Reading the X-matrix poster

The X-matrix is the one-page plan of hoshin kanri. Four lists sit around a central X: the breakthrough objectives for three to five years at the bottom, this year's annual objectives on the left, the improvement priorities that deliver them across the top, and the targets to improve, the KPIs, on the right, with an owners column beside them. The corner grids hold a dot wherever an item in one list supports an item in the next, so the whole plan can be read from any point. This poster shows the matrix as a diagram, the order to read it in, and the meaning of each mark.

Download the poster

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The words on the poster

Reading the X-matrix

Four lists around an X. Start at the bottom, read clockwise, and follow the dots.

Read clockwise from the bottom

1. Bottom: Breakthrough objectives Three to five years out. What has to change, not just improve.
2. Left: Annual objectives This year's step. Each measured by a KPI.
3. Top: Improvement priorities The projects and kaizens that deliver the objectives.
4. Right: Targets to improve The KPIs and the figures to reach this year.
Beside the targets: Owners A lead and support for each priority.

●. Strong link: the row drives the column.
○. Weak link: it helps but does not decide.
L. Lead: one owner for each priority.
S. Support: who helps the lead.

Nothing connected? A priority with no dot serves no objective: cut it. An objective with no dots has no plan: add one.

Lists and reading order after common hoshin kanri practice; see the Lean Enterprise Institute's lexicon entry on hoshin kanri.

On the floor

How to use it

Putting the Reading the X-matrix poster to work

1
Put it next to the plant's own X-matrix, so anyone can read the real one without a guide.
2
Teach it in the order on the poster: start at the bottom and go clockwise, following the dots.
3
Use the closing rule in the yearly review: cut any priority with no dot, and plan any objective with none.
4
Pair it with the free hoshin kanri X-matrix template, which comes as a PDF and an Excel file with a bowling chart.

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.

Sources and notes

Some companies put the breakthroughs on the left and the annual objectives at the bottom, or add a fifth list for the targets. The reading order on the poster is the common form; the dots and owners work the same way in every layout.