Visualising Work
Visualising Work is the practice of making the flow of work visible — across people, teams, and systems — to improve collaboration, decision-making, and flow efficiency.
It enables transparency, highlights bottlenecks, and fosters shared ownership of delivery.
Level 1 – Initial (Ad Hoc)
Work is not consistently tracked or visible.
Progress is opaque, and teams rely on status meetings or informal communication to understand what’s happening.
- There is no shared view of current, upcoming, or completed work
- Individuals keep private to-do lists or use spreadsheets
- Blockers and dependencies are hidden until they cause disruption
- Managers request frequent updates to “see” progress
- Priorities shift frequently without coordination
Level 2 – Managed (Emerging Practice)
Some teams begin to visualise work using boards or simple tools, but practices vary and adoption is uneven.
- Kanban boards, whiteboards, or digital tools (e.g. Trello, Jira) are in use
- Some stages of work (e.g. To Do, In Progress, Done) are tracked
- Work status is visible within teams but not across teams
- Boards may be outdated, cluttered, or inconsistently maintained
- Visualisation supports coordination, but not yet flow improvement
Level 3 – Defined (Standardised)
Work visualisation is standard across delivery teams and supports shared understanding and flow control.
- All teams visualise work in a consistent format (digital or physical)
- Stages of delivery are clearly defined and matched to actual workflows
- Work items are sized, prioritised, and regularly updated
- Blockers, WIP limits, and dependencies are visible
- Boards are referenced in daily stand-ups and reviews
Level 4 – Quantitatively Managed (Measured & Controlled)
Work visualisation is data-driven and used to actively manage flow, risk, and performance.
- Boards integrate flow metrics like cycle time, throughput, and age of WIP
- Bottlenecks and flow disruptions are detected visually
- Dashboards highlight trends, constraints, and forecast delivery timelines
- Work is tagged by type (e.g. feature, defect, tech debt) and tracked for balance
- Visualisation tools are integrated into planning, retrospectives, and capacity planning
Level 5 – Optimising (Continuous Improvement)
Work visualisation is dynamic, adaptive, and embedded into organisational learning.
It drives cross-team alignment, continuous improvement, and better outcomes.
- Visual systems evolve continuously based on feedback and experimentation
- Teams simulate work scenarios and visualise risks before committing
- Work is visualised across value streams, not just teams
- Business stakeholders engage with delivery visuals to support prioritisation
- Visualisation reveals system constraints and drives systemic improvement