id: japanese-kaizen-retrospective
title: Kaizen Retrospective
description: >-
  A continuous improvement meeting pattern from Japanese manufacturing
  practice, used by teams to surface small changes that improve the work.
  Originating in the Toyota Production System kaizen tradition.
source: Toyota Production System / Lean Enterprise Institute
source_url: https://www.lean.org/
tags: [kaizen, retrospective, lean, teams]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Define the standard
    description: >-
      The team reviews the current standard work — what the process is
      supposed to be — so everyone shares the baseline.
  - headline: Find the gap
    description: >-
      Each member names one place where the actual work differs from the
      standard, focusing on the work, not the worker.
  - headline: Ask five whys
    description: >-
      For one chosen gap, the group asks "why?" repeatedly until they reach
      a root cause, not just a symptom.
  - headline: Propose a small change
    description: >-
      The team proposes the smallest possible change that addresses the root
      cause, with an owner and a trial period.
  - headline: Update the standard
    description: >-
      After the trial, the team decides whether to adopt the change and
      updates the written standard work.
outcome: >-
  A specific, tested improvement is adopted and the standard work is updated;
  the team builds a habit of continuous small improvements.
practice: >-
  Resist big redesigns. Kaizen favours many small changes over grand
  overhauls. Keep the five whys honest — stop at the first answer the team
  can act on.