Gemba Conversation Guide
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Ten questions for your Gemba walk
Use these with the person who does the work, whether they handle client onboarding, prepare reports or manage an inbox. Watch one real job from start to finish. Allow 30 to 45 minutes, ask before taking notes and listen for the steps missing from the written process.
The form below saves your notes in this browser. When you finish, you can download a PDF with your answers and a summary of what really happens, where work gets stuck and what the person would change. No email required.
Start recording your conversation ↓Walk me through what you do from the moment you start this task.
Why: it shows you the real job, not the one in the handbook.
What takes the longest?
Why: it shows you where the work gets stuck.
What's the most frustrating part?
Why: it shows what annoys the person doing the job.
Is there anything you do that feels like a waste of time?
Why: it finds wasted time the team has stopped noticing.
Do you ever have to redo work? When and why?
Why: work done twice is work you paid for twice.
What information do you need that's hard to get?
Why: it shows what people cannot find when they need it.
Have you found any shortcuts or workarounds?
Why: it shows where the real job and the written job come apart.
What would make your day easier?
Why: the answer usually comes from the person doing the job.
Is there anything about this process that you think management doesn't fully understand?
Why: this one opens everything up.
If you could change one thing, what would it be?
Why: this is often the best thing you hear all day.
A service-firm example
Imagine an account manager preparing a client report. The handbook says “compile the figures”. Sitting beside them reveals three exports, a spreadsheet they maintain themselves and a wait for someone to check a missing figure. Ask what the spreadsheet does that the reporting system cannot, and who can resolve the missing information.
After the conversation, separate what you observed from what you assume. Agree one next check with the person doing the work before proposing a new system.
Who you are talking to
Write down the basics before you start. Who you are with, what they do, and which job you are asking about. It matters later, when you line up several of these chats and start to see the same thing coming up again and again.
Understand the judgement behind the work
Ask the person doing the job to show a recent example. Capture the clues they use, the decisions they make and what changes when a client needs a different route.
Capture expert judgement with the interview guide