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Establish practice

Define cadence, owner, participation, and success signals for a recurring team practice.

Practice CharterweeklyOperating practice

Establish the practice

Define cadence, owner, participation, and success signals so the method works as a recurring team practice.

Derived automatically

Variant for Operating practice. The plan is derived from method form, method steps, and runsheet.

Runsheet
Cadence logic
Rhythm before scope

An operating practice works through repetition. The cadence should be small enough to hold reliably.

Iteration flow
One run, reusable each time

The steps describe one repetition and are adjusted after review.

  1. 1

    Phase 1: Briefing

    10 min

    Walker, host, and optional scribe meet at start point. Repeat purpose. Confirm observation grid and station sequence. Clarify rules: no on-site judgments, no quick fixes by walker.

    OwnerIf the walker cannot explain the purpose in one sentence, the walk is not ready. Do not skip briefing, otherwise the team may perceive the walk as an inspection.
  2. 2

    Phase 2: Walk through stations

    45-60 min

    Observe 5-10 min at each station. Record notes in order: observation, question, idea. Ask operators to explain their work without judgment. Walk active transitions between stations.

    TeamTransitions are where the learning is, not the station itself. If the walker gets stuck at one station, he loses sight of system behavior. Use a timer to keep station time.
  3. 3

    Phase 3: Question loop

    10-15 min

    At the end, clarify open questions with operators on site. Briefly validate observations with directly involved people before the debrief hardens the picture.

    TeamOperator correction is valuable, not embarrassing. If a walker defends an observation instead of validating it, they have left walk mode.
  4. 4

    Phase 4: Debrief

    30 min

    Walker and optional scribe sort notes into three columns: confirmed standard deviations, hypotheses needing more data, ideas for coaching or A3. Name one owner and next step per point.

    TeamQuick fixes are prohibited on station, allowed in debrief. Hypotheses need a second data source before they become measures.
Usable artifact

Practice Charter

Copyable charter with purpose, cadence, owner, participation, flow, success signals, and review.

practice-charter.md

Practice Charter: Gemba Walk

Purpose

The method helps clarify workflows, data, causes, and improvements concretely. It identifies patterns, causes, bottlenecks, or constraints and derives actions. The outcome is captured as observation notes and improvement ideas.

Cadence

weekly

Owner and Participation

  • Owner: open
  • Participants: 2-6
  • Mode: synchronous

Flow per Iteration

  1. Phase 1: Briefing (10 min) Walker, host, and optional scribe meet at start point. Repeat purpose. Confirm observation grid and station sequence. Clarify rules: no on-site judgments, no quick fixes by walker.
  2. Phase 2: Walk through stations (45-60 min) Observe 5-10 min at each station. Record notes in order: observation, question, idea. Ask operators to explain their work without judgment. Walk active transitions between stations.
  3. Phase 3: Question loop (10-15 min) At the end, clarify open questions with operators on site. Briefly validate observations with directly involved people before the debrief hardens the picture.
  4. Phase 4: Debrief (30 min) Walker and optional scribe sort notes into three columns: confirmed standard deviations, hypotheses needing more data, ideas for coaching or A3. Name one owner and next step per point.

Success Signals

Observation Notes, Improvement Ideas

Review

4 weeks