An analysis of the uses and properties of the Obeya

The term Obeya has become known as part of the Toyota Product Development System and the Lean Product Development strategy which has come out of that. Literature describes the Obeya as one of the tools of the TPDS, but rarely discusses what really makes an Obeya work, and what the critical aspects of it are. In the EU-sponsored project Linked Design, which develops methods for design in distributed work groups - often called collaborative design - a virtual Obeya has been identified as one of the subgoals. In order to specify such a solution, we need to examine thoroughly what Obeya is, how it is used, and what the critical factors determining its success are. This paper provides such an analysis.