A3 Problem Solving: Applying

Lean Thinking
2012 Jamie Flinbaugh, Lean Learning Center
Last published on 2012-02-24

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Contents
What is A3?

Only inking Drives Sustainable Change . . .

Origins of A3 inking Methodology . . . . . .

Denition of Lean inking . . . . . . . . . . .

When to Use A3

When to Use A3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What A3 is Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A3 inking and People Development

Geing the Right inking and Action . . . . .
is Concludes the Sample Copy

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Disclaimer and Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . .

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About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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What is A3?
Only Thinking Drives Sustainable
Change
A3 is an improvement process that applies lean thinking to
problem solving. It is simply a way to present a report in
a simple and structured way. Some call it A3 thinking but
to be clear, there is no su thing as A3 thinkingthere is
only lean thinking. A3 reports are a waste-free way for
report writing and communication. e important point
is that the basic building blos of an A3 report provide a
nice lile template for lean thinking. us, this tool can
be helpful to anyone who wants to learn and apply lean
thinking to problem solving, project management and a
host of other improvement processes.
By standardizing and making visible the process of identifying problems and formulating solutions, individuals and
companies can execute to their ideal state.

Origins of A3 Thinking
Methodology
A3 is the international standard name for the paper size
11x17. e concept was coined by Toyota to describe
the process of geing report-writing down to one page. To
Toyota, this was just a format for structuring a report so
1

What is A3?

that it could be clearly and consistently communicated on

one page of paper, reducing the waste of report writing and
report reading. Because Toyota was always applying lean
thinking, and A3 reports made that thinking visible, people
began to see it as a way to help others to think lean. Today,
the concept, widely adopted outside of Toyota, goes beyond
report writing. A3 is a combination of the one-page report
and the thinking process applied to problem solving. e
A3 name stu.

Figure 1. A3 Problem Solving Applying Lean inking

Denition of Lean Thinking

e lean methodology - the practice of focusing on the
processes that create the value while eliminating those that
create waste - has been mostly about tools for many years.

What is A3?

As broad knowledge of lean begins to mature, more people

realize that being lean is also about applying lean thinking,
principles, and behaviors - the core drivers behind A3 - at
an individual, team, and organizational level to create a
lean thinking culture.
Creating visible thinking is what is unique about the A3
process.
When extending the lean process to thinking, what does
waste-free reporting and problem solving look like?
To begin the process of thinking leaner, take a multi-page
report and condense it to A3 - the international standard for
a paper size approximately the same as 11x17 paper. as
you move from the problem to the solution, depict through
writing, pictures and diagram, the assumptions and the
processes that you applied to get from point A to point B.
A3 shows more of how you thought as you moved from the
problem to the recommendation, rather than just the data.
As a result of revealing the thought process, two things
happen. First, when your thinking process is transparent,
you can rea agreement faster. Many arguments and
disagreements about recommended actions are actually
disagreements about assumptions made about either the
current reality and target condition. If we cant make our
assumptions visible, then they cant be discussed. Second,
making the thinking visible enables coaing. You cant
coa outcomes. If someone just showed you that theyve
failed to aieve the outcome, you dont know why unless
you can see their thought process.

What is A3?

Lean success at companies today is not hindered by a la

of tools, nor the capability of the tools they have. What
is really behind companies that succeed at sustained lean
implementation is the level of thinking driven by lean
principles and rules. inking is powerful in anging an
organization. inking drives behaviors. Behaviors drive
action. Action drives results. No tool can x poor thinking.
To illustrate this point, consider the kanban card, a major
tool in many lean transformation eorts since the 1980s.
e concept is prey simple. A downstream process uses
parts from an upstream process. As ea part is used, a
kanban card is removed and sent ba to the upstream
process. When a predetermined number of cards accumulates at that upstream process, production replenishes
the sto used by the downstream process. Now lets test
the thinking. Does the upstream process operator look at
the downstream process as his customer? If the customersupplier relationship is not clear to both parties, then there
is no compelling reason to ll that kanban. ere is mu
greater reason to stay busy producing whatever is easier.
Is the kanban card a suggestion, a request or just a piece of
paper?
If the kanban card is a suggestion, you get one behavior. If
it is a specic request, you get a very dierent behavior. So
a fundamental principle behind kanban is the objective of
explicitly linking a customer to a supplier through a formal
request. Without that objective clearly understood, all you
have is a piece of paper. Why is it so important to follow
that request exactly, even accepting downtime because the

What is A3?

operator doesnt have a request? e conventional answer

is that producing without that request is overproduction
that increases inventory and generates waste.
True lean thinking sees beyond the waste to an even greater
reason. By not producing, you have exposed a problem
that can be engaged as an opportunity to make the process
even stronger. So a fundamental principle is that kanban
is not an inventory and material ow management system.
It is a tool for systematically exposing problems in your
process as they occur. A ange in thinking produces very
dierent behaviors, and ultimately very dierent results.
One look at the kanban card in light of lean thinking
helps those using it understand how and why it works,
because they see it and understand it as a request, not a
card. It is a method to connect a customer to a supplier.
But most companies implementing kanban systems are not
successful at geing the users to understand how and why
the tool works. e most common excuseit is too hard
for our people to understandstands in stark contrast to
the simple concept.
You can read about the tools and teniques of lean in
any book. You can delegate the application and implementation to just about anyone. But you cannot succeed
without internalizing the principles of lean throughout
all of management, and using that thinking to guide the
implementation, daily decision making, problem solving,
managing and coaing.

When to Use A3
A3 is applied in a wide range of applications. But its
really for people who have some open-endedness in their
problem-solving options. If the problem-solving options
are narrow and controlled, then opening up and exploring
the thought process and assumptions within the problem
is not necessarily productive. A3 can be used for daily
small problems su as why did the equipment fail? by
tenicians or supervisors. It can also be used on strategic
problems by executives su as why did our market share
drop?
ese questions represent the thought process behind the
reactions from managers more oen than the words actually spoken. Does that thought process help you improve?
Does it help them? Instead of focusing on the who of the
problem, lets focus on the why of the problem.
One organization has turned the A3 into a Counseling A3.
Its purpose is to address the problem behind an employee
error. Instead of blaming the individual, they help the
individual think through the error and gure out how to x
it. Counseling A3 goes from blame to process improvement
and learning.
When applying A3, organizational or personal issues oen
become good starting points as other problem-solving tools
are less eective at addressing su problems. Consider
working with a partner or team rather than individually.
With a team you need to facilitate oen and, if you are
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When to Use A3

just learning, then having to facilitate does not allow for a

lot of learning. And individually you get no feedba. Its
easier to learn while talking it out and, unless youre good
at talking to yourself, having a partner is a great help.
If you use another problem solving method shbone diagrams, TRIZ, Six Sigma DMAIC, 5 whys, Kepner Tregoe,
8D, and so forth it can still t within the underlying
thought process of A3 and the report writing aspect of A3.
e key in this t is clearly and succinctly communicating
whatever means you used to get to the root cause through
the current reality section of the A3.

When to Use A3

When to Use A3

What A3 is Not
A resear project. Organizations spend lots of time
generating and rewriting reports while not being
clear about what value is being delivered.
One-size ts all. ere is no one standard A3 format
and no magic formula. Toyota has many.
A debate about the form. One company spent
six months dialoguing, debating and iterating what
their form should be.
e most common mistake is treating the A3 as a form,
instead of a process.
e form has no magic in it. When we focus on the
template, we solve problems the same way we always have,
and then try to ll out the form aer the fact. Not only
does this not improve our problem-solving capabilities, but
it actually creates waste.
e second mistake is using the process linearly, going
from A to B.
Do it in pencil, both literally and guratively. Be willing
to redo your work. As you go forward in your process you
should be learning, whi means you should be going ba
to modify based on your learnings. In my coaing, I nd
that half of the time we need to rework the original problem
statement.

When to Use A3

And third, this is not an independent project.

It is oen mu beer as a collaborative process than a solo
one. Engage people, get input, develop high agreement,
and move forward as a team. Ultimately, the process and
solution should be integrated at an organizational level.

A3 Thinking and People

Development
Getting the Right Thinking and
Action
To optimize problem solving and organizational eectiveness, the goal is to develop people to intuitively use A3
thinking. Once an A3 mindset and culture is established,
enabling greater collaboration and coaing, the more effective A3 problem-solving approa can be readily applied
throughout the organization.
is ebook focuses on how to develop people and the
enabling environment for A3 thinking. To develop A3
thinkers, A3 principles, values and behaviors must be integrated into problem-solving and organizational processes.
Fundamentally, faulty problem solving does not arise
because the tools are bad; it is because the behaviors and
thought processes being used are bad. Many of these
tools, for example, will help you get to the root cause of
a problem, but if you dont value taking the time to truly
get to the root cause, then the tool wont do you any good.
Current Problem Solving/inking
Common inking
Standardizing and Simplifying Problem Solving
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A3 inking and People Development

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Current Problem Solving/Thinking

If you do not get to act, what is the purpose of being here?
You learn for the purpose of action. How do we use A3
thinking to coa employees to get the right thinking and
action?
Most of us learn to solve problems very early. Its one of the
rst skills you learn, but you learn it through trial and error.
It becomes tacit knowledge. And oen the problem with
tacit knowledge is that we cannot hold it up and examine
it. It becomes dicult to improve and you oen dont
even realize you are applying that knowledge so you dont
recognize the need to improve it.

Figure 2. Information Flow

Admiing you need to re-learn problem solving is like

admiing you have to re-learn brushing your teeth; its

A3 inking and People Development

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that fundamental. For this reason, knowledge of problemsolving thinking that underlies all of these methods is
generally less mature than the tools themselves.

Common Thinking
To aieve sustainable ange, decisions need to be made
around common principles. If you get the common principle right, you can send your organization o because you
know how they are going to think and behave around that
problem. A3 is a process through whi a team can rally
around a common way of thinking and talking.
An enabling culture and true employee engagement help
to foster common thinking. If you want your organization
to be consistent, it is never a good idea to not tell your
entire organization to start improving stu. It would result
in aos. Sta would move in hundreds of dierent directions. Individuals make vastly dierent decisions under the
same circumstances.

Standardizing and Simplifying Problem

Solving
ere are many benets to standardizing and simplifying the process of capturing your thinking. What questions were asked in the last presentation you aended?
Typically, 50 percent of questions address understanding
the process and nding the information used to explain

A3 inking and People Development

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the problem and solution. I once sat through a 27-page

PowerPoint presentation that presented a history of the
department and just 10 minutes on current continuous
improvement initiatives. In the end, the fault rested with
me, the leader. We didnt have a standard way to represent
the project.
All essential, need-to-know information can be distilled
and disseminated on one A3.
What if we all used the same method to think through a
problem from the problem denition to the solution? e
four quadrants of A3 problem solving provide a standardized problem solving process to promote common thinking
:
Problem Statement
Current Reality
Target Condition
Action

A3 inking and People Development

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Figure 3. e Four adrants of A3 Problem Solving

If you standardize your thinking process, you always know

what you will see. What happens when you la a standardized way of presenting a report?

This Concludes the

Sample Copy
ank you for your interest in this content. We hope that
you found it useful and that you apply it in your daily work.
If you want to read more apters, please purase the full
version. ank you.
Please come ba and ask questions. Share with us how
you have used what you learned.
We wish you the best in your continued learning and lean
application.

Disclaimer and Copyright

is eBook is copyrighted and intended for YOUR USE
ONLY. By downloading this book, you have agreed that
this is for your personal use and that you will not resell or
distribute this product.
A3 Problem Solving Applying Lean inking
Copyright 2012, Jamie Flinbaugh, Lean Learning Center

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is Concludes the Sample Copy

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About the Author

Jamie Flinbaugh

Jamie Flinbaugh is co-founder and partner of the Lean

Learning Center.
Flinbaugh co-authored with Andy Carlino, e Hithikers Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road, a bestselling lean book.
Flinbaugh is a graduate fellow of the highly-regarded
Leaders for Manufacturing Program at the Massauses
Institute of Tenology where he received a Master of
Business Administration degree from the Sloan Sool of
http://www.leanlearningcenter.com/
http://hitchhikersguidetolean.com/

is Concludes the Sample Copy

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Management, and a Master of Science degree in Engineering. He has also received a Master of Science degree in
Engineering from the University of Miigan and holds
a Baelor of Science degree in Engineering from Lehigh
University.
You can also follow Jamie on his blog at www.jamieinbaugh.com.

http://www.jamieflinchbaugh.com/