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Visual management refers to a management practice that uses visual aids an signals in the place of written instructions to communicate information in the setting of a business organization. Unlike the written instructions like status updates, tools used in visual management such as information boards make the data visible, simple and within reach of everyone in the organization. Whereas information presented on the visual management tools is intended to reach the decision makers, it also keeps the entire team informed of the common objectives. The visual signals are aimed at conveying information, providing instructions and providing job status updates. Implementation of visual management is achieved through the use of various types of boards which include project status, priority, continuous improvement, and issues boards.
The use of visual management tools is premised on the knowledge that when the human brain is presented with pictures, colors, patterns, and shapes, the response is usually faster and better. The technique, therefore, provides workers with these visual aids to make communication and reaction more effective. If communication and reaction in the organization are effective, then the identification of operational problems and design defects is faster such that they can also be acted upon immediately. Moreover, appropriately structured groups are known to be more effective than individuals in decision making. Since the visual management boards are developed and maintained through group work, the process fosters better decisions than those made by individual managers.

Despite the availability of various visual management applications, it is advisable to draw the boards manually as this would help all the stakeholders to identify and discuss the problems and most importantly come up with a call to action. In drawing the boards, care should be taken to make them as user-specific as possible so that the intended users can find them easy to maintain. This helps to create meaning and motivation, both of which are important determinants of success in the implementation of visual management. In the process of visual management board development, errors could result from six situations including:
When the boards created lack a clear purpose
When there is a mismatch between a board and the people chosen to be responsible for it
When the board developers attempt to use it to solve too many problems at once
When the board development process is not accomplished through teamwork
When the boards are not attended to after they are created so that the information they present becomes outdated
When push systems are used instead of pull systems such that too much work is added to a particular process
In the case study, Sheila Dodge discusses how her organization, the Broad Institute adopted visual management in their operations to help their teams take on the right projects at the right moments so that they could deliver within the stipulated deadlines and remain competitive in the market. In the initial stage of adopting visual management, the organization determined the set of works that needed to be eliminated through the use of boards alongside colored post-it notes. All work that was found not to support the organization’s one-year goal was eliminated. They improved the visual managements gradually such that it formed the weekly meeting agenda for the teams. Today, a significant portion of the day to day activities of the organization are managed through visual management.