Picture of WEIGANG TaskBoard for agile processes.

AGILE PROJECTMANAGEMENT 

IN PRACTICE

Agile and flexible Development and Production

Methods for agile project and product management are on the rise across industries by now. “Agile project management was originally developed for efficient software engineering. Today, many other producing companies in other industries have taken up agile project and product management”, Herbert Elflein, WEIGANG’s production manager, knows. A few months ago, he established Kanban as a tool of agile project management in the production control of his company and he is more than satisfied with the results. The method was introduced because many projects must be realised besides the day-to-day business. Herbert Elflein wanted to have a complete overview that would make it possible for him to recognise every single processing status.

The method now not only gives him and his employees a complete overview over all pending tasks, it also enables the permanent tracking of the processing status of all running projects. “This way, we can for example purposefully set priorities and react far more flexibly and agilely to workflow changes or disruptive factors”, Elflein says. Among other things, the production manager sees an aspect typical for agile project management as a great added value: The daily coordination of all team members involved. “This makes communication more intensive per se and improves the flow of information. The thereby initiated exchange of the employees in a team quickly leads to shared approaches”, Herbert Elflein stresses. He further explains: “My team and I have been working together for over 25 years. So we know each other very well and can work together well. I was all the more surprised to realise that we also vastly improved communication and our interactions with each other through this method. I’m very happy about this side effect.”

Teambesprechung mit dem TaskBoard zum agilen Projektmanagement von WEIGANG.

Production Manager Herbert Elflein during his daily team meeting with the TaskBoard.

Planning Board smooths quick Entry into agile Project Management

The new TaskBoard of the specialist for visualisation and organisation, WEIGANG, helped the production manager with the speedy introduction of agile project management. It is a modular planning board system for cross-industry application of scrum or Kanban, which can be adapted to the individual wishes of different project teams. “While before we were trying to master our projects with the help of homespun excel spreadsheets, which more often than not disappeared in the depths of our IT systems, the new TaskBoard makes all running projects transparent”, Herbert Elflein reports. He further explains: “Delays and problems become visible. Also, my employees can organise themselves and support each other far better.”

In terms of design, WEIGANG’s frameless and ferromagnetic planning board, which can be delivered in two sizes, is matched with application in all departments of a company. With the help of a wall rail it can be attached to the wall, however it also fits into the WEIGANG planning board stand system. Thereby, the TaskBoard becomes a mobile, agile whiteboard and can be used flexibly, analogously to the processing of the tasks or to the changing operation sites. For the visualisation of the different tasks, WEIGANG offers magnetic TaskCards matching the new TaskBoard. The production manager elaborates: “Our department-TaskBoard was adapted specifically for the size of our department. I particularly like the optics. With the sublimation print method, a modern schist look was printed. This gives our department a modern look and is unique in our company.”

Motivated by agile project management

Production manager Herbert Elflein gets to the heart of the advantages: “My employees are excited about agile project management. In my role as moderator, I also see that tasks are now approached in a much more motivated way. Therefore, with WEIGANG’s new planning board system, we were able to already implement projects this year that had always only been discussed in previous years. The TaskBoard is perfectly suited for the implementation of agile project management.”

Picture of modular TaskBoard WEIGANG.

The TaskBoard can be developed individually – requirements and designs can be implemented very easily.