The Toyota Kata Practice Guide: Practicing Scientific Thinking Skills for Superior Results in 20 Minutes a Day 1st Edition

Very well laid out. Excelent teaching and learning tool

For those thinking of using Kata in their lean management system, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide delivers on helping you adopt scientific thinking through correct practice. And, as the titles states, you will be able to realize superior organizational results when applied in as little as 20 minutes a day.I used Mike Rother’s first book, Learning to See, in 2003 as a valuable resource in applying the concept of value stream mapping. Then, in 2010, Mike came out with his second book, Toyota Kata, and for those that want to scientifically apply continuous improvement, this book was a game changer! It is the best approach I have found to apply both improvement and coaching methods. Here’s why: for every couple of dozen of lean instruction and theory books that involve tools or abstract theory, Toyota Kata involves something else – how to practically improve and coach for superior results. If you have been in the lean world for any amount of time, you have heard that most lean initiatives stall after the initial burst of exuberance. The Toyota Kata Practice Guide helps correct this and allows front line managers to apply positive changes to their coaching that produce results that are real and visible.I have used Mike’s books for training and skill development in retail, service, hospitals, and government organizations that I have worked for, as well as in a MBA program centered on sustainability where I teach. I have found that The Toyota Kata Practice Guide helps graduate students learn the theory behind Scientific Thinking and Deliberate Practice and then immediately apply the concepts and customize their own approach. This allows them to create a hypothesis, test it quickly and then create a cycle of learning. This application helps the thinking to stick. This ‘learn-see-do’ approach, when augmented by the straight forward The Toyota Kata Practice Guide, changes mindsets for the good. Students can see the tie-ins to other learning areas like strategy, marketing and finance as well. This guide has been developed as a core resource for anyone to understand, improve and coach while using their specific lean management system. This practice guide also provides the needed guidance on when, where, and how to apply kata approaches. It provides those necessary, practical tools and approaches with straight-forward writing, for practitioners and organizations wanting to increase their adoption of kata, and continuous improvement as a whole. The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is a solid, practical resource and I highly recommend it, along with Mike Rother’s other recent book, Toyota Kata Culture.

The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is my new "go to" reference on Toyota Kata. I have my original 2009 copy of Toyota Kata alongside the Practice Guide, and comparing the two, I find the Practice Guide much more straightforward, practical, and easier to assimilate for those applying the Toyota Kata (TK) method. 2009's Toyota Kata was a necessary and important book for introducing TK, the supporting research, and the connection to culture, habit, neuroscience, and learning. For those who want to understand these linkages, Toyota Kata is there. For others needing to bypass background and "jump right in", The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is the place to start.There have been many discoveries by hundreds of practitioners that have built on Rother's original research since the publication of Toyota Kata. They have shared their work through dozens of iterations of online practice guides, videos and other materials. About 150 people are listed in this book's acknowledgements. The reader benefits from a true collaborative effort distilling the collective learnings of many experienced Toyota Kata veterans.The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is well designed for the full range of users. Newbies, experienced learners, coaches, and senior leaders can refer to appropriate practice sections. The book reinforces and reiterates common threads effectively: You can read cover-to-cover or selectively use a section - the book works either way.Sad fact: Books are published in batches. Want to add to your published book? New info must wait for a new edition. For a decade, new discoveries and useful re-presentations of TK have piled up. The author wisely did not try to package new content into the same wrapper. The Toyota Kata Practice Guide is tuned to the practitioner. From a usability standpoint, it is excellent!

I liked the concepts and principles of this book, but it definitely seemed a little stretched out for what could be conveyed in like a 2 or 3 hour seminar... as far as the product itself goes it looks nice, shipped in a timely manner and has good engaging study and practice material.

The third “must read” book in my Kata library, Mike Rother’s “Toyota Kata Practice Guide”is an easy to follow instructional guide to start-up and sustain any Kata implementation. By devoting as little of 20 minutes a day, Mike walks both Kata beginners and experienced Kata Geeks on how to implement a sustaining Toyota Kata framework. Mike aptly devotes two chapters to the importance of Scientific Thinking and Deliberate Practice – and these are key to customizing your own Kata implementation within the framework. Detailed discussions of Kata “Learner” and “Coach” roles and practice routines for both the Improvement Kata (IK) and Coaching Kata (CK) are very thorough and complete. I liked it because the illustrations were clear, the text was easy to read text and the nearly a dozen Kata forms made "The Toyota Kata Practice Guide” a true and very practical Kata practice guide.As a self-professed Kata Geek, I own and strongly recommend all three of Mike Rother’s Toyota Kata books: “Toyota Kata”, “Toyota Kata Culture”, and this book “The Toyota Kata Practice Guide”. These are must-reads for any Kata Practitioner.David A. Harry, PMP® CSSBB LBCThe Process Whisperer®The Toyota Kata Practice Guide: Practicing Scientific Thinking Skills for Superior Results in 20 Minutes a Day