Some Observations From The A3 Report

After reading the short article titled, "Toyota's Secret: The A3 Report" the first thing I considered for this week's blog post was filling out my own A3 report for a problem I face at work. Then I thought for a second and realized most people in the class likely had the same idea. Instead I decided to provide some interesting observations I made while reading the article.

First observation i wanted to share was that the A3 Report is an iterative process similar to the lean startup method, with different steps of course. We'll see where the direction of this class goes over the next few weeks but it is becoming apparent that entrepreneurship is certainly an iterative process no matter which way you cut and slice it.

The most interesting takeaway however, was that the A3 Report was used to ensure a clear problem statement was considered based on an actual problem or need and not based on a potential solution. Too often, entrepreneurs come up with ideas for solutions and then try to retrofit them to a problem or need area. While this backwards entrepreneurship is plausible in many cases, it can easily lead one down the wrong path. If an entrepreneur already has a solution in mind, it is very possible their problem statement will be tainted and skewed to fit their solution. At this point, the entrepreneur may be missing out a key stage in the development of the solution. If more time is spent considering the problem or need state, the entrepreneur may realize the solution can be tweaked in a manner that better addresses the actual problem or need.