances such as global metrics, KPI’s, and project timing (Aasland & Blankenberg, 2012).
Why Obeya rooms replace the traditional board rooms
I think there is a lot of potentials for Obeya rooms to replace the standard board rooms for a few reasons. First of all, I think with companies becoming more digital and the fact that data is often automatically recorded 24/7. Obeya rooms will become more digital and contribute massively to senior management to make data-driven decisions. Secondly, with agile product development methodologies getting more frequently used, Obeya rooms will give real-life data making it possible for leaders to make faster decisions and therefore stimulate the creation of making more agile solutions.
References:
Aasland, K. & Blankenburg, D. (2012). An analysis of the uses and properties of the Obeya. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Knut_Aasland/publication/261021074_An_analysis_of_the_uses_and_properties_of_the_Obeya/links/58fdea944585159c2b2bb396/An-analysis-of-the-uses-and-properties-of-the-Obeya.pdf
Jusko, J. (2016). Obeya: The Brian of the Lean. Enterprise. Retrieved from: https://www.industryweek.com/operations/continuous-improvement/article/21987518/obeya-the-brain-of-the-lean-enterprise
Hi Martijn,
Very interesting to read your article about Obeya rooms! Personally, I had never heard of them before, but they sound like a great addition to the traditional board rooms. Whereas in the past most companies based their decision making on intuition by top management, you see that more and more companies are adopting data-driven decision making models. Therefore, by implementing these Obeya rooms, management has direct access to real-time data, allowing for faster decision making and implementation. I do have a concern, however. As a lot of sensitive information will be provided in the room, how do companies make sure that data privacy is maintained and sensitive data is only shown to the authorized employees? Are such rooms in that case only accessible by board members? Should the room be designed in a way that there is no possibility of seeing information when walking by? I believe that these are some issues that might arise in a company. However, I also think that these issues can easily be overcome. If so, I am certain that these Obeya rooms will be the future for many companies, as it brings many advantages. I look forward to reading more about best practices for such rooms!