Knowledge Base · Solutions
What is a rapid improvement event (a kaizen event)?
A rapid improvement event, sometimes called a kaizen event, is a focused sprint of typically three to five days in which a cross-functional team tackles one specific problem full time. The team defines the problem, analyses its root causes, develops a solution, and in many cases implements it before the week is over.
Chapter 4 places the rapid improvement event (RIE) between its other two pathways. It is the right tool for a medium-sized problem: too big for a Just Do It fix, and short of a months-long DMAIC project.
- Length: typically three to five days of focused work.
- People: a cross-functional team, pulled from regular duties to focus exclusively on the issue.
- Work: define the problem, analyse the root causes, and develop a solution.
- Result: in many cases the solution is implemented before the week is over.
The book calls it an intense, collaborative, and effective way to make significant progress in a short amount of time. The intensity is the point: instead of a problem drifting through occasional meetings for months, the people who own each part of it sit together until it is solved.
Pick the event when the problem is bounded enough for one team to finish in a week, and real enough to justify taking that team off its normal work. If the cause is already obvious, a Just Do It is faster. If the cause is unknown and the data work is heavy, the problem needs DMAIC instead.
Related questions
- Just Do It, rapid improvement event, or DMAIC project: how do I choose?
- What is kaizen?
- What is DMAIC, and when should I use it?
Source: Continuous Improvement in the Workplace, Ch. 4 (Solution Creation and Implementation).