During the Okaloa Flowlab event on March 6th, Patrick Steyaert and two colleagues, Koen and Wim, made us experience the importance of making our work "flow".

Experience flow

Through playing a game, simulating a real life project with estimations (tough!), blocked work (realistic!), project managers trying to get their team to move forward more quickly (unheard of ;-)) and management bringing in new high priority requests at unforeseen moments (nah...), we experienced how difficult it is to actually deliver work items. And when we succeeded, it appeared the lead time was, well, surprisingly high.

In a second round, we were forced to limit the work in progress (WIP limit) and actively collaborate as a team to finish work as quickly as possible. We were all surprised (positively!) by the difference.

Some participant's quotes captured very well the learning from this highly interactive event:

• "Limit Work in Progress"
• "Crossfunctional collaborating teams deliver"
• "Not only run-run but take the time to think first"
• "This is something to show our managers"

In summary, a "very inspiring and practical" experience, kindly hosted by Mediahuis.

Want to know more? Check out Okaloa Flowlab.

Pictures? Check out our Facebook page.