Understanding PDCA

PDCA is quite a simple concept to grasps. Let's start off with an analogy. Imagine that you are baking
your favorite cake. The first step is to figure out what cake you want to bake and what ingredients you
need. Next you need to mix all the ingredients together and bake your cake. After you have baked your
cake, you then compare it with the picture in the recipe book, or give it a taste test and unless the cake
has turned out perfect, the final step is to make note of how much more, or less, sugar to add next time.
In essence, we have gone through the PDCA cycle or process. Let's take a look at another example a bit
closer to home. You're about to undertake a large project. The obvious first step is to PLAN and some of
the questions that need to be asked are:

What is required to be done? This set the objectives/targets/goals.

Who should do it? This allows resources allocation.

When it is required to be done? This determines time frames.

The next step is to DO. ie the team rolls up their sleeves and execute the plan. This could be building a
boat, writing some software, opening the doors to your restaurant. After this, comes the CHECKING
phase. Some of the questions that can be asked are:

Is what we did equal to what we planned to do?

If something went wrong or not to plan, what was it and what effect did it have?

This is akin to a project review. Finally comes the ACTING phase which is to take the results of the
CHECKING phase, making a list of action points and then ensuring that it gets fed back into the planning
phase for the next project. No project is perfect, so typically there are lessons learned on what could be
done better or perhaps done in a different way.

PDCA on a macro and micro level

What is neat about PDCA is that it can be applied on a macro level as well as a micro level. The example
above looks at PCDA from a high level project point of view. One can focus on a single aspect of the
DOING phase and use the PDCA concept as well. eg When building engine part of the boat, you need to
plan the engine size or capacity, then build the engine, and then check to see if was correctly built or
installed.

PDCA for continuous improvement

The ACTING part of the PDCA cycle is where the link is with continuous improvement. This is because
once we've figured out what we need to change or fix or do better next time, this becomes the input to
the next PLANNING phase. Hence the continuous circle .

PDCA and Agile

What is interesting is that PDCA is very similar to agile which is a project management methodology
where a project is broken down into smaller, more manageable pieces called sprints. After the completion
of each sprint, a review takes place to find out what went right, what went wrong, and the results of this
analysis is fed into the next sprint cycle.

What is PDCA?
Now to the burning question you have been waiting for, what exactly is PDCA? There are many differing
definitions that define PDCA as:

A four-step management method.

A cycle.

An iterative four-step problem-solving process.

An improvement tool.

It is also known as a continuous improvement cycle, the Deming Wheel, the Ishikawa Circle and the
Shewart Cycle.
How ever it is defined, PDCA is a way of breaking down a task into defined stages with a focus on using
past results to improve future tasks.

PCDA diagram
No explanation would be complete without a diagram!