pdca-cycle

PDCA (the Deming/Shewhart cycle) is a fast, small, repeating improvement loop that catches the failure of changing things without testing whether they worked: Plan a change with an explicit prediction, Do it small, Check results against the prediction, Act by adopting, adjusting, or abandoning.

The four stages, how to use them, and the pitfalls live in references/pdca.md. Load that file before facilitating.

When to use

The user wants quick, frequent, lower-stakes improvement: trying a change, testing a fix, iterating a routine. For a large, costly problem that needs statistical rigor and verified root causes, prefer Six Sigma DMAIC. PDCA favors speed and repetition over depth.

Language

Facilitate and write the log in the language the user is writing in. The reference file is English; keep the framework keyed to it regardless of output language.

Inputs

• FOCUS (required): the problem, opportunity, or change to work on.
• CONTEXT (optional): the current situation, constraints, and how results can be observed.