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http://www-personal.umich.edu/ ~mrother/Homepage.html 2
 What is Kata?

A kata is a pattern you practice to learn a skill

The suffix kata means way of doing.
It refers to a form or pattern that can be practiced to
develop particular skills and mindset.

Through practicing, the pattern of a kata becomes second nature - done with
little conscious attention - and readily available..
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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 What is Toyota Kata?

 It's a systematic approach to:

A. Generate Continuous Improvement &
B. Develop Strong Problem Solvers
 Combines a scientific pattern with
techniques of deliberate practice
 Doing small things on a daily basis
to improve a process toward a next
'target condition'
 Working toward the target
condition by overcoming the next
obstacle in front of you
 Learning by Trying in an Uncertain
World
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 Improvement Implementation
Improvement

Kata Kaizen
Event
Kaikaku
Jishuken
2 Sec
Lean
Projects/ Process
Improvement Dept
Time

To save 1 minute, you have to find 60 ways to save 1 second

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 Event Based vs. Daily Activity

What are we Teaching??

Need to shift emphasis from staff-led, episodic improvement

efforts, to daily efforts led by middle managers.
A slice of each day
should be focused on iterating toward the next target
condition by applying & coaching your improvement kata.

META-HABIT = Habits that Build Habits

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The Evolution of Lean*

*Actually….the
evolution of our
understanding of
Lean
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 New Paradigm for Lean

2000’s 2010’s
• Events/Workshop Based • Daily Interaction
• Lean Staff • Middle Managers Actively
Engaged

• Eliminate Waste • Strategic Objective

– What can we improve – What should we improve
• Focus on Results • Focus on Skill Development
& Results

• 30/60/90 Time Frame - • Daily Experiments – Bias for

Procrastinate Action & Learning
• Training • Practicing in the “Game”

• Toyota • What do WE need to do to

make it our own 8
Piecing Together Transformation
 What is Management’s Job?

The systematic pursuit of desired conditions by

utilizing human capabilities in a concerted way

We want
Current We are to be Target
Condition Here here next Condition

Traditional Management Kata Management

Focus on solutions
• Establish targets
• Describe solutions
• Provide incentives
• Get out of the way and periodically
check (introduce autonomous, “do it
your way” self-directed concepts)
Focus on how solutions are developed
• Establish targets
• Develop, via practice with coaching, the
capability in people to develop new
solutions...
...by having people practice a common
way of working, like the improvement kata

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Focus Today

Visible
Lean tools, techniques and principles
to improve quality, cost, delivery

Less Visible
• Systematic scientific routine of thinking & acting

• Managers as coaches for practicing that routine

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Notice the Difference

Troubleshooting
Going after problems / wastes / opportunities

Scientific Striving PDCA Cycles Toward a Target Condition

The Lean revolution means “kaizening” everywhere, but not everything
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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Toyota Training and Development
Primary Focus – Cont. Process Improvement by Identifying & Solving Problems
• Distinguishing Characteristics
1. Begin from need
2. Make people before making cars
3. Leaders job is to develop subordinates
4. On the Job Training is primary, Off-JT secondary
5. Bring gemba into the classroom, extend classroom education to the gemba
6. Focus on problem solving (scientific method)
Making People Making Cars

Focus Focus
here is on here is on
developing developing
people's the work
capability process

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook

Future State Loops = Challenge

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 Purpose of Process Analysis
The purpose of the Toyota Kata process analysis is
not to uncover problems, wastes or potential
improvements

Analyzing the current condition to:

1. Obtain the facts & data to describe the target condition
What you're doing is trying to find the current pattern of operation, so
you can establish a desired pattern of operation (a target condition).

2. Provide Target to Guide PDCA

Once you have a target condition and strive to move toward it with
PDCA cycles you'll discover what you need to work on.

Grasping the initial current condition is a step toward

establishing a first target condition.

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Process Analysis is Linear, But Iterative

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Learner’s Storyboard
Learner and coach will now use the entire storyboard

Focus Process: Challenge:

Target Current PDCA Cycles

Condition Condition Record

Obstacles
Parking Lot

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 Outside Your “KNOWLEDGE THRESHOLD" Means You Don’t Know
How You Will Reach It

A target condition that you can Self-efficacy

already or quickly see how to reach - One's belief in one's ability to succeed in
one that involves little trial and error - specific situations or accomplishing a task
is NOT a good target condition.

It is important to Challenge the

Learner so he/she feels a sense of
accomplishment

A good target condition

requires:
1. experimentation and
2 . learning to reach it.

A Target Condition Should be in

the Yellow Zone of Uncertainty 18
© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 A Target Condition …
Is an Essential Element for Activating Human Ingenuity in Teams

TC allows you to be
more scientific

TC helps you beat entropy

Without something to strive for, any process naturally tends to degrade

TC enables
Teamwork

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook Who Wins?
 3 Kinds of PDCA Experiments

1. Go and See Less

 Direct observation and data collection, without S
changing anything, to learn more about a
process or situation. c
2. Exploratory Experiment i
 Introducing a change in a process to see, via direct
e
observation, how the process reacts. Done to n
help better understand the process.
 Example: Try to run a process as specified in the t
target condition, to see where it fails and build your
obstacles parking lot. Often this is the first i
experiment.
f
3. Testing a Hypothesis i
 Introducing a change, ideally in only a single factor, c
together with a prediction of what you expect to
happen. More 20
© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 PDCA Towards Target Condition

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Understand Grasp the Establish PDCA Toward the

the Direction Current the Next Target Condition
Condition Target
Condition

The 5
Questions

What challenge are What is the What pattern do The step-by-step

we striving to meet? current pattern we want to have discovery process
of working? next? between where we
What does our are and where we
future-state value want to be next.

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 The Grey Zone
A good target condition requires
experimentation and learning to reach it.
Most Important: ASSUME THE PATH IS UNCLEAR
Work Thru the Grey
Knowledge Zone Using PDCA
threshold

The grey zone

? ? Target
Current Next
State Step Condition

? ?

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 The Pattern of the 5 TK Questions
The Five Questions foster a pattern of scientific
PDCA thinking & acting

The Five Questions

1) What is the Target Condition? Back of card - Reflection Section
2) What is the Actual Condition now?
--------(Turn Card Over)--------------------->
3) What Obstacles do you think are preventing Reflect on the Last Step Taken
you from reaching the target condition? Because you don't actually know
Which *one* are you addressing now? what the result of a step will be!
4) What is your Next Step? (next PDCA /
experiment) What do you expect? 1) What was your Last Step?
5) When can we go and see what we 2) What did you Expect?
Have Learned from taking that step?
*You'll often work on the same obstacle for several PDCA cycles 3) What Actually Happened?

4) What did you Learn?

Card is turned over to ------------------------------>

reflect on the last step Return

• Simple Clarifying Questions Only

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• Where’s the Threshold of Knowledge?
© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 PDCA Coaching Cycle Record
One Line = One Experiment

PDCACYCLESRECORD
Date:
Process
Process: Metric

Step What do you Expect Result: Observe closely What We Learned

1 Coaching Cycle
EXPERIMENT
2 Once a step or experiment is completed,
Before you get started, fill in Result and What We Learned, on
propose the1st step and the Right Side of the form
what you expect, on the Left
Side of the form

3 Based on what was learned in

the last step, propose the Next
Step and describe what you
Expect from the next step, on the
Left Side of the form
© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook
 PDCA Cycles Record

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© Mike Rother / Improvement Kata Handbook