Researcher and author Mike Rother will run a hands-on exercise that introduces the scientific-thinking pattern of the Improvement Kata. After this session, you will be able to run and use the exercise yourself.

Scientific thinking is a basis for creativity and successfully pursuing seemingly unattainable goals. The Improvement Kata (IK) is a four-step scientific striving pattern that is practiced in many business organizations. It makes scientific thinking a teachable skill anyone can learn.

The Kata in the Classroom exercise (KiC) has participants go through each step of the Improvement Kata pattern in a hands-on activity. Participants work in teams on a number of self-generated iterations to complete a small puzzle. Participants follow the Improvement Kata pattern to (1) face a challenge, (2) measure where they are, (3) establish a next goal and (4) experiment toward that goal in three-minute rounds.

Takeaways:

• Deeper understanding of the Improvement Kata pattern, through applying it in a hands-on way.

• Ability to run the KiC exercise in your own organization.

• The KiC exercise can be shared with regional educators. It is being used in many schools.

Mike Rother is an engineer, a researcher, teacher and speaker on the subjects of management, leadership, improvement, adaptiveness, and change in human organizations. He has been a member of the