To get better at scientific thinking begin with these Starter Kata, and build on them once you master their patterns. Instructions for each Starter Kata (and much more) are in the 'Toyota Kata Practice Guide.' Download and use these PowerPoint slides if you like.

1. The Toyota Kata
STARTER KATA
To get better at scientific thinking begin
with these Starter Kata, and build on
them once you master their patterns.
Instructions for each Starter Kata (and
much more) are in the Toyota Kata
Practice Guide
By Mike Rother

2. • Learner’s storyboard format (for the learner)
• Steps of process analysis (learner)
• Steps to establishing a target condition (learner)
• Current condition/target condition form (learner)
• Obstacle parking lot (learner)
• Experimenting record (learner)
• Five-question card (for the coach)
After an Introduction on the black-edged pages,
this ppt file contains the Starter Kata for practicing
the Improvement Kata and Coaching Kata patterns:
For instructions refer to the Toyota Kata Practice Guide (TKPG)
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3. 3
Starter Kata are structured routines that
you practice deliberately, especially at the
beginning, so their pattern becomes a
habit and leaves you with new abilities.
Starter Kata are a way of learning
fundamental skills.
The Toyota Kata (TK) Starter Kata are for
practicing scientific-thinking skill and
mindset. Instructions for the TK Starter
Kata are in the Toyota Kata Practice Guide
(2017, McGraw-Hill).
At first you should try to practice each
Starter Kata exactly as described, until its
pattern becomes somewhat automatic
and habitual for you. That can take a few
weeks of practice. When you reach that
point and have learned through practice
to understand the "why" behind a Starter
Kata's routine, then you can build on it
to develop your own style, as long as the
core pattern remains intact.
Toyota Kata helps you build scientific-
thinking skills and mindset, via its well-
proven set of Starter Kata to practice
daily. They come from the Toyota Kata
research and have been used for
practice at thousands of organizations
around the world.
Begin with the Starter Kata presented
here and then, as you gain skill and
understanding, add to or adjust them to
fit your situation as needed.
Best wishes for practicing how to
scientifically achieve goals!
Mike Rother
STARTER KATA TO PRACTICE SCIENTIFIC THINKING SKILLS

4. For scientific-thinking skill,
begin by practicing the
Starter Kata presented
here and in the Toyota
Kata Practice Guide.
Starter Kataare structured
practice routines that put you on the
road to learning fundamentals and
developing new patterns of thinking.
Practicing Starter Kata increases the
speed of learning and is particularly
helpful when you want to create a
shared way of thinking and acting in
a group of people, because everyone
starts with the same basics.
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5. As we grow more proficient in
any skill, we learn and develop
our own style and techniques.
When a new learner comes
along it’s natural to want to
share that with them. But it’s
too much for the beginner! Be a
coach, not a lecturer.
Instead, have the next beginner
start with Starter Kata practice
routines. Then they can build
from there — just like you did.
Don’t Make This Mistake
Starter
Kata
(beginhere)
Skillsgrown
beyond the
Starter Kata
Beginner Experienced
NEXT
Beginner
Don’t overload a beginner with the more advanced
stuff you’ve learned. It's too soon. That just confuses
their initial practice and slows down their learning.
5

6. Information entering our mind self-organizes
into the existing patterns of our neural
library.
Toyota Kata is about practicing scientific
patterns of thinking. Those patterns are
embedded in the Starter Kata.
Practice the Starter Kata, internalize their
patterns, and you’re on the way to greater
scientific thinking.
It’s About Developing
Some New Patterns in Your Thinking
Then you can apply that new skill
to whatever goals and challenges you have!
6

7. • They help beginners start to acquire a new skill by providing simple
predefined, step-by-step practice routines for internalizing
fundamentals.
• They give the coach a point of comparison for gauging the learner’s
performance and providing corrective feedback and suggestions.
• They help to develop a shared mode of thinking and acting across a
team or organization by providing common routines for everyone’s
initial practice.
• Perhaps most important, Starter Kata help bridge a gap by translating
theoretical principles and concepts into something real and teachable.
Benefits of Practicing Starter Kata
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8. A pattern of scientific thinking
to improve in the direction of a challenge
This is the pattern of scientific thinking we are trying to teach
The Improvement Kata Pattern
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9. There are Starter Kata for each step of the
Improvement Kata pattern, and for the Coach
STARTER KATA
for the learner
STARTER KATA
for the coach
The
Improvement
Kata Pattern
Please
start
practicing
this way
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10. The experimenting
record
Daily coaching cycles at the
learner’s storyboard, with the
five Coaching Kata questions
Steps of
process analysis
Steps to establishing
a target condition
LEARNER
COACH
Obstacle
parking lot
Learner’s
storyboard
Instructions for these Starter Kata are in the Toyota Kata Practice Guide (TKPG)
The Toyota Kata Starter Kata
10

12. FOR THE LEARNER
Start with this board format
The Learner’s Storyboard

13. Focus Process: Challenge:
Target Condition
Achieve by:
Actual Condition Now Experimenting Record
Obstacles Parking Lot

14. FOR THE LEARNER
For grasping the current condition
Steps of Process Analysis

15. FOR THE LEARNER
A desired outcome and operating pattern, as your next goalpost
Steps to Establishing a Target Condition

16. FOR THE LEARNER
Obstacle Parking Lot

17. Cut here to
post on storyboard
Current Condition /
Target Condition Form
FOR THE LEARNER

18. Experimenting Record
Use until you overcome an obstacle, then start a new form
FOR THE LEARNER

19. PREDICTION EVIDENCE EVALUATE
ACTION
The scientific learning cycle is embedded in the
experimenting record, to make the cycle easy to practice.

20. Layout of the Experimenting Record = one obstacle per form,
one experiment per row. Predict what you expect and compare
that with what actually happens. That’s how you learn.
The prediction side is where you
plan the next experiment and
predict the outcome
The evidence side is where you record
what actually happened, compare that
with the prediction, and record what
you learned
This is the one obstacle to the
target condition that you are
currently working on
It usually take a series of experiments
in order to overcome an obstacle

21. FOR THE COACH
The Five Coaching Kata Questions
A printer / copier 5Q card template is on the next two pages

22. Front of card
COACHINGKATA
COACHINGKATA
COACHINGKATA
COACHINGKATA

23. Back of card

24. FOR THE COACH
Daily Coaching Cycles
with the 5 Questions
- 20 minutes or less -

25. Current
Condition
Coaching
Cycle
Dialogue
Learner
Coach
Next
Target
Condition
Learner's Storyboard
With beginner learners, ask the five
Coaching Kata questions after each step.
TIP: Identify the learner’s
threshold of knowledge
and have them plan their
next experiment there.

26. 1) What is the Target Condition?
• Is the target condition connected to the challenge?
• What do you want to be happening? • No verbs!
• Measureable? • Not 'lack of something' • Achieve-by date?
5) How quickly can we go and see what we
Have Learned from taking that step?
• Numbers, not opinions. • Can you show me? • How do you
know? • How did you get the data? • Is there a run chart?
2) What is the Actual Condition now?
What did you plan as your Last Step?
What did you Expect?
What Actually Happened?
What did you Learn?
REFLECTION
• What was being tested?
• Is the PDCA Cycles Record filled in?
• Was this written down? • Just read it!
• Only facts & numbers. • Are the numbers written down?
• Is there a run chart? • What is different than expected?
• Did the Learner really reflect on this?
3) What Obstacles do you think are
preventing you from reaching the target
condition?
Which *one* are you addressing now?
• Is the Obstacles Parking Lot up-to-date?
• True obstacles (variation), not action items or lack of a
perceived solution.
• Where does this problem occur? • Can you show me?
• When does this problem occur?
4) What is your next step? (Next experiment)
What do you expect?
• What is the current knowledge threshold?
• Did what was learned in the last experiment frame this one?
The Starter Kata Coaching Questions Example notes & clarifying questions
• Is expectation written down? • Please read it.
• What numerical outcome do you expect?
• How will you measure it?
• How many cycles do you plan to measure?
• Strive for cheap and fast experiments
• Can we run this experiment today? Right now?
• When is the next coaching cycle?
• Accompany the Learner if necessary.
As your coaching abilities grow you should evolve your own coaching style, which
includes adding your own questions. Of course, any additional questions should be
consistent with the principles and pattern of the Starter Kata.
Begin with the Starter Kata five-question card. As you get used to the card, start
adding notes and your own clarifying questions. One technique is to make a folding
card as shown below. The folded card still fits in your pocket, but has space on the
unfolded right-hand side to jot down notes and test your own questions. Example
notes and clarifying questions are shown here, just as thought starters.
The underlying pattern of the five
Coaching Kata questions should remain!
Card folds
here

27. Best wishes for
practicing how
to scientifically
achieve goals!
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