The Visible Planning® technique for project management 

The application of the LEAN principles to the governance of innovation and product development projects

The traditional management of new product innovation and development projects is often overly simplistic and rational. Also the application of traditional project management tools such as the Gantt, Pert, etc. often ends up in little more than a sterile planning exercise, which does not take into account key aspects related to people and organization.

It is for these reasons that JMAC has developed in the early ’90s the innovative method known today in Europe under the name of Visible Planning®, which manages to combine typical tools of project management with others that affect the “people & organization” dimension. In addition to being an operational management tool, therefore, the Visibile Planning® should be intended as a real “organizational development program”. In fact, it allows to:

  • work directly on behaviors of individuals and groups (Flow – 3rd principle of the Lean Design), in a logic of Kaizen applied to People (Perfection – 5th principle of Lean Design), through the techniques of YWT Management;
  • work directly on the Communication (Pull Communication) and interpersonal mechanisms among the team (Pull – 4th principle of Lean Design);
  • promote the dissemination of tacit knowledge (Nonaka model of the conversion of knowledge) both across functions, and within each function (Knowledge – 6th principle of Lean Design);
  • favor the capitalization of knowledge through a structured Lesson Learned process (Knowledge – 6th principle of Lean Design).