# One problem on one page

_In Lean: A3 problem solving_

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## Understand first, then act

Read it from the top left to the bottom right. Each box should follow from the one before it.

### Who and when

**Written by:**  
**Talked through with:**  
**Draft date:**  

### Background

**Why does this problem deserve attention now, and who does it affect?**
_Two or three lines a reader needs before the facts._

> 

### The problem (in Lean: problem statement)

_Facts someone could check. No cause, no fix and no names: name the step, not the person._

**What should happen?**
_The expected result. This is your target._

> 

**What actually happens?**
_What you saw or counted, not what you remember._

> 

**Where and how often?**
_Which team, which kind of item, which days._

> 

**Why does it matter, and to whom?**

> 

### What happens today (in Lean: current state)

_Follow one or more real items and note each step as it really happened._

| Step | Who does it, in which tool | Working time (Someone is working on it.) | Waiting time (It sits before the next step.) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |

**Where does the work wait or go wrong?**

> 

### Why does it happen? (in Lean: 5 Whys, short)

_Each answer is a fact someone checked. Stop at a process, a policy, a tool or an owner, never a person._

| Why | Because... | How do we know? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 |   |   |
| 2 |   |   |
| 3 |   |   |
| 4 |   |   |

**What is the cause you can change?**

> 

### Should this step exist? (in Lean: eliminate before you improve or automate)

_Test the step the cause sits in: who uses what it produces, what would happen if it stopped, has it ever changed the outcome, and what really requires it?_

**Which step does the cause sit in?**

> 

**Should this step exist?**
_Tick one._

- [ ] No, remove this step.
- [ ] Yes, keep this step.

**What is the reason?**
_Who uses its output, and which real rule requires it, if any._

> 

**Which is the first option on this list that answers the cause?**
_Go down from the top and stop at the first one that works. If the step should not exist, it is the first. Tick one._

- [ ] Remove the step: In Lean: eliminate.
- [ ] Join two steps into one: In Lean: combine.
- [ ] Change the order, the timing or who does it: In Lean: rearrange.
- [ ] Make what stays lighter: In Lean: simplify.
- [ ] Then automate what is left: Only once the step is as small as it can be.

### What will change (in Lean: countermeasure)

_Each change answers a cause on this page, concretely enough that someone else could put it in place._

| What will change | Which cause it answers | Who | By when |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |

**Is a quick patch needed until then, and when does it end?**
_In Lean: containment. Without an end date it becomes permanent extra work._

> 

### Check: did it hold? (in Lean: check, in PDCA)

_Agree this before the change starts. Use the measure you already have; if you have no number, name something you can see in the work._

**What will you look at, and which result would show it did not hold?**

> 

### Check-ins

_Look at the work itself at each date. Answer held, partly or reverted, as things really are._

| When | Date | Did it hold? (held / partly / reverted) | What did you see in the work? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Day 7 |   |   |   |
| Day 14 |   |   |   |
| Day 30 |   |   |   |

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