{"id":4423,"date":"2019-06-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10003\/the-lean-post\/articles\/what-are-the-key-factors-within-an-obeya-room\/"},"modified":"2021-05-07T14:22:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T14:22:12","slug":"what-are-the-key-factors-within-an-obeya-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lean.org\/the-lean-post\/articles\/what-are-the-key-factors-within-an-obeya-room\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the key factors within an obeya room?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Gemba Coach,<\/strong><\/p>\n

On YouTube and in books like Toyota Kata Practice Guide<\/em> there is a lot about the A3 storyboards (to conduct improvement kata\/coaching kata). Did you ever see them used to share people’s plans and check whether countermeasures were effective? Also, what do you think are the key ingredients\/factors within an obeya?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, absolutely. For instance, at AramisAuto.com, a hypergrowth digital company that sells cars over the internet, both A3s and obeyas are key elements of creating teamwork at the executive committee level.<\/p>\n

The weekly executive meeting starts with the presentation of a customer complaint<\/span> in the customer service department, and then one of the management team presents an A3. In the early days of this practice, it was quite cumbersome because other members were discovering the A3 as it was presented, but now the A3 is shared beforehand and required reading before joining the meeting, so the discussion is mostly about questions and clarifications.<\/p>\n

The meeting occurs in an obeya room designed to test each other\u2019s main assumptions. In this room we can see displayed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The mission of the company,<\/li>\n
  2. Current customer issues,<\/li>\n
  3. Competitors\u2019 tactical moves,<\/li>\n
  4. Key challenges,<\/li>\n
  5. Business performance metrics,<\/li>\n
  6. Company enablers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

    An obeya room at AramisAuto.com<\/em><\/p>\n

    The mission \u2013 in this case, facilitate car purchases, is all about the value proposition: What is our benefit to society and what is our added value to individual customers: why should they come to us?<\/p>\n

    Currently, \u00a0customer complaints are an issue so the company is trying to figure out what in its processes creates the complaints and how to fix them.<\/p>\n

    Competitor tactical moves sums up what we understand competitors are trying. In a fast-moving fluid market, this isn\u2019t always clear as competitors include alternative ways of buying a car and what new operators are up to often seems baffling. Then again, when this company started in the early 2000s, the established players scoffed at it, so \u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n

    Obeya’s Hardcore<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Key challenges are the questions we ask ourselves in terms of \u201cmust do, can\u2019t fail\u201d to take Karen Martin\u2019s<\/a> expression. Challenges reflect \u201cIf we don\u2019t crack this we won\u2019t be there in 10 years.\u201d They are our strongest assumptions about the business and are broken down into specific objectives (think of it as the company\u2019s hoshin kanri).<\/p>\n

    The hardcore of the obeya is the \u201cenablers\u201d wall. Enablers are the key support processes that allow frontline teams to do their work.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

    An entire wall panel is dedicated to business metrics, mixing customers\u2019 Net Promoter Score, employees\u2019 Net Engagement Score, and more traditional sales and EBITDA figures to get some idea of how the business is doing. We all know these are lagging indicators, much like driving the car by looking into the rearview mirror, but this is important to know where we stand, and if we\u2019re progressing or regressing.<\/p>\n

    The hardcore of the obeya is the \u201cenablers\u201d wall. Enablers are the key support processes that allow frontline teams to do their work.<\/span> For each enabler, the process owner states explicitly:<\/p>\n