Lean Case Study: Spectranetics
At Playbook we are always looking for innovative ways to make projects move forward faster, while increasing project teams' ability to innovate. Sometimes progress is made in Playbook software that creates this positive change, such as improving ease of use or baking a better algorithm for calculating the next most important task for the project team to complete. However, we often find making adjustments in process - changing the way we work - is just as critical to innovation and speed.
Today we spoke to Wade Bowe, VP of R&D at Spectranetics who told us about an innovative way Spectranetics is increasing speed and innovation by changing the way they work through the development of Teaming Rooms.
According to Bowe, “Teaming rooms developed out of a need to solve a nagging problem: the inability for project teams to find meeting space.”
Team Rooms at Work
I am sure you have seen it or experienced it yourself. The project team runs a test or finds a solution and ideally wants to coordinate an impromptu meeting to move the project forward, only to find there are no meeting rooms available. The great wait commences. Waiting for a meeting room can last one or several days, delaying the project and worse, delaying innovation. Spectranetics wanted a solution. So as an experiment, they decided to reserve a meeting room for their most critical project team. In short, only project team members involved in the designated critical project could meet in the room, others were met with the standard “do not enter” sign.
As a result, the critical project moved forward unhindered by the lack of a meeting space. Team members moved in and out of the room as fluidly as their big aha moments surfaced. The walls of the meeting room were also covered in the hieroglyphics of project team findings so that team members could return to their notes and make adjustments on the fly without having to create unnecessary documentation of their unfinished thoughts. The teams also used teaming rooms for their daily scrum meetings with Playbook displayed on a large flat screen in place of their sticky note Visual Work Management System.
Team Rooms Improve Communication Flow
According to a Director at Spectranetics, “Teaming rooms have not only solved the issue of space, but dedicated team rooms add a new dimension to information flow and transparency. With information left in tact on the walls, for many, the rooms have become a one-stop shop to visualize and discuss the current project. Information flow feels faster, more transparent. It’s more efficient.”
The team room was such a success that Spectranetics decided to make Teaming Rooms a permanent fixture. Teammates were recruited in the design of the perfect Teaming Room. Each teaming room has a large whiteboard and glass walls for writing, a giant screen for daily meetings using Playbook and the ability for any project team member to control the screen at any time. The seating arrangement is a combination of bar style chairs and standing, as some team members prefer to stand instead of sit. All elements of the room were in fact geared toward collaboration, innovation and forward progress.
Now that’s innovation at work!
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