The document discusses the benefits of structured problem solving and decision making using A3 thinking. A3 thinking involves using a single sheet of paper to logically document the current problem state, goals, root cause analysis, action plans, and results. This structured approach directs people to thoroughly investigate problems, consider multiple perspectives, and develop consensus-based solutions to issues.

1. 1
For
Sustained Organizational Benefits

2. A3- Thinking
Structured
Problem Solving
Effective
Decision Making
It’s all about
2
Coaching &
Respecting
Sustained Organizational Benefits

3. 3
Whatever resources your competitors may have
at their disposal,
the only factor that will allow them to compete
with your leadership in the market
is
the Speed and Accuracy of their
‘Problem Solving and Decision Making.’

4. 4
The winning weaponry in your arsenal is
‘Your Ability to Think!’
&
‘Your ability of effectively resolving problems with speed!’

5. 5
Every organization has handful people
who resolve problems
to the best of their ability!
Do they resolve problems effectively?
What are the implications of ineffective
Problem solving?

6. 6
Implications of Ineffective Problem Solving
Errors,
Rework
Rejects
High Cost
Low
Margins
Machine
Break
downs
Delays,
Miss outs
Long
Deliveries
Customer
complaints
Low
Market
Share
High
Scrap &
Wastage
Low
Productivity
Do you see any of these above listed issues in your organization?
Why are they not getting resolved for a long by your people?
Is it not making it more difficult to compete in the market?

7. 7
Current Realities:
 Problem fixing does not aim at diminishing the
likelihood of recurrence of the problems. Repeated
recurrence take away precious resources of the
organization. And….leave frustration behind.
 Scarcity of resources constrain the organization to
initiate long lasting systemic improvements.
 And…..Organization gets pushed in to vicious
circle……limits the organization's growth.

8. 8
Cascading Impacts:
Ineffective
Problem
solving
Ineffective
Business
Results
Unhappy
Customers
Unhappy
Employer
Unhappy
Employees
No one would ever like
such situation to continue!
Then …. what do we do?

9. 9
To get
Better Business Results,
Satisfied Customers & Competent Employees
Learn & Practice
We recommend Everybody to

10. 1
Daniel Kahneman in his research work
“Thinking Fast and Slow” found that our minds
use following two modes of thinking.
1.The automatic, instant, intuitive, involuntary
responses provided by what he terms our
“System 1” thinking, and
2. The more controlled effortful, analytical and
considered thoughts supplied by our
“System 2” thinking.

11. 1
Consider following two mathematical problems:
1) 2 + 2 = ?
2) 17 X 24 = ?
At the first problem, the number 4 sprang to your mind with no
efforts. But as you went to consider the second, no immediate
answer came to mind.
You know, you could solve it, but without spending time on it you
would not be certain that answer is 408.
Did you pursue your efforts to find correct answer for the second
problem?
These two problems beautifully illustrate the difference between our
System 1 and System 2 thinking.

12. A, l3 , C, ,l2, l3, l4, ,
Let us do a simple exercise:
Quickly tell the missing ___, character in the following two boxes.
A, l3 , C, D ,l2, l3, l4,l5,
Why did we arrive at this solution?
Our System1 is referencing a learned pattern!
Shape of B was ambiguous but you jumped to a conclusion about its
identity and was not aware of System1, effortlessly and incorrectly
resolved this case of ambiguity for you!
You made a clear choice and you didn’t know it!
We often see many examples of people ‘jumping to cause’
because of learned patterns woven into their System1 minds.

13. 1
Wherever possible, we will favour System1 thinking
as it requires no effort,
rather than System2, which is taxing , difficult & brings
back unpleasant past memories.
But the challenge comes when the issue or the
problem that requires thoughts going beyond our
direct experience!
Our System 1 ‘Judgements’ will have value in a very
familiar situations where we might have developed
expert intuition.

14. 1
Findings of research study:
1. Our Thinking gets unconsciously influenced.
2. We are wired to jump to conclusions, to minimise
effort, System1 will build the most logical and appealing
solution it can, based on your store of experience.
3. “What we see is all there is” based on the amount & quality of
limited data quickly available at our disposal.
4. We wrestle with what ‘Good’ looks like.
5. We are prone to answer the easy but wrong substituted
question because we never want to be short of answer.

15. 1
• Our System1 minds have evolved in such a way as to priorities
SPEED over ACCURACY when faced with problems and
decisions.
• All of us, by nature, are used to taking an almost instantaneous
call on whether it should be Fight, Flight or Freeze in a given
situation, rather than taking the time to think through the real
nature of the threat and calculate the precise probability of the
likely outcome.
• But can intuitive System1 be relied upon to ensure the
future success of the complex organizations for which
we work today, in the same way?

16. 1
Ss
Structured Thinking
To change our thinking gear in to System2 thinking,
we need to ask an individual,
the four kinds of questions,
which systematically build
the thinking pattern for system 2!

17. 1
FOUR QUESTIONS
1. What’s going on?
 Begging for clarification
 Asking for sorting out and breaking down mix of issues
 Mapping of current events seeing the real things in the
workplace, just the facts!
Evolving & confirming:
 Background of the problem (Why are we talking about?)
 Real Problem Statement (What is the real problem?)
 Target Statement (What we would like to achieve?)
This is a means of achieving and maintaining a control on our
mind. It enables to impose order and enables us to establish
priorities and decide when and how to take actions that make
good sense and produce good results.
No rush to conclude any cause or any solution of
the problem at this stage!

18. 1
FOUR QUESTIONS
2. Why did this happen?
Indicating the need for cause and effect thinking. This is a
second basic thinking pattern.
 Use of Cause & Effect Diagram.
 Use of Why-Why analysis & preparing the Issue Tree.
 Design of experiments to explore correlations.
This enables us to move from observing the effects
of problem to understanding its causes so that we
take appropriate actions to correct the problem or
lessen the effects.
Strictly restrain from looking for any solution at this
stage!

19. 1
FOUR QUESTIONS
3. Which course of actions should we take?
This question implies that some choice must be made, third
basic pattern of thinking.
 Root cause/s need to be countered with solutions.
 Developing different alternatives for the actions.
 Choosing the best option for speed, ease & accuracy?
This enables us to decide on the course of action
most likely to accomplish a particular goal.
This is the time where solutions are sought for!

20. 2
FOUR QUESTIONS
4. What lies ahead?
Looking to the future, the fourth basic thinking pattern,
enables us to assess problems that might happen.
 Tracking the effectiveness of the solution.
 Tracking the new issues & challenges evolved
 Preparing for the decision that might be necessary next
month, next year or in five years time.
This enables us to ensure long lasting results !

21. 2
What is A3 Thinking:
• A3 is a size of paper, signifying single sheet of paper used to
describe the story of problem solving.
• Contents are fairly standard and in logical order.
• In general, the steps followed are:
1. Identify background & depict the current state with clear non
conformance from standard.
2. Setting the goal or the target for the future state
3. Analysis to find root causes for the deviations and develop the
counter measures.
4. Implement the action plan for counter measures and verify
the results.
5. Standardize in the event of positive results else repeat the
cycle.

22. 2
A3 Thinking:
 The process of developing rigorous thinking & facts finding.
 Directing the person to go & see himself the things that matters,
in the real workplace.
 Directing the concerned persons for actual working & then
developing the documents.
 Objectivity is a central component to A3 thinking mind-set.
Problem solvers test their understanding of situation for
assumptions, biases & attempts to reconcile multiple view
points to create co-constructed reality.

23. 2
A3 Thinking:
 Results are not favored over the process used to achieve
them, nor is the process elevated above results. Both are
necessary and critical to effective organizational improvement
as well as personal development.
 With A3 thinking the process gets refined and repeated for
better results in the future.
 In A3 thinking you are forced to synthesize the learning acquired
in the course of researching the problem or opportunity. A3
thinking encourages the visualization of the key synthesized
information, which aids the synthesis & distillation itself.

24. 2
A3 Thinking:
 Use of standard A3 formats reinforces a generalized pattern of
problem solving, common across the organization, establishes a
high level of consistency across organizational units.
 Consistent approaches speed up communication & aid in
establishing shared understanding.
 The individual is mentored to develop a deep understanding of
purpose, goals, needs and priorities of the organization and
understanding of situation in a sufficiently broad context to
promote the overall good of the organization.
 A solution that solves problem in one part to create another in
other part is avoided.

25. 2
A3 Thinking:
 The effective implementation of a change hinges on obtaining
prior consensus among the parties involved.
 Putting key facts of situation, the thinking process, cause &
effect relations, the proposed actions, in writing gives each
person affected something concrete to which he or she can
agree or disagree.
 A3 thinking involves 3D communications; horizontal, vertical &
back & forth in time. Taking all these in to considerations results
in mutually agreeable & innovative solutions.
 Implicit requests are made for the individual to sacrifice some
of his views for the greater good to foster alignment of the
organisation.

26. Title:
Dept.: Div.:
2. Background:
Owner:
Senior Sponsor: Co-owners:
Coach:
6. Counter Measures:
3. Problem Statement:
4. Target Statement
5. Cause Analysis:
7. Plan Of Actions:
8. Results:
9. Standardize:
10. Next Plan:
Owner Signatures: Coach Signature--
A3- Structured Problem Solving Story Board

27. Title: What are we talking about?
Dept.: Div.:
2. Background:
Business Reason for choosing
the specific issue for
resolution:
Owner:
Senior Sponsor: Co-owners:
Coach:
6. Counter Measures:
what’s all countermeasures against the
real root causes will you suggest to achieve
target conditions.
3. Problem Statement:
What’s the actual pain/symptom
being
felt? Just the facts! Break up and
choose
the problem in manageable pieces.4. Target Statement:
Goal/Target you would like to
achieve , how much & when.
5. Cause Analysis:
what’s all causing the symptoms? Get
hold of real root causes.
7. Plan Of Actions:
what’s all actions you are planning with by
whom & by when to implement
countermeasures?
8. Results:
what’s are the result against targets?
9. Standardize:
Standardize new successful process &
share.
10. Next Plan:
what’s the new plan for improvement?
Owner Signatures: Coach Signature--
A3- Structured Problem Solving Story Board

28. 28
This methodology is based upon
our learning from Toyota Practices !
These workshops are designed & conducted by Anup Gandhi,
Operational Excellence Transformation Leader,
based on his A3 thinking, Coaching & Execution experience.
More than 1500 Employees got trained by now.
More than 500 real life problem cases are successfully resolved by
the participants using Structured Problem Solving with continued
handholding coaching through “Workplace-workshops”.