Visual Project Management

Agile-based methods of managing projects have started to become entrenched in even the most conservative industries like financial services, insurance and healthcare.

A typical storyboard, however, can easily fit on one wall using sticky notes

Sakichi Toyoda, an industrialist, the founder of Toyota Industries and often referred to as the “King of Japanese Inventors,” developed the 5 Whys technique in the 1930s. 5 Whys is an iterative, question-asking technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem by drilling down through the symptoms to the ultimate underlying cause.
This “drill down” is accomplished by asking the question "why" to the first identified cause. When the answer to that cause is found, the question “why” is asked and answered again.

Charts are typically read and understood more quickly than simple raw, numerical data since the human brain is generally able to infer meaning from pictures much quicker than from text

data that is represented in percentages (fractional share, preference or departmental) is often displayed in a pie chart.

because the entire process is mapped out, use cases also help brainstorm what could potentially go wrong.

Defining how the work, at the task or activity level, will be considered “finished”

Dashboards also commonly leverage some frequently used pictographs including bars, sliders, pie charts, dials, traffic lights, gauges, timelines, etc.

Green indicates all is well and proceeding as planned, yellow is used to trigger additional attention, indicate negative trending or solicit an action step, while red indicates the item being measured is in trouble, has stopped and/or requires immediate attention.

Come to consensus on the KPIs, data sources