Introduction:

The first four weeks you have made already a lot of progress! You know almost everything about your own working place. Who’s working against or with you, the defects in software programs or facilities, how to solve the problems with nature based solutions and you were able to visualise and structure it all by using the Kanban concept. But all this knowledge is just a dynamic blueprint of your environment. Does it end, now you know all the tips and tricks to create more time and space? No, of course not. It is all about continuous improvements and achieving goals all the time. But how do you achieve goals without some stepping stones? In the fifth week of the BiTL course, information about how to set, work on and achieve goals will be given by the Improvement Kata concept. This concept helps you to maneuver in unknown areas by doing small experiments all the time so that you are able to achieve new goals.

Supporting Knowledge:

The Improvement Kata, originated from the Toyota Kata book written by Mike Rother, consists of 4 steps:

1. Get the direction or challenge
2. Grasp the current condition
3. Establish your next target condition
4. Conduct experiments to get there

Before we continue we these steps, it is necessary to know that the improvement Kata framework experiments (step 4) are based on pdca-cycles. In the video below, these cycles are explained. As part of the improvement Kata, the pdca-cycles are used continuously to get to a new target point during the many experiments you are performing. Remember that everything new you are doing is an experiment! It sounds more difficult than it is. You are experimenting all the time without even knowing. In the next video, the improvement Kata is explained extensively. In the video, it is precisely explained why it is good to brighten your horizon and come out of your comfort zone. By implementing Kata in your work process, you will notice that your own new behavior routines have developed to handle the new obstacles you are facing during the many experiments you are doing. There is no one who has the best solution at once. By taking small steps/using stepping stones, you will be able to get to your new target conditions.

ASSIGNMENT

Use a blank piece of paper (A4) and draw, photoshop or describe the current state of the step 1 and 2 of the improvement kata. When those steps are clear, you are able to actually (3) establish new targets conditions and (4) conduct experiments to get there. What are you waiting for?

Just do it!