Toyota kata and beyond

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Toyota Kata and BeyondNotes and Quotes from Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata

William Judd 13 September 2016

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Vision

“What do we need to do with our ◉processes◉products◉services to meet customer needs.”

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The Situation: Basic Principles of Toyota’s Success

The Situation Know Yourself Improvement Kata Coaching Kata Replication Appendix Extensions

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It’s Hard to See Exactly How Toyota Succeeds

Practices Tools Principles

Management thinking and routines (kata)

(Visible)

(Invisible)

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Companies that Thrive Long-Term◉ “The objective is not [just] to win, but to develop the capability of the

organization to keep improving, adapting, and satisfying dynamic customer requirements.”

◉ Take small steps forward to find the right path (rather than extensive up-front planning)

◉ Technical innovation is often the cumulative result of many incremental adaptations● Think about the difference between the first iPhone and the iPhone 7

◉ Make cost and quality improvements in small steps◉ Respond to unpredictable and uncertain situations with confidence and

effective action

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The Constant of Changing Conditions◉ Toyota improves every process every day at every level of the company

● No process improvement workshops, initiatives, special efforts, campaigns◉ “Relying on periodic improvements and innovations alone – only improving

when we make a special effort or campaign – conceals a system that is static and vulnerable.”

◉ A process is either being actively improved or it is degrading

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STRENGTH

“The strength of a company is the improvement capability of all the people.”

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Kata Defined◉ A way of doing something; a method or routine◉ A pattern◉ A standard form of movement◉ A predefined, or choreographed, sequence of movements◉ The customary procedure◉ A training method or drill◉ A way of keeping two things in alignment or synchronization

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Know Yourself: Failing at Continuous Improvement


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Limits of typical approachesWorkshops

● Small number of participants● Hard to change culture through workshops● Limited impact on processes● Hard to keep the momentum

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Limits of typical approachesValue-Stream Mapping

● A highly useful tool from Lean Manufacturing● Process changes happen at the next level deeper● Can identify a very long list of issues across the value stream – where to start?● Doesn’t develop our capability

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Limits of typical approachesThe Action-Item List

● Very widespread approach – easy to do – can fit in our schedule● Unscientific, ineffective, scattershot● Can create more variability and instability in processes● Asks “What can we do to improve?” ● BETTER: “What do we need to do to improve this specific process?”● Jumping too soon to countermeasures

● Unspoken goal: “Just shut off the problem!” (i.e. don’t worry about causes/improvements)● Focus: do my action items (i.e. don’t worry about lasting improvements)

● Doesn’t develop people’s capabilities● Performing the first action item could change the situation

● Priorities may shift● Previously defined action items may now be counterproductive

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Philosophy

Normal daily management

Process improvementTraditional thinking:

Toyota thinking: Normal daily management

Process improvement

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Philosophy

Nature of people’s

actions at the process

Process outcomes Consequences

The MEANS The RESULTS

Most of Toyota’s management focus is here.

Most of our management focus is here.

• Production quantity• Quality• Cost• Productivity• etc.

• Rewards (or lack of)• Feedback

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Direction

“Success through continuous improvement toward the vision.”

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Vision

VisionCurrent Condition

“True

North”

• 0 defects• 100% value added• One-piece flow, in

sequence, on demand• Security for peopleToyota’s 60-year-old

vision for production operations

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The vision gives direction

Vision

Current

Condition

• Vague• Very far away

Path is unclear and cannot be planned in advance.

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The vision gives direction

Vision(Vague)

Current

Condition Where do we want to be next?Detailed and specific

Target Condition

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Limitations of cost/benefit case-by-case

◉ Traditional CBA: “This proposal is too costly? Then we must do something else.”

◉ Toyota CBA: “This proposal is too costly? Then we must develop a way to do it more cheaply.”

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Limitations of cost/benefit case-by-case

“…without a direction we tend to evaluate proposals individually on their own merits, rather than as part of striving toward something. This creates that back-and-forth, hunting-for-a-solution, whoever-is-currently-most-persuasive effect in the organization.

“Specifically, without a sense of direction we tend to use a short-term cost/benefit analysis to decide and choose on a case-by-case basis whether or not something should be done – in which direction to head and what to do – rather than working through challenging obstacles on the way to a new level of performance.”

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Lessons from History“Toyota’s way of moving forward … is very much one of ●adaptation and continuous improvement; ●of nurturing processes, products, and

businesses into profitability ●by doing what is necessary ●to achieve target conditions.”

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Lessons from History“If our business philosophy and management approach do not include

●constant adaptiveness and improvement, then [we] can get

●stuck in patterns that grow ●less and less applicable in ●changing circumstances.”

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The Improvement Kata: How Toyota Continuously Improves


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The Improvement Kata steps

VisionNext

TargetCondition

CurrentCondition Obstacles Challenge

Drawing by Mike Rother

(1) “In consideration of a vision, direction, or target, (2) and with a firsthand grasp of the current condition, (3) a next target condition on the way to the vision is defined. When we then

strive to move step by step toward that target condition, we encounter (4) obstacles that define what we need to work on, and from which we learn.”

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Another way to look at the Improvement Kata steps

Conduct Experimentstoward the Target Condition

Grasp the Current

Condition

Establish the NextTarget

Condition

Get the Direction orChallenge

1

2

3

4


• How should this process operate?• What is the intended normal pattern?• What situation do we want to have in

place at a specific future point?• Where do we want to be next?

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Too much flexibility can destroy improvement

“[The] process can work around problems and still make the target output…”

“At Toyota, this sort of flexibility is considered negative, since problems go unresolved and the process gets into a non-improving, firefighting cycle.”

“…self-compensating flexibility in processes would strike fear in the hearts of Toyota managers because of all the problems that go unnoticed and unaddressed.”

“Flexible systems that autonomously bypass problems are by their nature non-improving.”

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Target Condition ≠ Target

Not just a Target“A target condition is a description of how the process should operate in order to achieve the target.”

Vision(Vague)

Current

Condition

Target Condition

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“Implementation Mode” vs. Improvement Mode

It broke! We fixed it!

Now Better? ? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??The Grey Zone

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Your Current Knowledge Threshold

Vision(Vague)

The Grey Zone

Next Target

Condition

Current

Condition

Experiments toward the

Target Condition extend

your knowledge

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Target Conditions provide focus

What could we improve?

TargetCondition

Without a target condition:“We could……reduce setup time…clean and organize…hunt for waste…apply Kanban…make a U-shaped line…etc., etc., etc.”

With a target condition:“What is preventing us from having a part here every 16 seconds?”

“The operator has to leave periodically to get another tray

of components.”

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Target Conditions alter thinking

Target

Condition

Traditional thinking• We’re slipping back. • We need to maintain.• The operators are responsible.• We need more discipline!

Target Condition thinking• We aren’t there yet.• What is preventing us from

reaching the target condition?• Management is responsible.• What is the next step?

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PREDICTIONCan be tested

ACTIONConduct theexperiment

EVALUATEAdjust based on what you learn

EVIDENCECollect facts and data

PLAN

DO

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4

CHECK(Study)

ACT

THE SCIENTIFIC LEARNING CYCLE"Plan-Do-Check-Act" or "Plan-Do-Study-Act"

By Mike Rother

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Example PDCA cycle: “Be in the car an hour after waking up.”

Cycle One◉ Plan: Be in the car 60 minutes after waking up. (Target Condition)◉ Do: Wake up and go through the morning routine, get into car.◉ Check: How long did that take?◉ Act: Nothing can be done at this point for this cycle:

● Cannot tell where the problem lies● Cannot make an adjustment to still reach the target condition

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Example PDCA cycle: “Be in the car an hour after waking up.”

Cycle Two – with a better Target Condition definition

Steps,

sequence, times

Planminutes

Actualminutes

Alarm rings / Snooze-button cycles 5 5

Start coffeemaker 3 3

Bathroom routine 15 15

Get dressed 10 10

Make breakfast 7 11

Eat breakfast and read newspaper 10

Clean up breakfast 5

Check calendar and briefcase contents 3

Leave house and get into car 2

Outcome metric: 60

“What is preventing us from making

breakfast in seven minutes?”

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Problematic attitudes about problems◉ Traditional Way of Thinking:

● Ensure people are working hard● Maintain tautness● Control the person

◉ Toyota Way of Thinking:● Finding problems means finding ways to improve● Recognize obstacles early and understand them● Problem-solving, rapid cycles● Improve the process● Work together on a common objective● “Adopt the right heart”

“It’s always ‘no problem’ until the end, and then

we have a big problem.” sweeping little problems under

the rugplacing blame

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What does “problem solving” mean?

Focus Behavior

Toyota• Learn about the work system• Understand the situation• Improvement toward the vision

• Observe and study the situation.• Apply only one countermeasure at a

time in order to see cause and effect.

Us • Stop the problem!• What are my action items?

• Hide the problem.• Quickly move into countermeasures.• Apply several countermeasures at

once.

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Practicing the Improvement Kata Teaches Scientific Thinking

Practice the Improvement Kata routines to make the basic skills of scientific thinking more automatic. That’s the Kata part.

The automatic fundamentals are then a foundation upon which all sorts of creativity and initiative can proliferate in your team and organization, to achieve what seemed impossible. That’s improvisation & creativity!

By Mike Rother

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The Improvement Kata can be Recursive

Conduct Experiments (PDCA)toward the Target Condition

Grasp the Current

Condition

Define the Next

TargetCondition

Get the Direction orChallenge

1

2

3

4


As you work to define the Next Target Condition, you will often need more information about the Current Condition

As you PDCA toward the Target Condition, you may gain insights that clarify the Target Condition

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The Improvement Kata: Results

“The original condition was x. We set a target condition of y. We achieved z and learned the following in the process.”

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When you don’t know how to solve a challenging problem:

“If we already knew the answer, it would just be an implementation question, and anyone – including any of our competitors – could do that.

I don’t know the solution to the problem, but I know how we can go about developing a solution.”

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Management Approaches

Traditional thinking

Toyota thinking

• Outcome targets• Metrics• Incentive schemes• ROI-based decision making• MBO

• Small problems at the source• Real process details• Real situations• In real time

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The Coaching Kata: How Toyota Teaches the Improvement Kata


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Management ApproachesTraditional Leadership

Who is doing what by when?

Repo

rting

of R

esul

ts

Goals, targets, outcome metrics

Toyota Leadership

“Show me.”

The difference

is here

Goals, targets, outcome metrics

Mentor/Mentee dialogue with overlap of responsibility

Target conditions and PDCA

Go and See, “Show me”

1 obstacle at a time

1 step at a time

Rapid Cycles

Leading with questions

1-page document / “A3”

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PLANNING EXECUTING

Understandthe Directionor Challenge(from level above)

Grasp theCurrent

Condition

Establish the Next Target Condition

ExperimentToward the

Target Condition

Current State Value Stream

Mapping

Future State Value Stream

MappingValue StreamLevel

ProcessLevel

OrganizationLevel

Coach/Learner

relationships

Longer-Cycle Experiments

Short-Cycle Experiments

By Mike Rother

The Improvement Kata Pattern ConnectsA Target Condition at one level can be the Direction for the next level

By Mike Rother 45

WHAT DEPLOYMENT OFTEN LOOKS LIKEDon’t try to expand Improvment Kata practice faster

than you can develop internal Coaching Kata proficiency!

Phase I Phase II Phase III

Scouts study the subject

Form AG

AG and first coaches practice the IK Ad

vanc

e Gr

oup

mak

es a

med

ium

-rang

e pl

anAdvance Group conducts bi-weekly reflections

Slice 1 (a process, area, department, VS Loop, etc.)

Slice 2

Slice 3

Slice 4

Adva

nce

Grou

p re

flecti

on a

nd n

ext p

lan

Increasing number of managers in the organization who are proficient as IK coaches

Form an "Advance Group," i.e., which practices first

AG works toward a series of 3 target conditions

(does ~ 25 PDCA cycles)on real processes

train enough managers

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Coaching Kata Highlights

Role of Leaders: to increase the improvement capability of people.

Management spends well over 50% of their time on process improvement.

The mentor guides the mentee in the use of the improvement kata.

Training while working on the real thing

Everyone at Toyota has a mentor

If the learner hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.

We can’t see people’s skill-development needs when we tell them what to do.

Needs of the mentee and the situation determine the next training.

Strategic decisions in sync with the actual situation at the process level.

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Simplified Steps of Toyota’s Practical Problem Solving1. Pick Up the Problem (Problem Consciousness)2. Grasp the Situation (Go and See)3. Investigate Causes4. Develop and Test Countermeasures5. Follow Up

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Detailed Steps of Toyota’s Practical Problem Solving1. Pick Up the Problem (Problem Consciousness)

a. Identify the problem that is the current priority

2. Grasp the Situation (Go and See)a. Clarify the problem

a. What should be happening?b. What is actually happening?c. Break the problem into individual problems if necessary.

b. If necessary, use temporary measures to contain the abnormal occurrence until the root cause can be addressed.c. Locate the point of cause of the problem.

Do not go into cause investigation until you find the point of cause.d. Grasp the tendency of the abnormal occurrence at the point of cause.

3. Investigate Causesa. Identify and confirm the direct cause of the abnormal occurrence.b. Conduct a 5-Why investigation to build a chain of cause/effect relationships to root cause.c. Stop at the cause that must be addressed to prevent recurrence.

4. Develop and Test Countermeasuresa. Take one specific action to address the root cause.b. Try to change only one factor at a time, so you can see correlation.

5. Follow Upa. Monitor and confirm results.b. Standardize successful countermeasure.c. Reflect. What did we learn during this problem-solving process?

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The Five Questions - Simplified1. What is the target condition (the challenge)2. What is the actual situation now?3. What problems or obstacles are now preventing you from

reaching the target condition? Which one are you addressing now?

4. What is your next step? (Start of next PDCA cycle)5. When can we go and see what we have learned from

taking that step?

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The Five Questions – Detailed1. What is the target condition (the challenge)?

a. What do we expect to be happening?

2. What is the actual situation now?a. Is the description of the current condition measurable?b. What did we learn from the last step?c. Go and see for yourself. Do not rely on reports.

3. What problems or obstacles are now preventing you from reaching the target condition? Which one are you addressing now?a. Observe the process or situation carefully.b. Focus on one problem or obstacle at a time.c. Avoid Pareto paralysis: Do not worry too much about finding the biggest problem right away. If you are moving ahead in fast cycles, you will find it

soon.

4. What is your next step? (Start of next PDCA cycle)a. Take only one step at a time, but do so in rapid cycles.b. The next step does not have to be the most beneficial, biggest, or most important. Most important is that you take a step.c. Many next steps are further analysis, not countermeasures.d. If next step is more analysis, what do we expect to learn?e. If next step is countermeasure, what do we expect to happen?

5. When can we go and see what we have learned from taking that step?a. As soon as possible. Today is not too soon.

How about we go and take that step now?(Strive for rapid cycles!)

Card is downloadable at:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mrother/KATA_Files/5Q_Card.pdf

By Mike Rother

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The “A3”: a written document to support mentor/mentee dialog◉ Theme and Business Case◉ Current (Initial) Condition◉ Target Condition◉ Moving from Current to Target Condition◉ Metrics◉ Proposals◉ Plans◉ Key points from reflections◉ Signatures

Focus Process: Challenge:

Target ConditionAchieve by:

Current Condition PDCA Cycles Record

Obstacles Parking Lot

PDCA CYCLES RECORDObstacle:

Date, step & metric What do we expect? What happened What we learned

Learner:Process:

Coach:

(Each row = one experiment)

Do a

Coa

chin

g Cy

cle

Cond

uct t

he E

xper

imen

t

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Replication: What About Other Companies?


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Developing Improvement Kata Behavior in Your Organization◉ Be clear about what you are undertaking:

● The goal is to develop consistent behavior patterns across the organization◉ Organization culture needs to shift, but it’s a “30-degree shift”◉ Become an experimenter – the kata can suit most organizations through

experimentation

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Developing Improvement Kata Behavior in Your Organization◉ What will not work (significant limitations):

● Classroom training – example: sports● Workshops● Having consultants do it for you● Looking to metrics, incentives, and motivators to bring the desired change● Reorganizing

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How to Experiment◉ Use actual work processes◉ Focus on three main factors:

● The Improvement Kata – how we want people to act● The Coaching Kata – how we teach people to act that way● Urgency – the priority for acting this way

◉ Use the improvement kata to start implementing the improvement kata◉ If the improvement kata is not working properly, the coaching needs

adjustment

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Tactics Mike Rother Has Been Using◉ Learn to do before learning to coach◉ Get the senior managers to practice the improvement kata ahead of others◉ Establish an Advance Group

● Assess the stability of a production process (measure it)● Ask “what is preventing this process and the operators from being able to work with a

stable cycle”?◉ Training through frequent coaching cycles and the five questions

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Building the Sense of Achievement

Sense of belonging Challenging work Working together

Seeing potential for improvement Clearly defined end state Empowered to make

change

Sense of responsibility Recognition for process and results Frequent challenges

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Able to TEACH it

AWARE of it

Able to DO it

There is a LEARNING PROGRESSION

By Mike Rother

Target Condition:Student is aware of the approach to continuous improvement and adaptation.Activity:Introductory training course

Target Condition:Student can do improvement kata.Activity:Repeatedly practice improvement kata

Target Condition:Student can do coaching kata.Activity:Repeatedly practice coaching kata

Is student far enough along to learn to coach?Gate

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Improvement and Coaching Kata: Common Obstacles It’s hard for people to resist making lists of action items. The five key questions are often difficult for senior leaders to internalize. We like doing but not checking and adjusting. We jump into solutions and skip over careful observation and analysis. People assume the mentee must figure out what solution the mentor has in mind. The unclear path to a target condition is uncomfortable for many people. Most like a

clear plan in advance even though that is only a prediction. Recursive iterations (redoing steps) are uncomfortable. People feel they did something

wrong when asked to look again or repeat a step, yet this is very important for learning and seeing deeply.

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Improvement and Coaching Kata: Common Obstacles Many people will view this effort as just another project, rather than as developing a

new way of managing. At the start, it seems like this effort is adding more work on top of daily management

duties, as opposed to it being a different way of conducting daily management. At the start, coaching cycles often take too much time, becoming burdensome. After

establishing a target condition, a coaching cycle can often be completed in 15 minutes. Less is more.

Rather than making a list of steps, take one next step and then see where that takes you. Conduct your coaching cycles standing up at the process and do not let them turn into endless talk

sessions. Go through the five questions, find the next step, and that is the end of the coaching cycle. Take

the next step as soon as possible.

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Appendix


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Process Analysis

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Start with the Value Stream◉ Which value stream (production deliverable)?◉ What are the processing steps?◉ Dedicated or shared?◉ Where do items wait, ready (inventory)?◉ How does each process know what to produce (information flow)?◉ What are the “loops” in this value stream?

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Then focus on one processSummarize the current condition:◉ Assess customer demand and determine line pace

● Customer takt (demand rate)● Planned cycle time

◉ First impressions of the process● Is there 1 x 1 flow?● Are each operator’s work steps the same from cycle to cycle?● Is output consistent?

◉ Is machine capacity sufficient?◉ Is the process stable or is there a “hidden factory”?◉ What is the necessary number of operators (if process were stable)?

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Extensions


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Manufacturing vs. SaaS

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Comparison of Manufacturing vs. SaaS◉ Similarities

● “Systems” thinking● Standardization● Scalability● Repeatable Processes● Value Stream – moving “code” from creator to customer● Pull model – make some “inventory” ready

● downstream teams pull content as they have capacity

◉ Differences● SaaS does not actually “deliver products”, per se● B2B SaaS does not actually deliver to consumers (with some exceptions)● “Code” ≠ “Parts”● SaaS has many different “product lines” requiring different “factories”

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DevOps

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DevOps – faster with better quality

◉ Throughput● Deployment frequency● Lead time required for changes

◉ Stability● Mean time to recover (MTTR)● Change failure rate

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DevOps – faster with better quality

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DevOps + Improvement Kata = ?

◉ Without the Kata:● 6% less time on unplanned work/rework● 5% less time on other work● 11% more time on new work

◉ With the Improvement Kata?

Engineering

Toyota kata and beyond