Getting Processes Out In The Open
There’s a Japanese concept.
It’s called Miruka.
It means “visualization.”
Now, what does that mean?
It means making things simple.
Making them obvious.
In a lean organization, Miruka is the gold standard.
• You walk into a room, and you see what’s happening.
• You don’t ask a hundred questions.
• You don’t check a spreadsheet.
• You don’t dig through someone’s emails.
It’s all right there.
Let me explain.
You’re running a family business.
You’re juggling customers, suppliers, staff, and endless to-do lists.
Everyone’s busy, but no one knows what’s going on.
Sound familiar?
Here’s where Miruka comes in.
Imagine a board on the wall.
Not a fancy digital dashboard.
Not an app on someone’s phone.
A simple board.
Big, clear, and magnetic.
On it, you see everything:
What’s done.
What’s in progress.
What’s stuck.
Different colors mean different things.
Green means finished.
Yellow means it’s being worked on.
Red means there’s a problem.
You don’t need to ask.
You don’t need a meeting.
You just know.
That’s the power of Miruka.
It’s not about technology.
It’s about clarity.
It makes problems visible before they’re problems.
It makes progress visible to everyone.
It shows who’s responsible for what.
And here’s the best part.
It’s dead simple to set up.
Buy a magnetic board.
Get some markers and magnets.
Start small.
Put up one board in one department.
See how it works.
Then expand.
Why does this matter?
Because most family businesses fall into the same trap.
Everyone assumes someone else is keeping track.
Everyone assumes someone else is solving the problem.
And when things go wrong?
The blame game starts.
“I thought you were handling it.”
“No, I thought you were.”
Miruka kills that nonsense.
It shows you everything.
So no one can say, “I didn’t know.”
But there’s another reason Miruka works.
It’s about trust.
In a family business, trust is everything.
You trust your family to care about the business.
And you trust your employees to care about the work.
But trust isn’t blind.
Trust needs proof.
Miruka builds that proof.
It shows that everyone is pulling their weight.
It shows that everyone knows what’s going on.
When people can see the work, they trust the process.
And when they trust the process, they trust each other.
So here’s the takeaway.
Stop guessing.
Stop hoping things are getting done.
Stop relying on meetings and emails and spreadsheets.
Make it visible.
That’s Miruka.
© 2025 Stephen Bray. Patterns in life and business — told simply.