A3 report layout poster

An A3 report tells the story of one problem on one sheet of A3 paper. The left side is about understanding: background, current condition, goal and root cause. The right side is about fixing: countermeasures, the plan and the follow-up. The owner writes it; a coach asks the questions that make the thinking sound. This poster shows the seven boxes in order and what goes in each, after John Shook's Managing to Learn.

Download the poster

The PNG is free to download now. The print-ready vector PDFs open after a short form, once.

Download PNG (300 dpi)2550 x 3300 px, prints at 8.5 x 11 in · 420 KB · no form

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A3 report poster — 24 x 36 in18 x 24 inA2A3LetterA4PNG 300 dpi

The words on the poster

The A3 report, box by box

One sheet. Left side: understand the problem. Right side: fix it.

Left: understand

Background Why this matters now.
Current condition What happens, in facts and a picture.
Goal What good looks like, by when.
Root cause Why it happens, checked where it happens.

Right: fix

Countermeasures What will remove each cause.
Plan Who does what, by when.
Follow-up Did it work? What to standardise and share.

Owner writes, coach asks. The questions matter more than the boxes.

Layout after John Shook, Managing to Learn (Lean Enterprise Institute, 2008).

On the floor

How to use it

Putting the A3 report layout poster to work

1
Put it on the A3 wall or in the improvement room.
2
Coaches: for each box, ask the owner how they know before reading on.
3
Use it to check an A3 before review: does every countermeasure trace back to a cause?
4
Pair it with the free A3 problem-solving template.

Where the poster goes and how to teach with it, in the order to try them.

Which size to print

24 x 36 in or A2: a main wall or team board, read from a few metres away.
18 x 24 in or A3: a station or notice board. The A3 file also fits 11 x 17 in paper.
Letter or A4: a clipboard, binder or handout, on any office printer.

Every PDF is vector, so it stays sharp at full size. Nothing runs to the edge of the page, so no bleed is needed.