Analyze, Improve, Control

The Analyze tab is where you separate symptoms from causes. The toolkit gives you structured ways to do it instead of guessing in a meeting.

Brainstorm causes — Fishbone & 5 Whys

Start with the Fishbone (Ishikawa) tool. List every possible cause grouped by category — People, Process, Equipment, Materials, Environment, Measurement. For each branch worth chasing, run a 5 Whys drill-down to push past the surface answer to the cause underneath.

Test the causes — Hypothesis tests, ANOVA, regression

You don't need to remember which test to run — LeanProjax suggests one based on what your data looks like.

• Two groups, are they different? Use the Hypothesis test tool (t-test under the hood).
• Three or more groups, are any different? Use the One-way ANOVA tool.
• One variable predicts another? Use Scatter + regression for the line and the R² that says how strong.

Prioritise the causes — Pareto & FMEA

The Pareto chart shows you which few causes are responsible for most of the failures. The FMEA(Failure Modes & Effects Analysis) takes it further: for each potential failure, you score Severity × Occurrence × Detection to get a Risk Priority Number (RPN). Tackle the highest RPNs first.

With the cause confirmed, the Improve tab helps you choose the right intervention and pilot it without disrupting the whole operation.

Compare options — PICK matrix

The PICK matrix plots candidate solutions on two axes: impact (low vs high) and ease (hard vs easy). Anything in the high-impact, easy quadrant ("Implement") wins. High-impact-but-hard goes in "Challenge" — worth doing but plan for it. Skip the low-impact ones unless they're free.

Score the trade-offs — Cost / benefit

Use the Cost / benefit tool to put dollars on each option — one-time cost, recurring cost, and expected annual benefit. The tool flags the payback period.

Mistake-proof — Poka-yoke

Where possible, make the new process impossible to do wrong. Poka-yoke is Japanese for "mistake-proofing": a USB connector that only fits one way, a form that won't submit without a required field. The Poka-yoke tool walks you through identifying where to add these guardrails.

Pilot before you scale — Pilot plan

The Pilot plan tool defines a short, contained test: where you'll run it, who's involved, what you'll measure, and what counts as success. After the pilot, you re-run capability (from Measure) on the new data and compare. The executive summary later surfaces this before/after side by side.

The most common failure mode in quality projects isn't the fix — it's the fix unravelling six months later when nobody's watching. Control is the discipline that prevents that.

SOP — write down how to do it

The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) tool captures the new way of working in clear, step-by-step form. The goal is that someone new to the team can pick it up and execute correctly without a coach.

Control plan — define what triggers a response

The Control plan defines what you're going to measure on an ongoing basis, how often, and what the threshold is for action. Pair it with the Response plan tool so when a measurement drifts out of range, the next steps are already written.

Audit checklist

Finally, the Audit checklist tool generates a periodic review checklist — usually monthly or quarterly — so someone is actively confirming the control plan is being followed. The audits themselves get logged in the activity feed.