Toyota Motor

WHILE MUCH HAS been written about Toyota Motor

Corp.’s production system, little has captured the way the company

manages people to achieve operational learning. At

Toyota, there exists a way to solve problems that generates

knowledge and helps people doing the work learn how to learn.

Company managers use a tool called the A3 (named after the

international paper size on which it fits) as a key tactic in sharing

a deeper method of thinking that lies at the heart of Toyota’s

sustained success.

A3s are deceptively simple. An A3 is composed of a sequence

of boxes (seven in the example) arrayed in a

template. Inside the boxes the A3’s “author” attempts,

in the following order, to: (1) establish

the business context and importance of a specific

problem or issue; (2) describe the current

conditions of the problem; (3) identify the desired

outcome; (4) analyze the situation to

establish causality; (5) propose countermeasures;

(6) prescribe an action plan for getting it

done; and (7) map out the follow-up process.

However, A3 reports — and more importantly

the underlying thinking — play more

than a purely practical role; they also embody

a more critical core strength of a lean company.

A3s serve as mechanisms for managers

to mentor others in root-cause analysis and

scientific thinking, while also aligning the interests

of individuals and departments

throughout the organization by encouraging

productive dialogue and helping people learn

from one another. A3 management is a system

based on building structured

opportunities for people to learn in the manner

that comes most naturally to them:

through experience, by learning from mistakes

and through plan-based trial and error.

The A3s reproduced in this article represent just some of the

stages in a typical development sequence — a process that may

involve numerous iterations of the A3 before it is final. To illustrate

how the A3 process works, we’ve imagined a young

manager — call him Porter — who’s trying to solve a problem.

The problem is that his Japan-based company is building a manufacturing

plant in the United States, requiring many technical

documents to be translated into English, and the translation

project has been going badly. Porter uses the A3 process to attack

the problem, which means that he gets coached through it by his

boss and mentor — call him Sanderson. The

A3s shown on these pages will give an idea of

how one learning cycle might go, as Porter

works on the problem under Sanderson’s tutelage.

Porter’s first attempt at the A3 reveals,

as early-stage A3s often do, his eagerness to

get to a solution as quickly as possible.

(Editor’s note: The example is drawn from

Managing to Learn, by John Shook, The Lean

Enterprise Institute, 2008.)

Seeing this first version, Sanderson uses

the A3 process as a mechanism to mentor

Porter in root-cause analysis and scientific

thinking. Through coaching Porter and others

in this manner, Sanderson seeks to embed

organizational habits and mind-sets that enable,

encourage and teach people to think

and take initiative.

The iterative process of producing progressive

A3s generates practical problem-solving

skills for the learner, while providing the manager

with a practical mechanism to mentor

others while achieving desired business results.

The last pages of this article show the final

A3 in this iterative sequence. Author Porter

uses the A3 process not only to figure out the

THE LEADING

QUESTION

Toyota has

designed a

two-page

mechanism

for attacking

problems.

What can we

learn from it?

FINDINGS

The A3’s constraints

(just 2

pages) and its

structure (specific

categories, ordered

in steps, adding up

to a “story”) are

the keys to the

A3’s power.

Though the A3

process can be

used effectively

both to solve

problems and to

plan initiatives, its

greatest payoff

may be how it

fosters learning.

It presents ideal

opportunities

for mentoring.

It becomes a basis

for collaboration.

SLOANREVIEW.MIT.EDU SUMMER 2009 MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW 31

The A3 Report

developing an organization of thinking problem-solvers. BY JOHN SHOOK

best solutions to his problem, but to manufacture the authority

he needs to proceed with his plan. Sanderson uses it to mentor

his protégé, while getting the required results for the company

(in this instance, the solution to a problem). Organizations use

A3s to get decisions made, distribute authority to the level

needed for good decisions, align people and teams on common

goals and learn for constant improvement. The ultimate goal of

A3s is not just to solve the problem at hand, but to make the

process of problem solving transparent and teachable in a manner

that creates an organization full of thinking, learning

problem solvers. In this way, the A3 management process powerfully

embodies the essence of operational learning.

John Shook is an industrial anthropologist and senior advisor

to the Lean Enterprise Institute, where he works with companies

and individuals to help them understand and implement lean

production. He is author of Managing to Learn: Using the A3

Management Process to Solve Problems, Gain Agreement, Mentor,

and Lead (Lean Enterprise Institute), and coauthor of

Learning to See (Lean Enterprise Institute). He worked with Toyota

for 10 years, helping it transfer its production, engineering

and management systems from Japan to its overseas affiliates

and suppliers. Comment on this article or contact the author at

smrfeedback@mit.edu.

Reprint 50408.

Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009.

All rights reserved.

Like many A3 authors, Porter’s first effort reveals his need

to show he has an answer — the answer. He jumps to a

conclusion and develops a strong emotional attachment

to

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