“Seeing” Successes: Lessons On Digital Visualization From Crystal Fountains

At HPL, we tend to stick to the old-school side of things… We fundamentally believe that hard copies, whiteboards and physical written commitments are the way to go if you want to see the best results. Are we out of touch? Some would say so! However, our reasoning is not based on a dislike for technology or a lack of digital literacy; it's quite the opposite. Digital applications and digital transformation are incredible tools and should be adopted readily in many processes and functions. But… when you are looking to organize projects and boost internal team communication and engagement, the biggest problem we, and our clients, often run into is that digital tracking is usually out of sight and, therefore, out of mind. These old-school hard copy methods work because they are highly visible and difficult to avoid seeing.

However, there are always exceptions to the rules! That is where Crystal Fountains enters the chat. Jongmu Lee , Director of Creative Operations at Crystal Fountains, shared how they have implemented and developed a digital system for managing projects, progress, and daily tasks over the last four-plus years. What began as a single whiteboard in the hall is now a robust custom-made digital application connecting team members, departments, and stakeholders!?

Of course, none of this ever happened overnight. Jongmu shares that he introduced a rudimentary whiteboard for task management many years ago. As the team grew, with members spanning southern Ontario, Dubai, and Cairo, it became apparent that a digital board may be necessary to help unify the team. The final catalyst to go digital came when COVID hit, and the teams were dispersed and working remotely; Jongmu saw the need to create a digital version of his original whiteboard to keep them all connected and on track. Using Wrike software, Jongmu’s COVID project was to develop a system that worked for his team and had all the capabilities needed to help them all stay on top of projects and manage workflow. Over the years, this digital sandbox was overhauled four times, making updates and changes as the team and company grew.

Jongmu walked us through his robust system, explaining each board as he went. Starting with the tier-one board, each team member has a profile outlining their projects, including project updates, comments/questions and deadlines. Using a basic colour coding system, green = good, red = requires assistance, overdue/at risk, and grey = coming up/not started yet; each project is given a status that allows immediate visible recognition. At a glance, each team member or supervisor can see the status of all current projects, where resources need to be allocated and what is coming up next week.

Each team member takes responsibility for updating their project status and self-organizing their daily workflow.? With this autonomy, team members have greater control over their workflow, leading to improved contributions. They are also offered a way to escalate problems clearly and quickly before things get out of hand. What initially began as a 30-minute daily project update discussion has evolved into a finely-tuned, self-sustained 15-minute daily scrum, with upwards of 15 participants actively engaged at any given time. This initiative is now led and managed by the team themselves.

The key to this success is the valuable insights that are made through the use of this board.?

If a project is at risk or overdue, team members update the project status through a dropdown menu stating the reason for the delay. This information then flows into the tier-two board.

The tier-two board contains an overview of employee performance, timesheets, and delivery ratings. Over the past year, on-time delivery ratings have seen a 10% jump from 87% to 97% across the board. Jongmu explains that purely tracking this rating led to its initial uptick, which was led by accountability, additional support (extra resources for at-risk projects) and project ownership. This uptick was further sustained and increased through continuous improvement in process, support, and project communication.??

Customer pain and near misses are also tracked. (Customer pain is when overdue projects negatively affect customers, either in time or money.) By tracking these metrics, the team can dig deeper into the root cause of the pain/misses and learn how to avoid them better in future projects. (We always love seeing continuous improvement and customer values implemented foundationally in a lean system!)

Finally, tier-three boards were introduced, which are still in beta. This is for high-level leaders to track possible upcoming projects and predict the next six months of work. These metrics determine which projects the team has the capacity for, where their resources are going and what recourses will be needed for each project. This also allows for opportunities to identify leader development, further training, or talent acquisition if leaders wish to meet all possible future commitments that are in the works.?

We at HPL were dazzled by Jongmu’s stats, colour coding and metrics, but how well did this system work in the wild? We asked Jongmu what he contributed to the successful use of this system, and he was able to provide us with some invaluable tips which we would now like to share with you:

1. Daily Team Scrum

A daily scrum or team huddle is vital to lending visibility and providing functionality to any project management system. Every morning, the Toronto team gathers around the TV while others join virtually from Dubi and Cario, to discuss their upcoming projects and tasks for just 15 minutes. They share insights on projects' progress, challenges, and whether they need support to meet commitments. The trick is to keep it short and sweet!

1. Visibility?

As previously stated, our main concern at HPL is that these advanced digital systems lack the in-your-face visibility required to be effective. Jongmu agrees that these systems only work because they have been formed as a habit and are still highly visible. He explained that a large-screen TV in the office had replaced the old whiteboard, complete with a keyboard and mouse. The tier-one board is constantly displayed on the screen, and team members are encouraged to interact with the board and update it throughout the day to complete their tasks. This allows for the visual reminder of impending tasks and makes the digital software work like the original whiteboard, just more portable.

1. Overcoming Resistance?

Jongmu shared that when he first introduced this system back on its original whiteboard, he was met with a lot of resistance. Team members didn't see the value and power the tier board could give them. So, he initiated a series of? 28-day challenges. Why 28 days? Because that is the minimal amount of time it takes to form a new habit. He challenged his team to have a daily team scrum every morning for 28 consecutive days. If there were no misses, the entire team would go out for lunch. They ran this challenge for several 28-day cycles as the team began to take ownership of the board. Jongmu told us how intense and protective his team became of their daily scrums, and it was essential to them all that they never missed one so they could go out for lunch together. He laughed as he explained team members would race ahead of him to the board to make sure it was up to date as he walked to their scrums, as no one wanted to be the reason they missed a team lunch.

1. What's in it for me?

Part of what makes this system self-sufficient and sustainable is that employees can take ownership of their projects, schedules and successes. When the system was first introduced, Jongmu said it was vital that his team understood that it was not some passive board that they were forced to update but a powerful tool that allowed them to take control of their work life. When a project is at risk, the response is immediate, with resources reallocated to support the team better. This allows for time to get other necessary departments involved if that is where the challenges arise and gives clear visibility to any recurring issues. With the project laid out, team members are free to organize themselves as they see fit so that they determine the workflow and when they complete their tasks, giving a sense of urgency and fulfillment. Lastly, successes and failures are shared as a team and felt individually, leading to further accountability.

1. Pull, don't push

Jongmu also stated that a key component to their success with this system is that the workflows are from the bottom up, not the top down. Tier-one flows into tier-two, which flows up into tier-three.? While they are all interconnected, the focus is on team member capacity and resources. This puts the attention on people and not the bottom line. Work is pulled from those working on the ground floor, shaping the process and workflow as it moves up to managers, directors and stakeholders. Often, organizations focus on a push method, forcing team members to try to complete impossible tasks with minimal resources, leading to burnout and high stress. By taking the opposite approach and opening up communication, team members can feel supported and are more likely to meet their commitments. The company can plan accordingly for their upcoming projects, growing to meet their expanding needs.?

Jongmu clarified that while this system works well, it took a long time to achieve this level of organization, accountability and repetition. He states that it is still a work in progress and continues to grow and change as the needs of the team and organization also change. He stresses that if you or your team are just starting on this journey, be kind to yourself and remember that it takes years of dedication to find a system that works well for everyone, but keep at it, for it is truly worth it in the end!?

We believe that Jongmu and his team at Crystal Fountains are knocking it out of the park with this project management system. Hopefully, as we did, you will find this example insightful and inspiring. Great job, Jongmu and team!