Everyone has seen an action plan die: the Excel file nobody opens after the meeting, the 40 lines of which 28 have been “in progress” since March. It doesn’t die from lack of will. It dies from four design flaws.
1. The action has no owner, it has a department
“Maintenance” is not an owner. An action carries a first name. If nobody takes it, it shows “Nobody for now” and stays visible: it waits, it isn’t hidden.
2. The action has no date, it has a priority
“High” triggers nothing. “Thursday” triggers a card at the top of the Thursday column that morning, in front of the team. Priority sorts, the date delivers.
3. Nobody knows it’s blocked
An action blocked for three days that you discover at the meeting is a lost action. Blocking should require a reason, and warn the facilitator before the meeting. It’s the only field worth making mandatory.
4. The action plan lives somewhere other than the meeting
If you have to open another file to see it, it won’t be seen. The action plan is a view of the team board, sorted by person, most urgent at top, finished at bottom.
The four rules
- One action = what, who, by when. Nothing else is mandatory.
- An action without an owner stays visible.
- Blocking or canceling requires a reason.
- The action plan is displayed where the team meets.
Measure without policing
The right indicator is the percentage of actions closed by the due date, per team. Never per person: as soon as the action plan becomes a scoring tool, people stop creating actions.
Frequently asked questions
Should every action be linked to a gap?
No. An action can stand alone. But an action born from a gap keeps the link, and the gap doesn’t close while its actions are open.
How many open actions per team?
If a column exceeds ten cards, the team is no longer deciding, it’s accumulating. Time to cancel with a reason.
How to handle actions for a person without an account?
You assign a first name. The person is notified through the team screen. The account comes later, with nothing to migrate.
See Daystream on your cases, not on a generic demo
Thirty minutes: a floor walk, a gap, a team meeting on the big screen. A human replies within one business day.
To train first: theLean Academy is free, in four languages.