# Plan a change and check it held

_In Lean: countermeasure plan_

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## Page 1: the change

A countermeasure is a change aimed at one cause, to be tested. It names the cause, the change, its owner and what will show whether it worked.

### Who and when

**Problem:**  
**Team:**  
**Date:**  

### The cause you can change (in Lean: root cause)

**What is the cause, in the words of your why-chain?**
_A rule, a tool, an owner or missing information. Not a person._

> 

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

_Ask this before any change. Automating a step that should not exist makes the waste faster and harder to question._

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

> 

| Test the step | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| Who uses what this step produces? |   |
| What would happen if it stopped? |   |
| Has it ever changed the outcome? |   |
| What really requires it? |   |

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

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

**What is the reason for that answer?**

> 

**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. Each option higher up leaves less work behind and less to maintain. 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)

**What exactly will change, so that someone else could put it in place?**

> 

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

> 

**Owner:**  
**Date in place:**  

### What to measure at the check-ins

**What will you look at in the work to tell whether it held?**
_Use the unit you had when the problem was reported: how often it happens and how many minutes each time. With no number, name what you will see instead, such as the step no longer happening._

> 

**Which result would show it did not hold?**

> 

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## Page 2: did it hold?

Look at the work itself at about a week, two weeks and a month. Answer as things really are: held, partly or reverted. Each answer tells you what to do next.

### Time before the change (in Lean: identified)

_What the person who reported the problem estimated at the start, before anything changed. If nobody gave a number, write no figure. Never write 0._

**How often:** _(Times a day, a week or a month.)_  
**Minutes each time:**  
**Minutes a week:**  

_An estimate of where time goes, not a saving._

### Check-in log (in Lean: check, in PDCA)

_The latest check decides: an answer at day 30 outranks the answer at day 14._

| When | Date answered | Did it hold? (held / partly / reverted) | What did you see in the work? | Minutes a week saved, if given (Only a figure someone gives at this check-in. Never a guessed share.) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Day 7 |   |   |   |   |
| Day 14 |   |   |   |   |
| Day 30 |   |   |   |   |

### Time saved after the change (in Lean: confirmed)

_Taken from the latest check-in answered. Held with a figure: that figure. Held without one: the minutes a week from the report may stand in, marked as such. Partly: only a figure someone gave. Reverted, or nothing given: no figure._

**Minutes a week:**  
**From the check-in at day:**  

**Where does this figure come from?**
_Tick one._

- [ ] Given at the check-in
- [ ] Held, figure from the report
- [ ] No figure

_Keep this box apart from the time before the change. Never add the two together, and never show one as a share of the other._

### After day 30

**What happens next?**
_Tick one._

- [ ] Held: write it down as the normal way: Use the standard work template.
- [ ] Partly: aim the next small change at the part that did not hold
- [ ] Reverted: take what you learned back to the cause: Ask what made the old way easier at the moment it slipped.

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