News & Blog

Exploring how the Yolean Racing Team applies visual planning principles to coordinate complex racing operations — and what product development teams can learn from their approach to real-time visual management and rapid decision-making.

A new paper on visual management has been published as a research result in the Digilean project. As products become more complex and competition increases, the development of new products has become more important to companies. The article examines how visual management practices support knowledge flow during the product development process.

Visual planning transforms how teams coordinate complex work by making progress, bottlenecks, and dependencies visible to everyone at a glance. The approach draws from lean manufacturing principles adapted for knowledge work, where information flow is just as critical as material flow. Digital visual planning boards extend these benefits by enabling real-time updates across distributed teams, reducing the need for physical co-location while preserving the clarity of a shared visual workspace. Teams that adopt these methods often report improved communication, faster decision-making, and a clearer understanding of how individual tasks connect to broader project goals. The practice continues to evolve as organizations seek more effective ways to manage complexity.

The Yolean Racing Team demonstrates how visual management principles apply beyond traditional software development environments. Racing operations demand split-second coordination across multiple specialized roles, from mechanics to strategists, all working in parallel under intense time pressure. By making plans visible and updating them in real time, the team achieves a level of situational awareness that enables rapid adjustments when conditions change. Product development teams can learn from this approach by adopting similar visual tools that highlight dependencies, track progress, and surface problems early. The lessons from racing translate directly to any environment where coordination speed and accuracy matter.

Research in visual management continues to uncover new insights about how teams process information and make decisions in complex environments. Studies show that visual representations of work reduce cognitive load by externalizing information that would otherwise need to be held in memory. This frees mental capacity for higher-level reasoning and problem-solving. The Digilean project and similar research initiatives explore how digital tools can enhance these benefits while addressing challenges such as information overload and maintaining engagement over time. Findings from this body of work inform the design of better visual planning systems that support both individual productivity and team-level coordination.

Effective visual planning requires more than just adopting a tool or template. Teams must develop practices around how they update, review, and act on the information displayed. Regular stand-up meetings around a visual board create a rhythm of accountability and shared awareness that drives continuous improvement. The choice of metrics and visual elements should reflect what the team truly needs to track, avoiding clutter that obscures actionable insights. Successful implementations often start with simple physical boards before migrating to digital systems, allowing teams to internalize the principles before adding technological complexity. The goal is always to make work visible in a way that supports better decisions and faster adaptation.

A seminar held at ITM in Mölndal brought together researchers and industry practitioners to discuss the latest developments in visual management and digital planning tools for manufacturing environments.

A case study on how digital visual planning tools were applied at Volvo Cars Customer Service to streamline meeting structures, improve information sharing, and reduce time spent in coordination activities.

The Vis-IT Master Thesis received a nomination for Lilla Polhemspriset, recognizing outstanding engineering student work. The thesis contributed to the project's research on digital visual planning in multinational product development settings.

An update on the ongoing implementation of digital meeting practices at Rejmes, highlighting how visual planning boards were being adopted to support daily management routines and team coordination.

A travel report covering research visits and conference participation across three locations — Las Vegas, Seattle, and Gislaved — where the team shared findings and connected with the international lean product development community.

An extensive report was published examining how multinational companies use digital visual planning to coordinate product development across distributed teams. The report draws on findings from the Vis-IT project, which concluded in September 2015.