The purpose of the A3 is to:
- Document the learning, decisions, and planning involved with solving a problem,
- Facilitate communication with people in other departments, and
- Provide structure to problem-solving so as to maximize learning.
See Sobek’s description and templates, and see a working paper on A3 changing organizational problem-solving behavior.
See Radeka’s 5 Types of A3 reports, which she lists as:
- The Problem-Solving A3
Tells a story about the problem, analysis, and recommendations. Supports LAMDA or PDCA.
- The Proposal A3
Resembles Problem-solving A3, but focuses more on risks, required resources, and an implementation plan. Probably more consistent in structure in order to support providing expected information for decision-makers.
- The Status Reporting A3
Status-Reporting A3s benefit from as much standardization as possible to allow people reviewing information from different sources to find the information in a consistent place on the page.
(these first three are consistent with original research into Toyota’s process; then Radeka adds the next two types)
- Documentation Replacement A3
This A3 replaces a standard report with the A3, with the purpose to communicate precisely what the reader needs to know, and nothing more.
- The Knowledge Capture A3
This is essentially a two (A4) page report about some area of knowledge that the author wishes to share.