Lesson 8 of 23 · 7 min read
Go and see how the work is really done: gemba for office work
In Lean: gemba, for office work
Builds on: Your work is a process, and the customer decides what is value
In one minute
Most descriptions of a process are memories or rules: how people think the work goes, or how a document says it should go. To improve it you need to see it as it really happens, by following one real item through the people and tools that touch it. In an office, and in remote work, the place to go is wherever the work lives: the inbox, the ticket history, the shared file, a colleague's screen while they do the task. You go to learn about the process, never to check on the people.
The idea
The place where the work is done (in Lean: gemba, Japanese for "the actual place") is where problems can be seen as they are. Lean practice asks you to go there and see for yourself (in Lean: genchi genbutsu) before you analyse, rather than relying on reports, meetings or the procedure manual. In a factory that means walking the floor. Office work is mostly invisible from a corridor, so you go where it leaves traces, and to the people doing it.
Where to look
- The item's own history. A ticket's timeline, an email thread, a file's version history, an approval log. Dates show waits that nobody remembers.
- The person doing the step, while they do it. Beside them, or on a screen share for remote teams, during a real task rather than a demonstration.
- The workarounds. Private spreadsheets, sticky notes, chat messages asking someone to "just do this one". Each marks a place where the official process does not fit the work.
How to follow one item
- Pick one real, recent item, or the next one that arrives. A specific case, not a typical one from memory.
- Follow it from start to finish, across every person, team and tool it touches.
- For each step, note who did it, in which tool, when, and what it waited for.
- Ask "show me", not "tell me". "Can you show me what you did with the last one?" gets the real version; "How do you usually do this?" gets the official one.
- Write down what happened, detours, double-checks and chasers included. Compare with the written procedure only afterwards. The difference is information, not a breach.
Where the problem starts
Problems are usually noticed downstream from where they begin. Payroll notices wrong bank details; they were captured wrong at onboarding. Following the item back to the step where the problem first appears (in Lean: point of cause) stops you fixing the place that merely reports it, and gives your 5 Whys a fact to start from.
Go with respect
Being watched can feel like an inspection, and people who feel inspected show you the official version. Say why you are there: to understand the process, not to assess anyone. Ask before watching a screen. Do not fix things on the spot or correct people as they work; note it and talk later. Record what kind of information was on screen, never a customer's details. Afterwards, show the person what you wrote and ask what you missed. They are the expert on their step.
Example
Illustrative example, not a real company.
A customer service team lead hears that larger refunds "take a couple of days". The procedure says the agent raises the refund and finance approves it in the billing tool.
Over a screen share, she asks an agent to show her the last large refund. The agent could not raise a refund that size in the billing tool, so she posted it in a finance chat channel. A finance clerk asked for the order number, which the customer's email did not include. The agent searched the order system, found it and replied in the chat. The next morning the clerk keyed the refund into the billing tool by hand, and the agent wrote the customer a confirmation from scratch.
None of the chat, the search or the re-keying is in the procedure. Following one item showed two process facts the procedure hides: the billing tool sets a refund limit for agents, and the contact form does not ask for an order number. That is where the problem starts. Nobody involved was slow.
Common mistakes
- Asking in a meeting instead of looking. People describe the process they believe in. Follow a real item.
- Going with the answer already chosen. If you go looking for proof that a new tool is needed, you will find it. Go to learn.
- Turning the visit into an inspection. Judging how someone works teaches them to hide the workarounds you came to see.
Words to know
- Go and see where the work is done (in Lean: gemba): the actual place where work happens; in an office, wherever the item and the people working on it are.
- See it for yourself (in Lean: genchi genbutsu): understanding from direct observation, not from reports.
- Where the problem starts (in Lean: point of cause): the step where a problem first appears, often earlier than where it is noticed.
Check your understanding
Try it on your own work
Describe one recurring task that wastes your time, and see these ideas applied to it.
Worksheet for this lesson: 8 Wastes Checklist (free download, no sign-up).
Where this comes from
Going to the place where the work is done and seeing it first hand is a core habit of the Toyota Production System and of Lean management generally; its use in office and service work grew as Lean spread beyond factories.