
162 • Lean Product Development: Make it Work!
LAMDA: SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM SOLVING
FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPERS
PDCA is the most common systematic problem-solving method in
Lean inking. PDCA stands for Plan–Do–Check–Act. When W.
Edwards Deming went to Japan in the 1950s to teach operational
excellence, he taught PDCA. Over the next 30 years, Toyota embed-
ded PDCA into its management systems that became known as Lean.
On its own, PDCA will not help a problem solver remember to dene
a good problem, to analyze the root causes, to consult stakeholders,
and to think through the hypotheses that a Do step will test.
Allen Ward developed LAMDA in the ...