The document provides guidance on properly writing obstacles for Toyota Kata. It explains that obstacles should be written as facts and data rather than vague descriptions, and should include a negative result or question to be addressed. Examples of poorly written obstacles are given, such as those written as to-do lists or statements of blame. The correct way to write obstacles is demonstrated, including providing the fact, data, and negative outcome, as well as how the obstacle can be measured. Writing obstacles in this way helps define clear PDCA experiments.

1. KATA
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01
TOYOTA KATA
How to Correctly
Write Obstacles?

2. KATA
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02
Using a Well Known Challenge Game
to Demonstrate Writing Obstacles
• Often, Kata Practitioners use various games and simulations to demonstrate a
fast paced environment with limited resources to allow students time to practice
in a relatively safe classroom environment before taking the IK/CK to actual
operational situations.
• The following example is one such challenge game.
• You will notice that most people start out writing short, vague phrases to
describe the obstacles keeping them from operating in the Target Condition.
This is normal – everyone does this as they start practicing.
• What most students of Toyota Kata fail to see early on is that the steps of the
Improvement Kata build upon each other, and the clarity of each step is
dependent on the clarity of the previous step.
Current Condition Target Condition Obstacles PDCA Experiments
Clarity Clarity Clarity Clarity

3. KATA
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03
The Task
Set up this 200 pc
domino pattern
as quickly as possible
with 100% topple* rate.
* Domino has fallen more than 45 degrees.
25 pcs in
each of
these 6 legs
50 pcs in
this one leg
These
Count!!!
This one
doesn’t
Count!!!

4. KATA
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Many times we want to write a noun or an occurrence as an obstacle:
How to Correctly Write Obstacles
to the Target Condition
OBSTACLES PARKING LOT
Obstacle How will you measure that?
1 Topple too soon
2 Shaky Table
3 Transition pieces
4
5
• Vague
• Hard to define a good PDCA
Step
• Can’t measure this

5. KATA
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05
We think we are there with more description of the occurrence:
Better to Write Facts and Data as
Obstacles to the Target Condition
OBSTACLES PARKING LOT
Obstacle How will you measure that?
1 We get ½ built and topple
2
The table is shaky and if we bump
dominos topple
3
We can’t get transition pieces set
correctly
4
5
• More description of the
issue
• Difficult to define a good
PDCA Step
• Still can’t measure this

6. KATA
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06
Best to Write Facts, Data, and a
Negative Result – Or - A Question
Needing Answers for an Obstacles
to the Target Condition
OBSTACLES PARKING LOT
Obstacle How will you measure that?
1
When we start on the 4 legs of 25, two workers
interfere with the work pattern and we topple
before completion
Topple %, and audit of std
work pattern 100%
2
We don’t know a way to prevent bumping the
table and have toppled too soon twice in each of
the last 2 attempts
We call out aloud “bump” and
count how many times we
bump the table.
3
We don’t know how many dominos to set aside
to make the transition pieces at the forks and
set them correctly
We count out 3 dominos at
each transition
Fact + Data
Negative result
Question needing answered
Fact + Data

7. KATA
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07
Examples of Poorly Written Obstacles

8. KATA
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After Coaching…
The Learner expanded what he/she didn’t know, but still did not write
the obstacles in the proper form in order to write a clear PDCA.

9. KATA
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09
Obstacles Written as “To Do” Action
item lists – This is counter to Kata
Writing an obstacle
using verbs like
“need”, “make”, or
“training” are dead
giveaways that the
Learner is resorting
to ingrained habits of
action item lists
resulting from
episodic
improvement events.
Training is a solution
for a PDCA step - lack
of knowledge or skill
which is obstacle

10. KATA
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10
Too Many Obstacles and Written as
“Blames”– This is counter to Kata
Blaming the
operation’s current
constraints, facts and
required practices or
job functions are
excuses and not
obstacle
identification which
is the kata way of
thinking. As a Kata
Coach evaluate your
Learner’s Threshold
of Knowledge (TOK),
coach the Learner to
explore innovation,
and learn to spot
victim mentality, so
you can coach
Learners through
obstacle
identification.

11. KATA
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11
Obstacles Written as Statements and
Phrases – How Can We Measure These?
Statements of fact
without the
negative results,
trends, or the
affect on process
metrics which are
causing a gap
between Current
Condition and the
Target Condition
are not obstacles.
Coach your
Learners to
identify the gap
between Current
Condition and
Target Condition
first, then give the
facts + data,
followed by what
the impact on the
process metrics,
these facts are
causing.
This statement could be infinite…..

12. KATA
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Obstacles Written Correctly, with a
Method of Measurement
Here we have Fact+Data+ Negative result or as a question needing
answered to increase or Threshold of Knowledge (TOK)
Facts and data
along with the
negative
outcome or a
question
causing the
gap between
Current
Condition and
Target
Condition
Fact along
with the
negative
outcome
causing the
gap
The Data indicates how we
can measure this obstacle

13. KATA
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13
Obstacles Written Correctly
Here we have Fact+Data+ Negative result or as a question needing
answered to increase or Threshold of Knowledge (TOK)
Obstacle Parking Lot How will you measure that?
We have determined that the scrap loss on the machining line for parts that are produced from
Press 105 result in a 0.5% scrap rate. The scrap loss from parts produced on Presses 108 and 115
cause a scrap loss of 3.5%-5%. We do not know the reasons for this difference in scrap loss from
these press sources.
The process metric of press setup
parameters and set-up times on Presses 108
and 115; the outcome metric of Scrap on the
machining line.
From a previous exploratory experiment, we recorded 112 additional parts over a 4 hour production
run when we did not let the shift run completely "dry" of Work-In-Process parts between shifts. We
do not know the affect this will have across 3 shifts and if downtime due to minor start-up loses will
decrease or not.
Total daily production and downtime
recorded in the first 60 minutes of start of
each shift