Foundations

Lean maturity scorecard

Lean maturity scorecard is licensed CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Katafacts (katafacts.com).

1 · What it is

What it is

A lean maturity scorecard is a real, checkable answer to 'how mature is this capability, actually' -- not a self-assessed feeling, but a fixed set of capability areas each scored against the standard 5-stage CMMI-style scale (ad hoc, repeatable, defined, managed, optimizing), with a stated target level and the real evidence justifying the current score. A capability one stage below its target is a normal, expected in-progress state; more than one stage below is a real gap, computed and flagged, never left to impression.

2 · When to use it

When to use it — and when not to

Use it when

You want an honest baseline of where a set of capabilities actually stands today, not where people assume it stands.
You suspect a capability everyone treats as 'basically fine' is actually still ad hoc underneath, and you want that checked against real evidence rather than assumed.
You're deciding where to invest improvement effort next and want to see which capabilities are furthest behind their own stated target, not just which feel most urgent.

Not when

You don't have a real target level in mind for each capability yet -- this scorecard checks current state against a stated target, it doesn't set the target for you.
You want to track one specific practice's post-event sustainment, not a broad capability's maturity level — that's the sustainment audit's job, a simpler holding/at-risk check, not a 5-stage scale.

3 · How to fill it in

How to fill it in

Scope: What function or set of capabilities does this assessment cover?
Capability areas: For each capability area: its current level, its target level, and the real evidence justifying the current score.
Narrative: Drafted from the assessment's own computed gap.

4 · What good looks like

What good looks like

The example below scores Northwind Fabrication's real shop-floor capabilities against the FY2027 Hoshin plan and true north statement's own already-published findings, and finds one real gap: market awareness / outbound reach sits at Ad hoc against a Defined target -- the direct operational consequence of the true north statement's own finding that this exact direction has zero committed initiatives.

Same example, as a downloadable xlsx workbook.

Download .xlsx

Maturity assessment

Northwind Fabrication — FY2027 lean maturity scorecard

Northwind Fabrication's core shop-floor operating capabilities, scored against the FY2027 Hoshin plan and true north statement's own already-published findings.

Oksana Petrova, Plant Manager · 2027-01-20

Scope

Northwind Fabrication's core shop-floor operating capabilities, scored against the FY2027 Hoshin plan and true north statement's own already-published findings.

Capability areas

Scheduling & flow management

3 — Defined → target 4 — Managed

The second CNC shift (ao-1/st-1) and repeat-customer priority queue (ao-3/st-2) are both underway per the FY2027 Hoshin plan, but neither is fully embedded into daily scheduling yet -- still run manually alongside the standard queue.

Changeover & quality discipline

3 — Defined → target 4 — Managed

The changeover standardization procedure (ao-2/st-3) is now a defined, documented process; the late-shipment rate is improving toward this year's 6% target but isn't yet consistently managed shift to shift.

Market awareness / outbound reach

More than one stage below target

1 — Ad hoc → target 3 — Defined

No formal process, owner, or tracked metric exists for reaching customers who haven't already called -- consistent with the true north statement's own finding that this exact pillar has zero committed initiatives tracing to it.

Customer communication & reliability

3 — Defined → target 4 — Managed

Customers are kept informed on order status today, but the practice isn't standardized across shifts -- reliability improvements are underway, not yet consistently managed.

Quality certification readiness

2 — Repeatable → target 3 — Defined

Marcus's informally raised ISO 9001 idea (already logged, unlinked, in the true north statement) shows real awareness, but no formal certification program or documented quality system exists yet.

Narrative

Four of five capability areas sit within one stage of their target -- a normal, expected in-progress state given this year's committed Hoshin work. Market awareness / outbound reach is the one real gap: Ad hoc against a Defined target, two full stages short, with no formal process, owner, or tracked metric behind it. This is the direct operational consequence of the true north statement's own finding -- the pillar for reaching customers before they even compare shops has zero committed initiatives, and this scorecard shows exactly why: there's no standing capability to build on yet, not even an informal one.

5 · Common mistakes

Common mistakes

Scoring a capability by gut feel instead of real evidence.
A score with no evidence behind it is an opinion, not a fact -- this scorecard exists specifically to catch a capability everyone assumes is fine but nobody's actually checked.
Setting every target at the top of the scale (Optimizing).
Not every capability needs to be optimizing -- a target should reflect what this capability actually needs to be, not a reflexive maximum that makes every area look like a gap.
Treating a one-stage gap the same as a two-or-more-stage gap.
One stage below target is a normal, expected in-progress state for a capability actively being built -- flagging it the same as a real, multi-stage gap would bury the areas that actually need attention first.

6 · What it connects to

What it connects to

upstream

Hoshin Kanri — X-Matrix
A capability area's current level and evidence often trace directly to whether this year's Hoshin strategies touching it are underway, committed, or not yet started.
True north statement
A pillar with zero committed initiatives tracing to it is exactly where a related capability area is likely to score honestly low -- the scorecard shows the operational consequence of a gap the true north statement already found.

downstream

7 · Where AI helps

Where AI helps

Judgement — stays yours

Deciding what a realistic target level looks like for a given capability
Deciding which gapped capability to tackle first

Analysis — AI helps

Tightening an area's evidence wording from rough notes into a specific, checkable statement
Drafting the narrative from the assessment's own computed gap

Drudgery — automated

Identifying which capability areas are more than one stage below target
Exporting to xlsx in the house format

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