How to Do PDCA, Toyota KATA, 4DX, and Agile Strategy Execution using the Impruver Storyboard

• Set and align Continuous Improvement Goals
• Coach and facilitate the PDCA, Toyota KATA, 4DX, or FIT process
• Convert actions into Continuous Improvement tools
• Several others

Now lets walk through how each of these are done:

• Create a New Story: Click the Storyboard icon from the header of any page. If you are viewing the Dashboard page, you can also scroll down to the Stories section and select the “+” sign in the upper right corner of the section 
• Set or View your Challenge: Click the pencil icon in the top of the page next to the title. This will open a guide that will walk you through using the storyboard. As you scroll through the “cards” in the guide, you’ll reach a page to set or view your Challenge. If you manager has set a goal, your Challenge will reflect their Goal. If they have not set a Goal, you can define your Challenge there. Remember that a Challenge should be 6 – 18 months in scope.
• Define Your Goal: The next card will help you define your Goal.
  1) Input the metric that you’d like to impact (do not include the words, increase or decrease, but simply state the metric, ie Operating Cost)
  2) Input the unit of measure (ie, $, %, or units per hour)
  3) Key in the historical record. This should be an average of the past 3 – 6 months for the metric you are working to improve
  4) Key in the target value
  5) Select the date for which you would like to achieve your goal
• Select a PDCA Frequency: Select the frequency at which you will be making improvements. The options are Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly. The value you select here will automatically set due dates for iterations and monitor your iteration adherence schedule
• Determine Your First Improvement Action
  1) Input the first thing you will do in attempt to improve performance
  2) Define what you expect the result will be for taking this action

  From here, simply submit your goal and your Storyboard will be set up for you, complete with your Challenge, Goal, Measure of Success, and Next Iteration

• Entering  your datapoint: Now that your Goal or Target condition is already set, you can enter a datapoint. To do this, simple click the pencil icon next to the title of the page and do the following:
  1) On the Let’s Reflect card, skip the Action section and enter your current datapoint in the What Actually Happened section
  Note: When only entering a datapoint, the Key Learning Section is optional
  2) Click Next. From here, the cards feature will close and the Storyboard will update with your new information

• Completing an Improvement or Iteration

  1) Access the gray pencil icon next to the title of the page to open the cards feature
  2) Mark the Action as “Complete”

  
  3) Complete the “Entering the Datapoint” steps as described above
  Note: Since your Action is complete, you’ll now be required to add a Key Learning
  4) Click “Next”
  5) On the “Has Your Objective Changed” card, click the Same Goal button to proceed

  
  6) On the “What Will You Try Next” card, input your next improvement or iteration and click next
  7) Click Finish
  

  Your Storyboard will be updated with the newly input information including your datapoint and next iteration
• Closing Out a Goal and Starting a New One
  Let’s review the process for closing out an existing goal and setting up a new one

  1) Complete steps 1 – 4 of the Completing an Improvement or Iteration process explained above
  2) On the “Has Your Objective Changed” card, click the New Goal button

  
  3) Complete the Create a New Goal or Target Condition Process explained above

• Converting an Action to a Tool:
  1) Scroll to the Log of Iterations section of the page
  2) Locate the three dots to the right of the view to access the item management options
  3) Click “Convert to Tool” and find the tool that you would like to convert this action into (ie. 5 Whys Analysis)

  

  From there you can apply the tool, save your inputs, create follow-up actions, or anything else you need to do

  The Impruver Storyboard is the ultimate tool for developing scientific thinking through systematic and routine improvement and coaching. It employs all of the advantages of modern technology including AI, cloud, databases and so many others to make the Continuous Improvement journey most impactful. Try it for yourself today.