In many highly productive companies this tool is the communication norm for proposal, planning, and reporting progress. This tool is a visual reminder of the A3 structure. It is based on concepts in John Shook’s Managing to Learn.

Think of the Agenda and Action Plan as the parentheses of any good meeting. The best meetings begin with a statement of purpose and a list of things to be accomplished. The Agenda keeps that list in view and tracks progress. Productive meetings close with a clear action plan communicating who is on point and when we expect completion.

Even when you think you know the cause of a problem it may not be obvious to your team. This tool involves those closest to the problem in learning the root causes. In the process participants are pushed to think like owners rather than players.

The prioritization tool involves those closest to the process in choosing where and when resources should be invested based on complexity and payoff.

KPIs are the measurements that motivate. They help us keep score for those that supply us with information, materials, or support. They help us rate our own performance in light of our customer’s needs. We all benefit from timely information on how we are doing.

How do we stay in prevention mode, even when we are busy? This tool guides us through the lessons to be learned when things go well, as especially when they do not. References to these concepts are rooted in the U.S. military and discussed in Jim Collin’s Book “From Good to Great.”

Mission Aligned People and Process. I built this series of question with Stephen Covey’s Principle Centered Leadership in mind. It guides a team though a series of questions to ensure success through the project’s clear benefit to the company’s mission. It has been refined through years of implementation and it includes all the questions experience has taught me to ask: earlier.

This template is a training and awareness visual that shows how OEE is calculated as a balanced and diagnostic productivity measure.

As an effective team forms for a purpose it must set norms, or rules of engagement, to ensure that it performs well. Inevitably the team will storm (conflict or bog down) as members test the rules of engagement. When that inevitably happens, as a normal stage of team development, the charter is there to help the team revisit the norms and adjust either the norms or the members behavior.

When your team is guided through disciplined observation they find waste related to

·      Transportation to and from the process.

·      Inventory imbalances

·      Movement that may be unnecessary.

·      Waiting

·      Overproduction

·      Over Processing by adding excessive steps or materials.

·      Defects and Rework