Marie Kondo and Home Working

Home working has been one of the changes for thousands of workers in a post Covid19 world. With impeccable timing the tidying guru Marie Kondo recently launched her latest book “Joy at Work: Organising your Professional Life.

Marie Kondo Method

” Whilst reading it (as light relief from the current crisis) I asked myself whether the KonMari method might offer anything additional for seasoned lean thinkers and, conversely, whether Lean Thinking might provide additional value to anyone following Marie Kondo’s teachings.

In the article published today on Planet Lean I discussed tidying vs workplace organisation using Lean Thinking and illustrated the difference with some examples – notably the 7 Points of the Toyota Storage technique shown below:

Toyota Parts Storage Techniquie

As some of us navigate the home working new normal, I am sure we will encounter lots of problems to solve that weren’t initially apparent – how to separate work life from home life, learning how to better interact with colleagues virtually, figuring out the best way to on-board new starters or to assess whether we are behind or ahead when we are working remotely, and so on. Lean Thinking can help enormously to tackle these challenges. But tread carefully and be wary of the actual purpose of the tools we use, no matter how shiny they look. Rediscovering the basics may well help.