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.

5 katas, in the order they are used. Each is free, open-licensed, and comes with a companion guide.

1. Step 1

   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.

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2. Step 2

   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.

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3. Step 3

   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.

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4. Step 4

   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.

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5. Step 5

   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.

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