Knowledge Base · Solutions
How do I run a rapid improvement event, day by day?
Set a tight scope and a measurable goal beforehand, map the current process with the people who do the work, find root causes and implement changes inside the week, measure and present results on the final day, then standardise what worked. The book puts the event at three to five days with a cross-functional team released from normal duties.
A rapid improvement event, also called a kaizen event, is the book's middle pathway: bigger than a Just Do It, smaller than a DMAIC project. Chapter 4 describes a focused sprint, three to five days long, in which a team drawn from across the functions is released from normal duties to attack one named problem. Chapter 10 adds a run guide with the same rhythm as PDCA itself.
- Before the event: leadership defines the scope tightly and sets a measurable goal, such as handling a new customer order in three quarters of the time it takes today. A vague scope is the most common way events fail before they start.
- Day one: the team maps the process as it actually runs today, with the people who do the work in the room. Waste and bottlenecks are marked on the map, not debated from memory.
- Middle days: root causes are worked through with the seeing tools (5 Whys, fishbone), solutions are designed, and where possible the changes are implemented during the event itself. Implementing inside the week is what separates an event from a workshop.
- Final day: results are measured against the goal and presented, including honestly where the target was missed.
- After the event: what worked is standardised and shared, and anything unfinished leaves with an owner and a date.
Two conditions decide whether the format works. The team must be genuinely cross-functional, because the problem will not respect department boundaries, and the members must be genuinely released: an event run in the gaps between normal work is a meeting with a better name.
Related questions
- What is a rapid improvement event (a kaizen event)?
- Just Do It, rapid improvement event, or DMAIC project: how do I choose?
- How do I run a mini-kaizen in one hour?
Source: Continuous Improvement in the Workplace, Ch. 4 (Solution Creation and Implementation) and Ch. 10 (Engaging Activities for Continuous Improvement).