Yesterday, during a Scrum Master training, something remarkable happened.
Day 2 involved a collaborative afternoon where eight Scrum Masters were tasked with creating a visual management system. Their mission: to set a roadmap, structure strategic information, and enable top management to make decisions. But the workshop didn’t go as planned.
Chaos before structure
While I expected a smooth session where each Scrum Master would play their role as facilitators, chaos emerged instead. Discussions went in all directions, and everyone tried to implement their own method without first establishing a collective framework.
Of course, during training, I always say: the Scrum Master is the guardian of the methodological framework. But yesterday, in that workshop, I understood the deeper meaning of the “Scrum Master as the framework’s guardian.”
The workshop revealed a crucial, often overlooked point: the responsibility for setting the framework. Like a director, the Scrum Master must first define and maintain the space in which the team operates before adding content. Otherwise, everyone risks losing sight of the common goal.
It is a place, a true stage, where the project’s story unfolds, where each step, each decision, becomes visible and understandable to all stakeholders. Yesterday, I saw how easily this concept could be lost without a clearly defined framework from the start.
Structure before Action
A framework is more than just a series of processes. It’s a space where the team can evolve, collaborate, and build. Yesterday, the lack of structure demonstrated how visual management, when well-orchestrated, becomes a powerful tool.
As a visual and tangible expression of the framework, it makes strategic objectives visible, aligns teams, and offers the transparency necessary for informed decision-making.
This workshop showed that setting a framework is not a constraint; it’s an opportunity to provide a space where the team can tell the story of its project, align its actions, and visualize its results. A clear framework allows everyone to contribute effectively.
A framework for Top Management
Ultimately, the goal of this workshop was to create a visual management system that not only structures information but also guides discussions with top management. This framework becomes a stage where decisions can be made with full transparency and alignment.
It’s a virtual or physical space where visual management can take on its full dimension—not only organizing information but also setting the boundaries within which teams will structure their thinking, visualize challenges, and align on common decisions. It’s from this place that change will emerge, enabling management to, in turn, use visual management to make decisions and evolve their strategy.
Visual management: it’s a space where decisions are made, and where operational, tactical, and strategic levels intersect.
Building Your Visual Management System
Visual management steps are described below.
It reminds us that the transparency of information is essential for the team to adjust its actions according to strategic objectives.
An Obeya is a particularly effective visual management tool. In Japanese, “Obeya” means “big room,” and it’s a space dedicated to visualizing strategy, projects, plans, and ideas. Often referred to as a “war room,” the Obeya centralizes critical information to facilitate decision-making and collaboration between teams, providing a clear and shared overview of progress and objectives.
Working Together in the Same Direction Thanks to Obeya
“Visual Management is therefore much more than a simple display board; it’s a collaborative space where each stage of the project becomes visible and tellable, like in an Obeya room.”
This workshop highlights the importance of the framework in the work of Scrum Masters. Together, the framework set by the Scrum Master and visual management become powerful levers for encouraging collaboration and innovation while providing clear answers to top management.
In the end, just as the Agile Manifesto places human interactions above processes, the visual management we explored in this workshop is merely a tool serving a greater purpose: that of innovation and collaboration. The Scrum Master is there to guide this journey, ensuring the team remains aligned with its objectives but also with the fundamental values of agility.