Kata library
Free, open-licensed continuous improvement katas
Every kata ships with a companion guide: what it is, when to use it, and where artificial intelligence (AI) can help once you’re ready to customise it. Browse curated playbooks for common workflows, or explore every kata grouped by where it sits in the continuous-improvement loop — orient, understand the customer, see the work, set direction, solve problems, run the day, improve, sustain.
For AI agents
Every kata is also an AI-ready skill file.
Hand a kata directly to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini Enterprise, or any AI agent instead of re-explaining the method every time. Three ways to get there:
- No install, no account.
- A read-only, unauthenticated MCP server your AI can reach directly — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot Studio, or any MCP-compatible client.
- Download one, or all of them.
- Every kata’s guide page has its own skill-file download. Or take the whole catalogue at once. Download all skill files (.zip)
- Stay in sync automatically.
- The same skill files, mirrored publicly and kept current as katas are added or updated. Browse on GitHub →
Connect live
https://www.katafacts.com/api/mcp
Skill files
GitHub
Full setup steps for Claude Code, Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and any other MCP-compatible client are on the AI agents page →
Kaizen Process Katas
Kaizen Process and Sustainment is a collaborative, rapid-improvement methodology that engages cross-functional teams to eliminate waste and optimize targeted workflows, followed by disciplined daily management and audits to ensure the gains are permanently embedded into standard practice.
Kaizen events
Kaizen funnel
A portfolio-level view of every improvement idea moving toward becoming a scheduled kaizen event — which stage each one is in, which are going stale, and honestly flagging any idea nobody's actually championing yet.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Kaizen event charter
The opportunity, the objective, who's on the team, and whether you're actually ready to start — one document, not three you'd have to keep in sync, with a readiness checklist you check off before the event begins.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Gemba interview protocol
A question bank for interviewing someone while watching them do real work — built around what's observed in the moment, not recalled afterward, with reminders for staying out of the way of the work itself.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Affinity diagram
A workshop-style synthesis of curated customer notes into themed clusters — the same clustering discipline as sticky notes on a wall, done in minutes with the tally and vital-few themes computed for you.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Implementation plan
Milestones toward a real completion date, each owned by your own team, an outside party, or both — with days remaining, overdue and unowned milestones, and a mutuality check computed, not asserted: a plan where every milestone belongs to your own side isn't actually cross-functional.
View guide →
Transactional Process Improvement (TPI)
Identify and remove waste in an office or knowledge-work process, using the same lean fundamentals a shop-floor kaizen event runs -- charter the initiative, map who owns what and where the flow actually goes, tag the real waste by category, compute where the flow is choked, root-cause the specific bottleneck, plan the fix, and confirm it holds weeks later.
Kaizen events
Kaizen event charter
The opportunity, the objective, who's on the team, and whether you're actually ready to start — one document, not three you'd have to keep in sync, with a readiness checklist you check off before the event begins.
View guide →
Problem definition
Swimlane process map
An ordered sequence of process steps, each assigned to the role, department, or system responsible — showing exactly where the process hands off from one lane to another, and honestly flagging any step nobody's actually named as owning.
View guide →
Foundations
Eight wastes (DOWNTIME) worksheet
A structured waste walk against the eight DOWNTIME categories — Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-utilized talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra-processing — tallied by category so the vital few show up, with any category nobody actually looked for named honestly.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping — current-state analysis
Turn a walked process into computed lead time, flow efficiency, and a ranked list of where the flow is actually choked — with every number showing its calculation.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
A3 problem solving
Structured problem solving on one page: background, a Pareto-driven root cause chain, and a tested countermeasure tracked against a TAGS metric.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Implementation plan
Milestones toward a real completion date, each owned by your own team, an outside party, or both — with days remaining, overdue and unowned milestones, and a mutuality check computed, not asserted: a plan where every milestone belongs to your own side isn't actually cross-functional.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Sustainment audit
Whether a kaizen event's commitments actually held after it closed — a checklist against the specific practices it was supposed to leave behind, honestly naming which are at risk of lapsing.
View guide →
Hoshin Kanri - Policy Deployment - Align Targets Across the Organization
Hoshin Kanri is a structured strategic deployment process that cascades breakthrough organizational objectives into measurable, aligned targets and actionable initiatives across every tier of the company.
Hoshin Kanri
Hoshin Kanri — X-Matrix
Connect long-term breakthrough objectives to this year's targets, the strategies that will move them, and the metrics that prove it — with a specificity check that pushes back on vague plans instead of formatting them.
View guide →
Hoshin Kanri
Revenue Hoshin Kanri — X-Matrix
The same X-Matrix discipline connecting long-term revenue direction to this year's targets, the strategies that will move them, and the metrics that prove it — with catchball forcing real negotiated numbers instead of a target set once at an offsite and never pressure-tested.
View guide →
Voice of Customer (VOC) Collection, Analysis and Insights
Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a structured methodology that systematically captures, analyzes, and translates qualitative and quantitative customer feedback into actionable insights to guide product innovation, process improvement, and strategic decision-making.
Voice of the customer
VOC collection plan
Which methods, owned by whom, how often, keep the VOC evidence log fed — a real plan tying interviews, gemba sessions, and other collection activities to the specific questions you want VOC evidence to answer.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
VOC evidence log
A running log of customer quotes and observations, each tagged with a theme — drafted for you, yours to edit — so you can see at a glance which few things customers are actually telling you, not just a pile of unsorted notes.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Customer interview guide
A topic-by-topic question bank for a general customer-discovery interview — open-ended questions with real follow-up probes, drafted from your research goal and yours to edit before you take it into the room.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Gemba interview protocol
A question bank for interviewing someone while watching them do real work — built around what's observed in the moment, not recalled afterward, with reminders for staying out of the way of the work itself.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Win-loss interview guide
A question bank for interviewing a buyer after a deal has closed, won or lost — built around the real decision factors and the competitive alternative, not a sanitized recap.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Affinity diagram
A workshop-style synthesis of curated customer notes into themed clusters — the same clustering discipline as sticky notes on a wall, done in minutes with the tally and vital-few themes computed for you.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
CTQ tree
Translates a customer need into specific, measurable requirements — need, then the drivers that make it satisfied, then a concrete measurable target for each — with any need still missing a real specification named plainly.
View guide →
Problem Solving Process (PSP) - Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle
The Problem Solving Process (PSP) is a disciplined, iterative framework grounded in the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle that systematically guides teams from defining a performance gap and identifying root causes to implementing, verifying, and standardizing sustainable countermeasures.
Problem solving / RCA
A3 problem solving
Structured problem solving on one page: background, a Pareto-driven root cause chain, and a tested countermeasure tracked against a TAGS metric.
View guide →
Problem definition
Scoping canvas
A one-page, multi-section definition of what an initiative actually covers — problem, goal, in scope, out of scope, team, timeline, assumptions — before anyone starts work on it.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Implementation plan
Milestones toward a real completion date, each owned by your own team, an outside party, or both — with days remaining, overdue and unowned milestones, and a mutuality check computed, not asserted: a plan where every milestone belongs to your own side isn't actually cross-functional.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Mutual action plan
The implementation-plan discipline pointed at a deal instead of an internal rollout: milestones toward the target close date, each owned by you, the buyer, or jointly — with days remaining, overdue and unowned milestones, and a mutuality check computed, not asserted, so a one-sided plan can't quietly pass as a real mutual commitment.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Deal A3 — win-rate root cause analysis
The same A3 discipline applied to a losing pattern in the pipeline instead of a shop-floor problem: a Pareto over loss reasons, a root cause chain that survives scrutiny, and countermeasures a sales leader can actually act on.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
FMEA
A structured risk analysis that scores each way a process or product could fail on severity, occurrence, and detection, multiplies them into a risk priority number, and ranks the vital-few risks worth acting on first.
View guide →
Value Stream Mapping - Identify Wastes and Opportunities for Improvement
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a visual diagnostic kata that diagrams the end-to-end flow of materials and information required to deliver a product or service, pinpointing operational bottlenecks, non-value-added waste, and high-impact opportunities for process improvement.
Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping — current-state analysis
Turn a walked process into computed lead time, flow efficiency, and a ranked list of where the flow is actually choked — with every number showing its calculation.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Sales funnel value stream map
The same value stream discipline applied to a sales pipeline: real stage-to-stage timing from the CRM, computed flow efficiency, and a ranked list of exactly which stage is choking the funnel — stalled deals as WIP, conversion as first-pass yield.
View guide →
Standard Work - Standard Operating Procedure Development
Standard Work is a foundational continuous improvement process that establishes, documents, and maintains the most efficient, repeatable sequence of operations to eliminate variation, ensure consistent quality, and serve as the baseline for future improvements.
Standard work
Work instruction
Major steps, each with a key point for how to do it right and the reason it matters — the classic job-instruction shape, so a routing rule or a new process actually works the same way no matter who's running it.
View guide →
Standard work
Standard work audit
Whether a work instruction is actually being followed weeks after it was written — the sustainment audit's shape, applied to standard work instead of a kaizen event.
View guide →
Daily management
Leader standard work
A leader's own daily routine, in the same steps/key-points/reasons shape as a work instruction — what keeps a KPI tree, a training matrix, and a kaizen event's gains from quietly decaying once the excitement wears off.
View guide →
Daily and Visual Management Katas
Daily and Visual Management Katas are disciplined, frontline operating routines that track actuals against target performance in real time, making operational gaps immediately visible to trigger structured, team-level problem-solving.
Daily management
KPI tree
Goals, the driver metrics that actually move them, and a checkable target with a review cadence for each — a huddle board's metric tree, honestly flagging any goal with no real target yet.
View guide →
Daily management
Visibility board
The performance board discipline pointed at a commercial function: bookings, pipeline quality, service velocity, team productivity — Plan vs. Actual, period by period, computed red or green from real numbers, closing the loop into a gemba-grounded root-cause log and a countermeasure register, and honestly telling a real sustained problem apart from a single isolated miss.
View guide →
Visual management
Visual board design guide
What a visual board should show, how often, and who keeps it current — a worksheet specifying content and ownership, not a rendered board layout.
View guide →
Daily management
Tiered huddle board
A cascading structure of standing huddles — what each tier reviews, and the concrete condition that escalates something to the tier above — honestly flagging any tier nobody's actually named to run yet.
View guide →
Daily management
Escalation matrix
A severity-by-severity response plan — definition, response target, escalation trigger, and a named first responder — honestly flagging any severity nobody's actually assigned to yet.
View guide →
Daily management
Performance board
A Plan vs. Actual matrix for the vital few KPIs that matter to a function, period by period, computed red or green from real numbers, not asserted — closing the loop into an abnormality/root-cause log and a countermeasure register, and honestly distinguishing a real sustained problem from a single isolated miss.
View guide →
Daily management
Pipeline management board
The same tiered huddle cascade — what each level reviews, and the concrete condition that escalates a deal or a pattern to the level above — pointed at a sales pipeline instead of a shop floor.
View guide →
Visual management
Visual management audit
Whether a visual board's zones are actually staying current weeks after it was designed — the sustainment audit's shape, applied to a visual board instead of a kaizen event.
View guide →
Daily management
Daily accountability sheet
Who committed to what, by when — a flat commitment log for a daily huddle, honestly flagging anything open past its due date.
View guide →
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Definition
A structured, iterative practice for rapidly testing hypotheses and systematically refining the attributes of your highest-value target customers to maximize commercial focus and growth.
Problem definition
ICP canvas
The scoping canvas's one-page, multi-section discipline pointed at defining who the ideal customer actually is — firmographics, technographics, buying triggers, buying-committee roles, and pain/use-case fit, grounded in real deal evidence rather than assumption.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
ICP evidence log
The voice-of-the-customer (VOC) evidence log's theme-clustering discipline pointed at win/loss call notes and discovery excerpts instead of product feedback — turning a scattered set of deal-pattern observations into the vital-few signals that should actually shape the ideal customer profile (ICP) canvas and anti-ICP.
View guide →
Problem definition
Anti-ICP
The scoping canvas's one-page, multi-section discipline pointed at who not to pursue — hard disqualifiers that should end a deal outright, softer red flags worth a specific countermeasure instead of an automatic pass, process red flags, and real churn-pattern evidence, not a mirrored ICP canvas with the polarity flipped.
View guide →
Kaizen events
TAM coverage map
How much of your total addressable market is even tracked as a target account, and, within what's tracked, how completely each account's buying-group roles have a real named contact — both computed, not asserted, with dark accounts and systemically-missing roles flagged plainly.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Fit-criteria scorecard
The weighted decision matrix discipline pointed at prospect accounts: score each one against firmographic fit, technographic fit, trigger strength, and buying-committee access, and let a computed composite score and tier — not a gut feel — say which account actually deserves the next call.
View guide →
Standard work
Qualification standard work
The work instruction shape pointed at qualifying a lead against the ideal customer profile: major steps — firmographic fit, a real trigger, anti-ICP disqualifiers, budget-authority path — each with a key point for the technique and the reason it matters, so qualification depends on the same checks regardless of which rep is running them.
View guide →
Value Messaging - Value Selling Katas
A disciplined, repeatable practice for uncovering critical customer problems, quantifying their business impact, and articulating differentiated value so commercial teams can consistently win on ROI rather than price.
Voice of the customer
Value hypothesis
The CTQ tree's need-driver-measure discipline pointed at a deal instead of a product: what the buyer actually needs, why what you sell addresses it, and a specific number that proves the value rather than asserts it — with any need still missing a real proof point named plainly.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Deal A3 — win-rate root cause analysis
The same A3 discipline applied to a losing pattern in the pipeline instead of a shop-floor problem: a Pareto over loss reasons, a root cause chain that survives scrutiny, and countermeasures a sales leader can actually act on.
View guide →
Standard work
Discovery call standard work
The work instruction shape pointed at a sales discovery call: major steps, each with a key point for the technique that surfaces real information and the reason it matters — so the compelling event and real decision process get found regardless of which rep is on the call.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Proof point inventory
The evidence register discipline pointed at your standing message pillars: which claims are actually backed by real, checkable proof, and which pillars — or which specific claims — still have none, flagged plainly rather than assumed proven forever.
View guide →
Standard work
Consistency audit
Whether a message architecture's pillars are actually being said the same way across reps and channels weeks after it was written — the sustainment audit's shape, applied to messaging instead of a kaizen event.
View guide →
Experimentation
Message testing log
The learning log discipline pointed at your standing message pillars: which ones actually resonate with a broader buyer audience, tested and recorded honestly, rather than assumed proven everywhere just because they worked in one deal.
View guide →
Sales Funnel Management Katas
A systematic, daily coaching and execution rhythm to identify conversion bottlenecks, improve stage velocity, and maintain pipeline hygiene across the entire buyer journey.
Value stream mapping
Sales funnel value stream map
The same value stream discipline applied to a sales pipeline: real stage-to-stage timing from the CRM, computed flow efficiency, and a ranked list of exactly which stage is choking the funnel — stalled deals as WIP, conversion as first-pass yield.
View guide →
Standard work
Qualification standard work
The work instruction shape pointed at qualifying a lead against the ideal customer profile: major steps — firmographic fit, a real trigger, anti-ICP disqualifiers, budget-authority path — each with a key point for the technique and the reason it matters, so qualification depends on the same checks regardless of which rep is running them.
View guide →
Daily management
Pipeline management board
The same tiered huddle cascade — what each level reviews, and the concrete condition that escalates a deal or a pattern to the level above — pointed at a sales pipeline instead of a shop floor.
View guide →
Standard work
Discovery call standard work
The work instruction shape pointed at a sales discovery call: major steps, each with a key point for the technique that surfaces real information and the reason it matters — so the compelling event and real decision process get found regardless of which rep is on the call.
View guide →
Voice of the customer
Win-loss interview guide
A question bank for interviewing a buyer after a deal has closed, won or lost — built around the real decision factors and the competitive alternative, not a sanitized recap.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Deal aging / WIP report
Which open deals are stalled — how long each deal has sat in its current stage, each stage's average age, and exactly which deals are aging well past their peers.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Stage conversion analysis
How many deals enter each funnel stage and how many advance — per-stage conversion, rolled yield from first stage to closed-won, and exactly which stage is losing the most deals.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Deal A3 — win-rate root cause analysis
The same A3 discipline applied to a losing pattern in the pipeline instead of a shop-floor problem: a Pareto over loss reasons, a root cause chain that survives scrutiny, and countermeasures a sales leader can actually act on.
View guide →
Problem solving / RCA
Fit-criteria scorecard
The weighted decision matrix discipline pointed at prospect accounts: score each one against firmographic fit, technographic fit, trigger strength, and buying-committee access, and let a computed composite score and tier — not a gut feel — say which account actually deserves the next call.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Bottleneck analysis
Which single stage is capping your funnel's throughput, and which stage deals stall at worst — from a short list of stages, no full value stream map required.
View guide →
Value stream mapping
Funnel PCE calculator
The single flow-efficiency number for a sales pipeline — process time as a share of total time in the funnel — from a short list of stages, no full value stream map required.
View guide →
Kaizen events
Stakeholder coverage map
How much of the population you actually need to reach is even tracked, and, within what's tracked, how completely each unit's required roles have a real named contact — both computed, not asserted, with dark units and systemically-missing roles flagged plainly.
View guide →
Daily management
Visibility board
The performance board discipline pointed at a commercial function: bookings, pipeline quality, service velocity, team productivity — Plan vs. Actual, period by period, computed red or green from real numbers, closing the loop into a gemba-grounded root-cause log and a countermeasure register, and honestly telling a real sustained problem apart from a single isolated miss.
View guide →
Don’t see what you need?