Facilitator guide
Case objectives, demonstration plans, debriefs, common mistakes and application checks across all 81 workplace cases and method lessons.
Download Facilitator guide PDF · 166 pages · 65.1 MBMake referrals ready
A3 thinking + administrative gemba. Follow the visual, practise a decision, then check your thinking.
Fictional teaching examples and AI-generated illustrations. Proposed changes and goals are not achieved results. Use the written instructions and check local conditions before applying a method.
Tell one connected problem-solving story
An A3 explains how the evidence leads to a proposed countermeasure. The current example has 62 of 100 referral packets ready first time, with a 90% goal. Its 4.8-business-day median and proposed 2-day goal are a second measure. Link missing-information observations to a testable change at intake; do not jump from a low score to a preferred solution. The owner uses the story to invite challenge and align the people who perform the work.
Follow the method
- Purpose + current condition
- Target + gap
- Analysis + unknowns
- Countermeasure + trial
- Follow-up + learning
Read the example carefully
The illustrative administrative route is Receive → Review → Route → Confirm. The A3 owner links the observed gap, target, analysis, countermeasure and follow-up.
62 of 100 packets are ready first time; 38 need rework. The 90% readiness goal and 2-business-day goal are proposed, not achieved.
Try it before revealing the answer
Which A3 link is missing if the team proposes a new intake form without observing rework?
Reveal the answer and reasoning
The evidence connecting the current condition and its causes to the countermeasure.
Observe readiness, then test one channel
Agree what a ready packet contains and where its route begins and ends. Observe the handoffs without collecting personal patient data. Test the proposed readiness check in one channel, then compare readiness and elapsed business time under comparable conditions. Track reopened cases against the existing 8% ceiling so fewer incomplete packets do not conceal more downstream rework. This teaches administration, not clinical decisions.
Follow the method
- Define ready
- Observe one packet route
- Record missing information
- Trial one channel
- Review delay + reopening
Read the example carefully
Rework categories in the 38 packets: missing document 21; duplicate clarification 11; routing mismatch 6.
Agree readiness, observation boundary and comparable conditions. Record future results rather than filling them from the proposed design.
The existing reopened-case ceiling is 8%. It is a balancing measure alongside readiness and elapsed business time.
Try it before revealing the answer
Why keep the reopened-case measure beside the readiness goal?
Reveal the answer and reasoning
A local improvement can transfer work or errors downstream; the balancing measure helps expose that.
Sources and further reading
- Lean Enterprise Institute — A3 Report ↗
A3 combines an accountable problem-solving owner, factual analysis, countermeasures, responsibilities and outcome evidence with coaching and alignment dialogue.
Completing a template alone does not establish the quality of the thinking or evidence. - Lean Enterprise Institute — Gemba ↗
Direct observation and inquiry where value-producing work occurs establish current conditions before action; following a process across departments can reveal its end-to-end operation.
Gemba applies to service and office work as well as manufacturing. - Institute for Healthcare Improvement — Model for Improvement ↗
Successive small tests under differing operating conditions develop confidence before a change is implemented permanently or spread.
A successful initial trial is distinct from implementation and sustained improvement.
Take the lesson into your team.
Read the lessons online or use these PDFs to prepare, practise and review with your team. No sign-in needed.
Learner workbook
Printable case worksheets, blank observation records and five calculation exercises; answers are separate.
Download Learner workbook PDF · 169 pages · 10.7 MBAnswer key and coaching notes
Reasoned sample responses, worked calculations and coaching guidance; fictional examples are clearly labelled.
Download Answer key and coaching notes PDF · 105 pages · 8.5 MBMethod and application reference
The native method mechanisms and worked applications for all 68 detailed lessons, in a separate bookmarked portrait reference.
Download Method and application reference PDF · 141 pages · 10.2 MBIllustrated systems atlas
Five illustrated system chapters: 15 Flare concept maps and 26 original workplace teaching cards, with links to all 81 supporting cases and method lessons.
Download Illustrated systems atlas PDF · 69 pages · 55.8 MBUse the next tool for the next question.
- Office handoff ownership
- VSM queue versus touch time
- Daily management for follow-up
Give the request a clear next step
Tracing ownership and clarification returns supplies evidence for the A3 current condition.
Explore the connected method →Shorten the handoffs
Separate waiting from processing to test whether a readiness change improves the whole referral route.
Explore the connected method →