A3 Problem Solving: Applying

Lean Thinking
©2012 Jamie Flinbaugh, Lean Learning Center

Last published on 2012-02-24

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 Contents

What is A3? 1
Only inking Drives Sustainable Change . . . 1
Origins of A3 inking Methodology . . . . . . 1
Definition of Lean inking . . . . . . . . . . . 2

When to Use A3 6
When to Use A3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What A3 is Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

A3 inking and People Development 10

Geing the Right inking and Action . . . . . 10

is Concludes the Sample Copy 15

Disclaimer and Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

i
 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 thinking—there is
only lean thinking. A3 reports are a waste-free way for
report writing and communication. e important point
is that the basic building blos of an A3 report provide a
nice lile 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 identi-
fying 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

11″x17″. e concept was coined by Toyota to describe
the process of geing report-writing down to one page. To
Toyota, this was just a format for structuring a report so

1
What is A3? 2

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

Definition 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? 3

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 11”x17” 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 can’t make our
assumptions visible, then they can’t be discussed. Second,
making the thinking visible enables coaing. You can’t
coa outcomes. If someone just showed you that they’ve
failed to aieve the outcome, you don’t know why unless
you can see their thought process.
What is A3? 4

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 fix poor thinking.
To illustrate this point, consider the kanban card, a major
tool in many lean transformation efforts since the 1980s.
e concept is prey 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 accu-
mulates at that upstream process, production replenishes
the sto used by the downstream process. Now let’s test
the thinking. Does the upstream process operator look at
the downstream process as his customer? If the customer-
supplier relationship is not clear to both parties, then there
is no compelling reason to fill 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 specific request, you get a very different 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? 5

operator doesn’t 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 flow management system.
It is a tool for systematically exposing problems in your
process as they occur. A ange in thinking produces very
different behaviors, and ultimately very different 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 geing the users to understand how and why
the tool works. e most common excuse—it is too hard
for our people to understand—stands in stark contrast to
the simple concept.
You can read about the tools and teniques of lean in
any book. You can delegate the application and imple-
mentation 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 coaing.
 When to Use A3
A3 is applied in a wide range of applications. But it’s
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
tenicians 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 oen than the words actu-
ally spoken. Does that thought process help you improve?
Does it help them? Instead of focusing on the “who” of the
problem, let’s 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 figure out how to fix
it. Counseling A3 goes from blame to process improvement
and learning.
When applying A3, organizational or personal issues oen
become good starting points as other problem-solving tools
are less effective at addressing su problems. Consider
working with a partner or team rather than individually.
With a team you need to facilitate oen and, if you are

6
When to Use A3 7

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

lot of learning. And individually you get no feedba. It’s
easier to learn while talking it out and, unless you’re good
at talking to yourself, having a partner is a great help.
If you use another problem solving method — fishbone di-
agrams, TRIZ, Six Sigma DMAIC, 5 whys, Kepner Tregoe,
8D, and so forth — it can still fit within the underlying
thought process of A3 and the report writing aspect of A3.
e key in this fit 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 8

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 fits 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 fill out the form aer 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 figuratively. 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 coaing, I find
that half of the time we need to rework the original problem
statement.
When to Use A3 9

“And third, this is not an independent project.”

It is oen mu beer 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 effective-

ness, the goal is to develop people to intuitively use A3
thinking. Once an A3 mindset and culture is established,
enabling greater collaboration and coaing, the more ef-
fective 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 inte-
grated 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 don’t value taking the time to truly
get to the root cause, then the tool won’t do you any good.”

• Current Problem Solving/inking

• Common inking
• Standardizing and Simplifying Problem Solving

10
A3 inking and People Development 11

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. It’s one of the
first skills you learn, but you learn it through trial and error.
It becomes tacit knowledge. And oen the problem with
tacit knowledge is that we cannot hold it up and examine
it. It becomes difficult to improve and you oen don’t
even realize you are applying that knowledge so you don’t
recognize the need to improve it.

Figure 2. Information Flow

Admiing you need to re-learn problem solving is like

admiing you have to re-learn brushing your teeth; it’s
A3 inking and People Development 12

that fundamental. For this reason, knowledge of problem-

solving thinking that underlies all of these methods is
generally less mature than the tools themselves.

Common Thinking

To aieve sustainable ange, decisions need to be made

around common principles. If you get the common princi-
ple right, you can send your organization off 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 stuff. It would result
in aos. Staff would move in hundreds of different direc-
tions. Individuals make vastly different decisions under the
same circumstances.

Standardizing and Simplifying Problem

Solving

ere are many benefits to standardizing and simplify-

ing the process of capturing your thinking. What ques-
tions were asked in the last presentation you aended?
Typically, 50 percent of questions address understanding
the process and finding the information used to explain
A3 inking and People Development 13

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 didn’t 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 definition to the solution? e
four quadrants of A3 problem solving provide a standard-
ized problem solving process to promote common thinking
:

• Problem Statement

• Current Reality

• Target Condition

• Action
A3 inking and People Development 14

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 stan-
dardized 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 purase 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 Flinbaugh, Lean Learning Cen-
ter

15
is Concludes the Sample Copy 16

About the Author

Jamie Flinbaugh

Jamie Flinbaugh is co-founder and partner of the Lean

Learning Center¹.
Flinbaugh co-authored with Andy Carlino, e Hit-
hiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road², a best-
selling lean book.
Flinbaugh is a graduate fellow of the highly-regarded
Leaders for Manufacturing Program at the Massauses
Institute of Tenology where he received a Master of
Business Administration degree from the Sloan Sool of
¹[Link]
²[Link]
is Concludes the Sample Copy 17

Management, and a Master of Science degree in Engineer-

ing. He has also received a Master of Science degree in
Engineering from the University of Miigan and holds
a Baelor of Science degree in Engineering from Lehigh
University.
You can also follow Jamie on his blog at [Link]flin[Link]³.

³[Link]