The PDCA cycle
Plan – Do – Check – Act: this tool takes an improvement project through the loop of continual improvement – from a measurable target, via a small-scale test, to the new standard. Each cycle builds on the previous one. At the end, the report shows whether the improvement works and how strongly – exactly what an audit wants to see.
Project & reason
What should get better – and why now?
Cycles · keep the wheel turning
Each cycle starts from the standard of the previous one.
The wheel only rolls uphill if a wedge holds it: the standard secures what has been achieved so that it does not roll back. The colours in the wheel show how far the current cycle has got in Plan, Do, Check and Act.
Plan Cycle 1
Understand the current state, set a measurable target, choose the action.
First understand what happens today and what is not going well. Then set the target as a number with a deadline – and choose the lever, together with the expectation of what it will achieve.
Do Cycle 1
Test on a small scale and measure.
Not straight across the board: the action is first tried out in a limited way – one line, one day, a cautious dose. If something goes wrong, the damage stays small.
Check Cycle 1
Compare target with actual – and understand why it turned out that way.
The tool calculates the degree of target achievement. What matters most, however, is understanding: this is why Deming later spoke of “Study” instead of “Check”.
Act Cycle 1
Set the standard, secure effectiveness, keep turning.
What has proved its worth becomes the new standard: process description, training and, where necessary, investment. This standard is the starting point of the next cycle.
Report & evidence of effectiveness
All cycles, the trend of the metric – and what is still open.
Questions & answers
The core knowledge on the PDCA cycle – from the two explainer videos, the tool and the course plan, supplemented with background. Click a question.
Key terms explained +
The most important terms around the PDCA cycle:
How saving works +
This HTML file is your document. Everything you enter ends up in exactly this file when you save – just like a Word document. If you pass the file on, all projects in it go with it.
Save (green button or Ctrl+S) stores the current state – without any prompt. As long as no working file of your own has been created, the state is kept in the browser and is there again the next time you open it.
Saved automatically: as soon as a project has been saved once, the tool backs up every further change by itself after a few seconds. The note next to the button shows when this last happened.
Save as (under “Projects”) creates a file on your hard drive. This is the only place where you are asked where to save. After that, every further Save writes silently into exactly that file.
The first time: open the file, click “Projects” and then Save as. From then on the green button is enough.
Several projects in one file: use the selection field at the top to start a new project from a template. When you save, you are asked for a name; after that all projects sit side by side under “Projects”, where you can open, rename or delete them.
If something goes wrong: the tool continuously keeps an interim state in the browser. If the browser crashes or you close the window by accident, your work is there again the next time you open it.
Note on browsers: writing directly to the file currently works in Chrome and Edge. In Firefox and Safari everything stays saved in the browser and is there again the next time you open it – the file itself remains unchanged.