Lean Studio board · Problem solving
3C Problem Board
In one sentence
A 3C board is a simple problem-solving log with a row per concern, its cause and its countermeasure, plus an owner and a status, worked through at the daily huddle.
A 3C board is the simplest problem-solving log a team can keep: for every concern, the cause and the countermeasure, with a named owner and a status. It lives next to the tier board and is worked through at the daily huddle, so small problems get an owner the day they appear instead of waiting for a project.
When to use it
When to use the 3C Problem Board
- At the daily huddle, for problems too small for an A3 but too important to forget.
- When the same concerns keep coming up because nobody owned them.
- To show a visitor or a manager what the team is fixing this week and who is on it.
- As the feeder for bigger tools: a concern that will not close becomes a fishbone or an A3.
What is on the board
- 1
Concern
What was seen, where and when, in one line.
- 2
Cause
The best current understanding of why; updated as the team learns more.
- 3
Countermeasure
The action that removes the cause, not a workaround.
- 4
Owner and due date
One name and one date per row.
- 5
Status
Open, in progress or closed, so the huddle can scan the board in a minute.
Running it
How to run a 3C Problem Board session
- 1Keep it at the tier board and open it at every huddle for two or three minutes; the team leader runs it.
- 2Anyone adds a concern the moment it is seen, in one line with where and when. Do not wait for the huddle to write it down.
- 3At the huddle, agree the best current cause in a sentence. If nobody knows, the countermeasure is 'go and look', with a name and tomorrow's date.
- 4Write a countermeasure that removes the cause, give it one owner and one date, and set the status to open.
- 5Each huddle, scan the statuses: what closed, what is late, what needs help. Late rows get a decision, not a reminder.
- 6Move anything that needs more than a few days or more than one team to an A3 or an 8D, leaving a pointer in the row. Clear closed rows after two weeks.
- 7Good output: a board of ten or fewer rows, every one with a name and a date, and a steady flow of rows into closed.
Worked example · sample data
Worked example
The sample board has three rows. The label printer jams twice a shift: the cause turned out to be rolls stored flat and getting edge damage, the countermeasure a roll holder on the rack, and M. Osei has closed it. The torque gun battery is flat by 10:00: one charger serves three guns, so a second charger is going in at station 4, J. Lind owns it and it is in progress. A pallet keeps blocking the fire door: there is no marked pallet spot, so the countermeasure is to paint a pallet bay, R. Patel owns it and it is still open. At the huddle the team leader asked only about the open row, agreed a date for the painting, and left the other two alone.
The board shown at the top of this page, read through. Invented data, not a customer.
Common mistakes
- Writing the countermeasure before the cause. 'Move the pallet' fixes today; 'paint a bay' fixes the cause.
- Rows with a team name as owner. One person, one date.
- Letting the board grow past a dozen rows, so the huddle stops reading it.
- Using it for problems that need a project. A concern still open after two weeks belongs on an A3.
- Closing a row when the action is done rather than when the concern has stopped.
How it works in Lean Studio
- 1Start from the 3C Problem Board template: a row per concern with columns for concern, cause, countermeasure, owner and status.
- 2Add a concern as a sticky during the huddle; fill in the cause and countermeasure as they are agreed.
- 3Give each row an owner and move its status sticky as the action progresses, so the board shows who is on what.
- 4Save the finished board to My templates so the next team starts from your version.
Lean Studio boards are drawn with stickies, text, shapes (rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, diamond), arrows and charts, and any board can carry the 15 data widgets, from a scorecard to a kanban. See all widgets and boards.
Also in LeanSuite
Where it goes next in LeanSuite
LeanSuite runs tiered meetings on Lean Studio boards: each huddle enters its KPIs, assigns actions and escalates problems on one live screen.
A concern raised on the floor can be a tag with an owner and a due date in Daily Issue Management, escalated to the next tier with its history if the team cannot fix it. Daily Issue Management
Actions can be created from the tier board during the huddle, with owners assigned on the spot. Tiered Meetings
A concern that needs a project becomes a Kaizen or A3 project in one click, with the link to the original issue kept. Kaizen & Projects
Open this board in LeanSuite
3C Problem Board is one of the 30 ready-made boards in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard. Try the interactive demo in your browser with sample data, or pilot LeanSuite on your own lines for 90 days, with the setup done by our team.
What Lean Studio isRelated boards and templates
In the lean glossary
FAQ
3C Problem Board: common questions
More problem solving boards
All 30 Lean Studio boards- Fishbone (Ishikawa)Sort candidate causes of a problem into the six M categories.
- 5 WhysDrill from a symptom to its root cause in five steps.
- PDCA CycleContinuous improvement cycle for iterating on a change through Plan, Do, Check, Act.
- A3 Problem SolvingSingle-page structured problem-solving report following the Toyota A3 method.
- DMAIC StoryboardGuide an improvement project through Define–Measure–Analyze–Improve–Control.
- 8D ReportWork a structured 8D problem-solving report from team formation through closure.