TestedProblem Solving

Gemba walk notes to an A3 draft

Paste your walk notes and get the top of the A3 back: the problem statement, Background and Current Condition, with the facts sorted from the theories.

What you paste in

Your notes from a gemba walk, as rough as they are: shorthand, time stamps, half sentences, and what people told you mixed in with what you saw.

What you get back

  • Background and Current Condition, one fact per line, each tagged OBSERVED, COUNTED, TIMED, BOARD or TOLD BY a role.
  • A one-sentence problem statement, or a clear note that the notes do not support one yet.
  • Every cause and theory heard on the walk, kept separate from the facts.
  • Up to ten ranked questions to answer before root cause analysis. Goal, Root Cause Analysis and Countermeasures stay blank, because those are yours.

The prompt

Or copy it and open:

We recommend Claude because that is where we tested this prompt. It is plain text, so you can use it in any AI tool, including the one your company approves. Results can differ from tool to tool, so read what comes back.

Draft the top of an A3 from raw gemba notes: the problem statement and the
first two boxes, Background and Current Condition.

The input is notes taken on a walk: shorthand, time stamps, half sentences, and
opinions mixed in with observations. Sort what the notes support into those
three things and stop there. Leave the goal, the root cause analysis and
everything after them blank. You were not on the walk.

Produce seven sections, in this order. No title above them.

1) BACKGROUND

Four sentences maximum. Why this matters to the business and who is affected,
using only what the notes say. State the scope plainly: which area, which line,
and which shifts the note-taker actually saw and which they did not. If the
notes do not name the shift that was walked, do not name it either, and do not
call it "day shift", "first shift" or "morning"; give the time stamps instead.

2) CURRENT CONDITION

Only things the note-taker observed, counted, or timed, or read off a board or
document they were standing in front of, or were told by a named person. One
fact per line. Each line carries the time stamp if there is one and a source
tag. The only five tags allowed are:
OBSERVED / COUNTED / TIMED / BOARD / TOLD BY <role>
Do not invent a sixth tag. Anything a person said is TOLD BY, never a bare
fact. Tag people by their role on the walk (SUPERVISOR, LINE LEAD, MILL
OPERATOR, MFG ENGINEER, and so on), never by name, even where the notes give
a name. This output gets circulated; the notes do not.
Numbers exactly as written; if the note-taker hedged a number or put a
question mark after it, the hedge and the question mark stay. If the note-taker
did their own arithmetic in the notes, it is a line here, tagged OBSERVED, with
their doubt about it quoted. Nothing in this section is a cause: a line that
says why goes in section 4, not here. But a fact the note-taker saw with their
own eyes stays in this section even if somebody on the walk offered it as a
cause; the fact goes here, and the claim that it explains the problem goes in
section 4.

3) PROBLEM STATEMENT

One sentence, forty words or fewer, in this shape:
[what is happening, with the number and its source] against [what should be
happening, with the number and its source].
Taken from section 2 only. The word "because" is not allowed. Do not put a
disagreement between two sources inside the sentence; that goes in section 6.
Whenever the notes do not show a current, confirmed target, the next line is
mandatory: TARGET NOT CONFIRMED, followed by a quote of what the notes say
about the target.
If section 2 holds no number for the thing the complaint is actually about,
do not write a sentence about a different gap. Write NOT YET SUPPORTED, name
the number that is missing, and say where the notes suggest it can be found.

4) CLAIMS HEARD ON THE WALK

Only statements about why: every cause, theory, or explanation anyone offered,
including the note-taker's own. A statement of what is happening is not a
claim; it belongs in section 2 and is not repeated here. Attribute each one
and tag it, exactly one of:
OBSERVED BY NOTE-TAKER / TOLD BY <role> / HEARSAY / NOTE-TAKER'S OWN GUESS
Roles, not names, here too.
A claim is HEARSAY when the person who said it was repeating someone else. A
claim the note-taker explicitly parked or doubted still goes here, with the
doubt quoted. These stay out of the A3 until they have been checked.

5) OUT OF SCOPE

Anything in the notes that is a different problem from the one in section 3.
One line each. An unverified cause of this problem is not out of scope; it
belongs in section 4.

6) QUESTIONS BEFORE THE ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Ranked list. Rank 1: the answer could change the problem statement. Any
question about the target, about which of two conflicting numbers is right, or
about what the complaint actually means is Rank 1 by definition. Rank 2: the
answer would change a line in the current condition. Rank 3: useful, not
decisive. Say which section each question feeds. The questions come from the
notes: sweep them for "ask", "confirm", "check", "didn't", "recheck", "?",
"assuming", and every item in any to-do list; each becomes a question, and
each thing the note-taker admits to assuming becomes a question. If you add a
question the notes did not raise, start it with the word ADDED. Cap the list
at ten. If there are more, drop the lowest-ranked and end with one line:
"N more not listed."

7) NOT DRAFTED

Print these five headings with nothing under them except the one line
"Not drafted. This comes from analysis you have not done yet."
Goal
Root Cause Analysis
Countermeasures
Results
Follow-up

Rules

- Add nothing that is not in the notes. No plausible fill, no general knowledge
  about how plants work, no shift names the notes do not give. Roles come from
  the notes; if the notes give no role, write TOLD BY <role unknown>.
- Where the notes carry two versions of a number, show both with their sources
  and put the conflict in section 6. Do not pick one.
- No arithmetic of your own: no differences, no averages, no rates, no
  percentages. If the notes contain the note-taker's own arithmetic, keep it
  as written, and keep their doubt about it as written.
- Keep the note-taker's words for anything quoted, with names replaced by roles.
- No introduction, no summary, no advice, no closing note.

NOTES:
"""
[PASTE THE GEMBA NOTES HERE]
"""

How to use it

  1. Walk and take notes the way you always do. Mark what you saw, what you counted and what someone told you, if you can.
  2. Take out names before you paste. The prompt asks the AI to use roles instead, but names can still get through.
  3. Copy the prompt into your AI tool and put your notes where it says [PASTE THE GEMBA NOTES HERE].
  4. Check every line against your notes, then go answer the Rank 1 questions before you start the analysis.

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