DID YOU JUST TAKE OVER MY IDEA?
- Didier Rabino
- Mar 24, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 11

💡 Keeping Ownership of Continuous Improvement 💡
Earlier in my career, I was asked to lead the design and operation of a new manufacturing value stream. The improvements in material, information, and people flow made it dramatically better than the legacy processes—reducing waste while making even more opportunities for improvement visible.
🔹 A Team-Driven Improvement System
The 36 team members quickly embraced the new improvement board, generating a flood of ideas. They placed idea cards on the board at an incredible pace. My two supervisors and I worked to support implementation as fast as possible, giving team members time to experiment and execute their ideas while pulling in maintenance support when needed.
📌 The impact?
Within a few weeks, over 200 ideas were implemented, with just as many in the queue, waiting for capacity!
🔹 The Unintended Consequence of Digitalizing the Board
The engineer in me thought we could improve visibility and efficiency by replacing the handwritten cards with a spreadsheet. Big mistake.
🚨 What happened?
The team’s ownership of the ideas disappeared—it felt like their ideas had been transferred from their hands to my computer.
The emotional attachment to driving improvement was lost.
Momentum slowed, and frustration grew—management was now expected to "own" the improvements.
🔹 Restoring the System with Visual Management & Pull
We quickly recognized our mistake and took action:
✅ Removed the Excel spreadsheet and restored the physical board.
✅ Set limits on how many ideas could be in the “To Do” and “Doing” columns.
✅ Created a pull system, ensuring that ideas moved from “Done” to “Doing” and then to “To Do” at a sustainable pace.
Once we re-established ownership and flow, the improvement system came back to life!
💭 Key Takeaway:
Technology is not always the solution—especially when it disrupts team ownership and engagement. Keeping improvement visual, tactile, and team-driven is often the best way to sustain momentum.
❓ Have you ever seen technology unintentionally disrupt an improvement system? How did you recover?
Let’s discuss this in the comments! 🚀
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