#design-thinking #whiteboarding #operations-planning #visible-work > [!summary]+ Summary > This page describes my take on the value of making individual and collaborative work visible. I share a useful book and applied examples from it to operational problems I faced. I touch on the kinds of design work I've done, but examples are shows in my professional achievements section. # Making work visible I started doing design work in 2004 while teaching high school students in China. I didn’t think of it as “design” then, but I was learning the basics by mapping flows in lesson delivery, creating student-facing materials, and editing videos—usually late at night on a [12-inch PowerBook G4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G4). At the time, my practice was to sketch diagrams to show how lessons connected and I used tools like OmniGraffle and the first version of Keynote to plan out entire semesters. About ten years later, I started my career as an Instructional Designer working with engineers at MIT. One of the most lasting lessons from that environment was how much planning happened on whiteboards and walls. The culture centered on transparency, shared understanding, and exploring ideas in the open. That experience fundamentally shaped how I approach learning design and team operations. ==Making both **design** and **operations** work visible is something I deeply believe in and actively practice with colleagues.== I have found that it improves outcomes, strengthens alignment, and, just as importantly, builds strong partnerships. This became even more concrete when I discovered a practical guide that helped me manage complex priorities. ## A starting resource In early 2022, I came across a book called [Making Work Visible, 2nd Edition: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950508498/?bestFormat=true&k=making%20work%20visible&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_de_k0_1_15&crid=23C15691348US&sprefix=making%20work%20vis) by Dominica DeGrandis. I found it by chance at a Barnes & Noble and bought it immediately. At the time, I was looking for practical guidance to help me manage competing priorities and get clearer about where my time and attention were going. Here is what I was juggling then: 1. **Team transformation** — building new mental models; resetting an internal workflow; managing a serious personnel issue; and setting clearer expectations for cross-functional ownership and accountability. 2. **Coaching a manager** — helping someone think more systemically; defining shared metrics; illustrating the cost of choices; and drafting workflow documentation to strengthen cross-team collaboration. 3. **Digital fluency programming** — advancing work on a grant; designing and delivering new workshops; and aligning priorities with leadership. 4. **Building a network** — strengthening collaborations with departmental colleagues; partnering with faculty; and identifying new opportunities. 5. **Daily wild cards** — emails, meeting requests, feedback requests, and all the unplanned work that disrupts flow. Very simply, I needed a way to organize these operational challenges while still making space for strategic thinking and program development. But more than anything, I needed a way to _see_ everything at once and to make for myself and my team, the big picture tangible. > [!example]+ My examples of making work visible > I share examples from throughout my career in my "[professional](https://jasontorresedd.com/about-s5)" section under "leadership and management". There you’ll find photos, screenshots, and brief explanations showing how I’ve made work visible in different contexts. ## Making OPERATIONS work visible According to DeGrandis (2022), there are five factors that consistently steal time and keep work from moving forward: 1) too much work in progress (WIP), 2) unknown dependencies, 3) unplanned work, 4) conflicting priorities, and 5) neglected work. Every professional has felt these, often before they can clearly name them. I try to make sense of these dynamics for myself and for the teams I support. Without examining them, it’s easy to drift day-to-day and lose sight of purpose. This becomes even more important when I have direct reports: **I want to support their well-being, give them clarity on direction, and remove obstacles so they can do their best work.** DeGrandis offers two simple diagrams that I put to use right away. One for managing my own workload, and one for coaching a manager through a complex workflow challenge. Both helped bring structure and visibility to work that otherwise felt scattered. ### Organizing myself I use software to track and check off routine work and sometimes jot quick notes for smaller projects. But when I’m managing multiple priorities and supporting direct reports simultaneously, I’ve found it essential to step back and visualize everything on a single board. Using the diagram below as inspiration, I built a simple [Miro board](https://miro.com/) to track my major projects and log the interruptions and unplanned work that came up each week. The simplicity was the point. This exercise gave me a sense in about a week of what was in progress, what had stalled, and what needed attention. It also made discussions with my team and supervisor far more concrete, since we could literally **see the work** together. While a blank wall or whiteboard works just as well, I opted for a digital canvas so I could archive changes over time. The bottom-line, is that the visual overview became a central tool for both clarity and collaboration. ![[Backlog-Progress-Done.png]] DeGrandis (2022), Page 10 ### Coaching a manager Another example comes from working with a colleague to untangle a highly inefficient workflow. The existing system centered almost everything on one person (“A”), who was expected to review and clear all work — including areas where other team members (“B” and “C”) had deeper expertise. Although the intention was to keep the process iterative, it created long delays, multiple rounds of rework, and a mix of frustration and runaway creativity. For those inside the workflow, it was hard to see the real source of the problem. To support the conversation, I used a custom version of the simple table below. This helped us look at the workflow together and understand the impact of dependencies in a more concrete way. If 0 represented on-time and 1 represented late, having three people tied to every step meant we only had a 12.5% chance of staying on schedule. But if we removed even one unnecessary dependency, the odds doubled to 25%. There was still some resistance, as any change comes with questions and hesitancy. But visualizing the work made the underlying issue easier to surface. It gave us space to talk through options and ultimately shape a more effective structure. ![[Dependencies-Late.jpg]] DeGrandis (2022), Page 16 *Note: See this section in [[GWU Program management#Dependency chart and the math of over reliance]] for an example of how I utilized this lesson in a real working context.* ## Making DESIGN work visible There are many kinds of learning design work. Some of those that I know and have practiced are as follows: 1. Instructional and learning design 2. Learning/technical materials design 3. Curricular design 4. Assessment design 5. Survey design 6. Multimedia design (graphics, video, documents) 7. Organizational and teams design 8. Systematic workflow design 9. LLM prompt design From teaching, guiding subject-matter experts, cross-functional teaming, and leading projects, I’ve learned that miscommunication is surprisingly easy. Clear, direct communication is essential. But to truly ensure alignment, **making the work visible** is the most effective approach. Physical whiteboards with stickies and markers support spontaneity and human interaction. If you control the space, returning to it daily reinforces understanding. And if you don’t, or if archiving is a priority, digital infinite whiteboards are an excellent alternative. Collaborating visibly also builds stronger human connections. Everyone brings ideas, and many enjoy working them out with others. Bringing people together — one-on-one or in teams — to design, map, and iterate ideas visibly strengthens both working relationships, builds team cohesion, and creates friendships. ### Examples in action The following pages are some examples through my career where I have gotten colleagues around a whiteboard with some dry erase markers and stickies to map out ideas. - [[2023, GWU unplanned work]] - [[2023, GWU Personalized learning]] - [[2023, GWU genAI MP workflow]] - [[2021, GWU CDM planning]] - [[2017, IMF Project planning]] - [[2017, IMF MDSx]] - [[2017, IMF Data management]] - [[2016, IMF Video concepting]] - [[2016, IMF PFMx]] - [[2016, IMF MOOC page structure]] - [[2016, IMF Accessibility planning]] - [[2013, MIT Sharing a vision]] ## Resources DeGrandis, D. (2022). _Making work visible: Exposing time theft to optimize work & flow_. IT Revolution.