
48 • Lean Product Development: Make it Work!
THE FIVE TYPES OF A3 REPORTS
e original research into Toyota’s processes classied their A3
reports into three types: the Problem Solving A3, the proposal A3,
and the Status Reporting A3. I have found that there are ve dierent
kinds that Lean organizations primarily use. I’ve listed them from
the most free form to most standardized in format:
• Knowledge Capture A3s, sometimes called knowledge briefs
or K-Briefs, are reports about some area of knowledge that
the author wishes to share. I have seen excellent examples of
Knowledge Briefs written about test procedures, market fore-
cast ...