A Gemba walk is one of the most important Lean techniques to understand the current state of any process. The idea behind Gemba walks is going to the actual place and observing how the work is performed to identify potential areas for improvement. They allow you to make small improvements many times rather than pursue a big improvement one time.

This Gemba walk template provides a simple and consistent approach to gain insights into how your processes really operate. It brings together many of the continuous improvement tools used in problem solving and process improvement. It follows the PDCA framework and can be used in all of its phases. This template is divided into multiple sections: Go, See, Think and Do (GSTD).

This template is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that you can use and modify to suit your specific needs. It can easily be modified to include additional sections or tools as required. You may, for example, add a Photos section to include the photos collected during the observation. Additional rows and space can also be added in any section as needed.

Two additional forms are also provided to allow the observer to collect data in a more simple and silent way. The first can be used in any production environment whereas the second is designed to be applied in the customer service environments. The observed data can then be recorded in another provided worksheet for further analysis.