The Practice of Agile Office Management: A Case for the Gemba Walk
By Robert Kroon
Identifying the root causes of issues in your workplace is essential.
The concept of the Gemba Walk, a cornerstone of the highly respected Toyota Production System, offers a powerful framework for managing and reconfiguring modern Agile Workplaces. While a truly agile workplace is never considered "perfect," it is a dynamic environment that is constantly evolving.
This philosophy aligns directly with the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle, a methodology for continuous improvement. By adopting this practice, facilities managers, architects, and building owners can move beyond assumptions and gather firsthand insights into how their spaces are truly being utilized, ensuring their facility remains truly agile.
The Gemba Walk: A Proactive Approach to Workplace Design
The Japanese term "gemba" roughly translates to "the place of making value," and a Gemba Walk is the act of going to where the work is happening to observe, understand, and engage. In an Agile Workplace, the "gemba" is the entire office environment.
The goal is not to police employees but to understand the reality of their work experience. This proactive approach, centered on personal observation, is the essential "Check" phase of the PDCA cycle, providing crucial input for the next round of planning and action.
How Observation Complements Technology
Technology and sensors can tell you that a meeting room has been empty for three hours. A Gemba Walk helps you understand why it's empty. Perhaps the lighting is poor, or the Juce mobile monitor stand is difficult to move. This qualitative data is what brings the quantitative data to life.
Published research in non-manufacturing settings supports this, with some examples citing up to 25% improved employee satisfaction and a 40% faster problem resolution as a direct result of these walks. By observing how employees interact with technologies such as fault-managed power (FMP) and battery-powered Agile Furniture, you gain context that no dashboard can provide.
From Fixed Environments to Agile Evolution
In the past, leaders operated in a fixed, stable environment. The office layout was a one-time project, not an evolving entity. Leaders were trained to manage a static facility, but today’s Agile Workplace is a constantly changing ecosystem. This new reality means many leaders may lack the necessary experience or training to manage this continuous evolution.
Understanding the Gemba Walk is a crucial first step, offering a powerful methodology to learn from the front lines. But for true agility to take hold, upper management must empower the people driving this change. The individuals responsible for daily facility operations—those who are on the ground making observations and gaining insights—must be trusted to act on them.
This means giving them the necessary financial authority to implement solutions for most issues without waiting for lengthy approvals. A Gemba Walk reveals the problem, but empowered action is what makes the space truly agile
How Often Should You Walk Your Gemba?
There is no one-size-fits-all schedule for a Gemba Walk in an Agile Workplace. The key is to establish a consistent, routine practice that aligns with your specific goals.
For Facilities Managers: Quick, frequent walks—perhaps several times a week—can be effective for monitoring daily operations and identifying immediate issues like a battery solution that needs to be moved, or a particular area with high foot traffic that is becoming a bottleneck.
For Strategic Planners: Professionals like commercial interior designers or building owners might perform more focused, less frequent walks (monthly or quarterly). These walks can be used to observe long-term trends and gather insights that inform major decisions, such as the need for more CampFire desks or the integration of Juce mobile monitor stands in a new collaboration area.
Applying the Walk to the Agile Workplace
The qualitative data you gather through a Gemba Walk provides the insights needed to make informed decisions about your space. This approach has led to demonstrable results in various office environments:
Understanding Space Utilization: A walk provides a direct view into usage patterns. Are employees working in the cafeteria by choice, or is it because a private conference room or quiet pod is unavailable? This observation helps determine if the current mix of casual spaces, dedicated desks, and meeting rooms is appropriate.
Assessing Amenities and Infrastructure: During the walk, you can see if amenities are being used effectively. Are there spaces with acoustics issues that disrupt focus work? This is also the perfect opportunity to observe products like CampFire desks and C-Power outlets, gathering insights on how they are used and where they might be expanded. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these walks have led to the discovery of hidden inefficiencies—for instance, a simple observation of a team’s workflow could reveal a better way to use a particular tool, leading to significant time savings. Remember, C-Power delivers DC power through USB-C receptacles and does NOT deliver fault-managed power, making it a distinct solution from other agile technologies.
Informing Retrofits and Reconfigurations: The observations from a Gemba Walk provide the empirical data needed to justify investments. If the walk reveals a high demand for mobile power solutions, it might lead to a decision to incorporate more Respond! battery-powered solutions and Wallies into the design. In broader lean office case studies, applying this methodology has shown tangible benefits, with some companies reporting reduced project lead times by as much as 36%.
The Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Ultimately, the power of a Gemba Walk isn't about the act itself; it's about the conviction behind it. It requires a form of professional "faith"—a trust in the process and a belief in the people who use the space. This is a commitment that a simple walk will uncover opportunities for improvement and that an agile, flexible workplace is not a one-time project but a continuous journey. It’s the belief that small, consistent observations will lead to meaningful, long-term evolution of your space, solidifying the Gemba walk as a key pillar in maintaining an agile approach to your office facility.
The Gemba Walk transforms the management of an Agile Workplace from a reactive process into a strategic, observation-based practice. This approach ensures that every design choice, from the placement of a CampFire desk to the integration of Respond! workstations are directly aligned with the actual needs of the people using the space.
Integrated power with casters makes continuous improvement easier.
About the author:
Bob Kroon is a recognized thought leader and innovator with over four decades of experience in the electro-mechanical and furniture industries. As the CEO and founder of August Berres, he envisions overcoming the limitations of traditional building power by enabling the Agile Workplace through a smart power ecosystem. Bob passionately advocates for technologies such as building microgrids, fault-managed power (FMP), and battery-powered Agile Furniture, which are transforming the design and utilization of commercial spaces. Under his leadership, a suite of innovative solutions has been brought to market, including Respond!, Juce, CampFire, and Wallies. These products empower building owners, architects, and facility managers to retrofit buildings for today’s dynamic work environment.
