The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance, Second Edition

Using the Cycle to Build Knowledge

Although the primary use of the PDSA Cycle is to test changes, we can use the cycle when current knowledge or readily available background information is not sufficient to answer one or more of the three questions. The primary use of data in answering the question “What are we trying to accomplish?” is to determine why a particular aim should be chosen from among many initiatives. The data might be warranty claims, responses to a customer survey, an analysis of defects or complaints, plots of measurements over time, or documented comments from employees. An example illustrates the use of a cycle to set the aim for an improvement effort.

A manufacturer of garage door openers established an 800 phone line ...