The Kipling method

The Kipling method let you explore your problem or extend your ideas by challenge it with the
questions, What and Where and When, How and Why and Who. These questions are good to use
in a unsticking creative session when people dry up and run out of ideas. By asking these
questions you always challenge your current perceptions and force yourself to ask new questions.
This method could be helpful when you need to see the problem from different perspectives or
when you would like to generate ideas or in the process of selecting an ideas for further
development.

Purpose
This method could be helpful when you need to see the problem from different perspectives or
when you would like to generate ideas. It is also useful  in the process of selecting ideas for
further development. It is meant to give a deeper understanding.

Instructions

Use this method in a situation when you have a defined problem or idea. Try to challenge
yourself or your group by asking the following questions. When forcing yourself or the group to
answer the questions you will truly get to know your idea/problem and therefore be able to see
its strengths and weaknesses from many different perspectives.

Extended questions

 How much?

 Why not?

 What time?

 Which place?

 Who can?

 Where else?
  When?

 What is the problem?

 Where is it happening?

 When is it happening?

 Why is it happening?

 How can you overcome this problem?

 Who do you need to get involved?

 When will you know that you have solved the problem?

Example

 What are we creating? A suit case.

 Where can we build it? In a factory outside town.

 When is the right time? Tomorrow.

 How much time do we need to spend? Three days.

 Why are we doing that? Because we need it for the vacation.

 Who is going to see this? Everyone that sees me traveling.

 What is the purpose? I need something to put my stuff in when traveling.

Do

  Answer your questions.

  Be honest.

  Challenge yourself with divergent questions.

  Be critical.

  Be concrete.

Don’t

  Don’t avoid certain questions because you might think they have a simple answer.
   Don’t lie.

  Don’t focus to much on details.

http://projectofhow.com/methods/the-kipling-method/

When to use it
Use the Kipling questions at any time or when you need to get an extra stimulus.
They are good for unsticking creative session, when people dry up and run out of ideas.
They are also useful to help take different views when defining the problem.
You can also use it to ask questions when selecting an idea to carry forward for further
development.

The Kipling Method vs. the Ohno Method

There is an interesting story told by Toyota veterans who worked directly with Taiichi Ohno. When
the great sensei and architect of the Toyota Production System was introduced to the 5W1H
questions for problem solving, he said “You don’t need all of those. Just keep asking “why?” until
you find the cause.” The 5W1H questions are what is known as the Kipling Method, named after the
author Rudyard Kipling who wrote the poem:
I have six honest serving men

 
They taught me all I knew
 
I call them What and Where and When
 
And How and Why and Who
The 5W1H questions are what, where, when, who, why and how. Some additional W-H questions
include which (variant of what) and how much or how often. These are useful in collecting
information to grasp the current situation and correctly define the problem, as in “What is the
problem, when and where did it occur, who did it affect, why is it a problem, and how did it occur?”
Note that in proper lean or practical problem solving we never ask “Who caused the problem?”

 
What is interesting about the Ohno Method of asking why until we find the root cause is that it is so
simple. Once the problem has been defined, we need to break it down, set targets for improvements
toward the ideal condition, and then begin investigation of the root causes. Note that while the “why”
in the Kipling Method may be used for “why did it happen?” in fact it should be “why is it a
problem?” in lean problem solving. The 5W1H should be used for creating a good problem
statement, not asking about causes. That comes later with the Ohno Method of asking why, why,
why, why, why, why, why..?
 
What I like about this story is the fact that Taiichi Ohno takes something that is accepted as given
and good, looks it in the eye and rejects it for something simpler and better. He had a keen eye for
things such as this and coined many important phrases and concepts that became part of the DNA of
the Toyota Production System. This talent for simplification and seeing clearly sets Taiichi Ohno
apart as one of the great minds of business in the past century and the father of kaizen.
 
Reflecting on this, I believe the majority of the world’s troubles, not to mention challenges faced in
manufacturing and service organizations, could be effectively addressed through the effective use of
only 3 simple “lean tools”: teamwork, visual management, and practical problem solving. So there
you have it if you want to know, “What’s the least I need to know about lean management?”
 
But even this is deceptively simple. Teamwork involves people whose motivations, capacity for
thought, and combination of cultural and social interactions make effective teamwork staggeringly
challenging when addressed simplistically. Visual management is comprised mostly of
communication, controls and scoreboards but these all require clear standards and target conditions,
which can quickly get you into the deep mud of a lack of standards, accountability and culture of
performance management – explaining in a nutshell why most 5S efforts don’t succeed. And
practical problem solving, one of my favorite topics, is something most of us think we do but in fact
don’t do. The best of us may solve problems through a standardized process, but most still lack
strong, concise problem statements, true root cause analysis, the pursuit of multiple countermeasures,
a robust check and learning followed by standardization and sharing. In other words, we flap our lips
about PDCA but don’t do it.
 
Are you a Kipling person, taking the accepted tool or solution as given, or are you an Ohno person,
constantly challenging the norms and looking for better ways? How we answer this question has a
great bearing on our individual and collective growth and success.

http://gembapantarei.com/2009/11/the_kipling_method_vs_the_ohno_method.html