THE QUESTION
Why are deliveries late?
Propose what to do, then judge whether each action would move each root.
Sealed 14 days ago: this room no longer knows who was in it. What it concluded stays.
30 at the table (29 simulated) · 3 actions proposed against 6 root causes. Add one, then judge whether each action moves each cause.
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2 groups of claims influence each other in a circle
↺ A short pick is recorded as complete so the li → Small errors are hidden to avoid blame → Two products with almost the same code sit on → Picks are wrong often enough that customers no → …
↺ Fixes are patched locally and never shared → Targets reward speed over accuracy
A circle can be a real finding — a cycle that feeds itself — or a link whose direction was never really settled. The map treats the group as one node, so nothing inside it is a root on its own. If it is the second, the pair is worth putting back to the room.Score the roots first
why
The method's own practice, before any action is proposed: each root cause is scored 1–5 on how feasible it is to address, how much impact addressing it would have, and how likely it is to resolve by itself with no intervention. Priority goes to roots with high impact, high feasibility and low likelihood of fixing themselves — priority = impact + feasibility − likelihood. Scores are averaged across the group and shown with how many scored.
1 = low, 5 = high. Your own scores; the group's averages beside them.
| root cause | feasible | impact | fixes itself | priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The best pickers are moved to whatever is late, so nobody learns a zone | – | |||
| The handheld takes four seconds to confirm, so people batch their scans | – | |||
| The forecast is made by people who never see a peak | – | |||
| New staff copy bad habits from old hands | – | |||
| Peak-hour load exceeds planned capacity | – | |||
| We measure errors per order, so a bigger order hides more mistakes | – |
Would each action move each root cause?
Down the side: the actions people proposed. Across the top: the root causes the map found. Every square is one vote on one question — would this action significantly reduce that cause? One side has to reach 75% of the votes cast to settle it; short of that the square stays split. Each square shows how its votes fell — yes / worse / no — and a square is settled when one of those reaches three quarters of them.
why
Answered at 75% of votes cast, like every other question here. Split means people voted and neither side reached that bar — it is a result, not a queue, and it stays split until enough people change their minds. A square nobody settles stays undecided; it never turns into a no. Judging each pair on its own is what stops a popular action being credited with fixing things it does not touch.
| ACTION | ROOT CAUSES · does the action on the left reduce it? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The best pickers are moved to whatever is late, so nobody learns a zone | The handheld takes four seconds to confirm, so people batch their scans | The forecast is made by people who never see a peak | New staff copy bad habits from old hands | Peak-hour load exceeds planned capacity | We measure errors per order, so a bigger order hides more mistakes | |
| Refresh training every quarter, not once discuss | not decided yet | ✓ yes, it reduces this 26 yes / 0 worse / 3 no | ✗ no, it does not 3 yes / 0 worse / 26 no | ✗ no, it does not 3 yes / 0 worse / 26 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 23 yes / 0 worse / 6 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 23 yes / 0 worse / 6 no |
| Rotate a planner onto the floor each week discuss | not decided yet | ✗ no, it does not 5 yes / 0 worse / 24 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 25 yes / 0 worse / 4 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 22 yes / 0 worse / 7 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 27 yes / 0 worse / 2 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 26 yes / 0 worse / 3 no |
| One owner per recurring failure, named publicly in focus ↑ · close ✕ | not decided yet | ✗ no, it does not 6 yes / 0 worse / 23 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 22 yes / 0 worse / 7 no | ✓ yes, it reduces this 24 yes / 0 worse / 5 no | ✗ no, it does not 2 yes / 0 worse / 27 no | ✗ no, it does not 6 yes / 0 worse / 23 no |
Highest leverage so far
Rotate a planner onto the floor each week reduces 4 of 6 root causes
Refresh training every quarter, not once reduces 3 of 6 root causes
One owner per recurring failure, named publicly reduces 2 of 6 root causes
What we expect to follow
why
A map says which actions move which causes. It does not say whether anyone did them, or whether anything changed. An entry here is a prediction with a date and something to measure, written after the map settled. When the date comes, what actually happened is written beside it and the prediction stays as it was: a wrong one is the useful kind. Nobody voted on any of this and it changes nothing the room found.
due 24 Dec 2026
Refresh training every quarter, not once
expected: fewer wrong picks once a planner has stood where the picking happens
measured by: picking errors per 1,000 lines
the room: 6 (median of 15, spread 2 to 14)