Before the X-matrix can be filled in, a planning team has to turn a pile of ideas, complaints and proposals into a short list of priorities. The seven management and planning tools were developed for exactly that step, and most hoshin programs use only one or two of them.
In this guide
Key Takeaways
- →The seven new QC tools work with ideas, relationships and plans, where the seven basic tools work with numbers.
- →The X-matrix is itself a combination of matrix diagrams, which is why practitioners trained in these tools find it intuitive.
- →You don’t need all seven. You need the right one at the stage where your planning usually goes vague.
- →The interrelationship digraph is the step most teams skip, and the one most likely to change the outcome.
- →Skipping it spreads effort across symptoms instead of concentrating it on the two or three drivers.
- →These are thinking tools for a wall. Their output is what belongs in a system.
Where the tools come from
The seven management and planning tools, also known as the seven new quality control tools, were assembled by a committee of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in the 1970s, and set out in the book edited by Shigeru Mizuno, published in English as Management for Quality Improvement: The 7 New QC Tools. They complement the seven basic quality tools, such as Pareto charts and fishbone diagrams, which analyze numerical data. The new tools work with ideas, relationships and plans.
That makes them a natural fit for hoshin planning, which is mostly about making sense of qualitative input and choosing between options. Lists vary slightly between sources; some Western versions replace the original matrix data analysis with a prioritization matrix.
The seven tools and their hoshin use
| Tool | What it does | Where it helps in hoshin planning |
|---|---|---|
| Affinity diagram | Groups many ideas into natural themes | Organizing reflection findings and candidate priorities |
| Interrelationship digraph | Shows cause-and-effect between themes to find drivers | Finding which themes drive the others before choosing priorities |
| Tree diagram | Breaks a goal into progressively more specific means | Deploying an objective into priorities and actions |
| Prioritization matrix | Scores options against weighted criteria | Choosing the vital few |
| Matrix diagram | Shows relationships between two or more lists | The basis of the X-matrix’s correlation grids |
| Process decision program chart | Maps what could go wrong in a plan and the responses | Stress-testing priorities before lock |
| Activity network diagram | Sequences tasks and finds the critical path | Scheduling priorities that depend on each other |
The X-matrix itself is a combination of matrix diagrams, which is why hoshin practitioners trained in these tools often find it intuitive.
The tree diagram row deserves a caveat, because a tree and a matrix do not hold the same information. Goal Tree vs X-Matrix: Two Ways to Show Strategy Deployment sets out what each one hides.
Which ones to use, and when
| Planning stage | Most useful tools |
|---|---|
| Reflection | Affinity diagram for grouping lessons |
| Drafting annual objectives | Interrelationship digraph for finding drivers |
| Selecting the vital few | Tree diagram, then prioritization matrix |
| Correlate and gate | Matrix diagram |
| Before lock | Process decision program chart for risky priorities |
| Deployment | Activity network diagram for dependent priorities |
You don’t need all seven. You need the right one at the stage where your planning usually goes vague.
Those stages are the ones set out in The Hoshin Kanri Planning Cycle, Stage by Stage, and the reflection row is prepared the way Hansei: Reviewing Last Year’s X-Matrix Before Planning the Next describes.
Hypothetical example: from 40 ideas to 6 priorities
| Step | Tool | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Affinity diagram | 40 reflection findings and proposals grouped into 7 themes |
| 2 | Interrelationship digraph | Two themes, service proximity and contract structure, drive four others |
| 3 | Tree diagram | Each driver theme broken into candidate priorities: 11 in total |
| 4 | Prioritization matrix | Candidates scored on contribution, confidence and effort; top 6 above the capacity line |
| 5 | Process decision program chart | One priority’s legal dependency identified; contingency added |
Step 2 is the one most teams skip, and it’s the one that changed the outcome here. Without it, the planning room would have chosen priorities for all seven themes, spreading effort across symptoms instead of concentrating on the two drivers.
Step 4 is covered in its own right in Prioritization Matrix for Choosing Hoshin Kanri Priorities, and the capacity line it is cut at in Choosing the Vital Few: How Many Hoshin Priorities Is Too Many.
From whiteboard to system, and what that costs
All seven tools are free. They need a wall, sticky notes and a facilitator, and the expensive part of the week is the people standing in front of them. Twelve to twenty senior managers for three days is the real budget line, and it is spent whether the week ends in a defensible matrix or a set of photographs.
Which is why the handover matters more than the tools. The output of step 4 is a ranked list with reasons; the output of step 5 is a contingency nobody will remember in March. If those land in a photograph, the week has to be repeated from memory next year. If they land in records, next year’s affinity diagram starts from evidence instead of opinion.
Among published alternatives for holding that output, OnStrategy lists $200 per month for unlimited users. i-nexus publishes a free Starter tier for up to five users and $28 per user per month at its Standard tier. Profit.co publishes two plans, Essentials and Enterprise, quoting against modules and scale rather than a public seat rate, with Hoshin Kanri in Essentials alongside OKRs and Goals, Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Roadmap. What drives the cost of hoshin kanri software lists what else to total.
The 30-day free trial covers a full offsite and the first catchball round, which is the span in which the wall has to become a record or be lost.
Using the tools with Profit.co
The seven tools are thinking tools, best used on a whiteboard or wall during planning. Their output, the chosen priorities and their correlations, is what goes into Profit.co’s X-matrix, where it becomes a set of records with owners, grades and live progress. See Running the Hoshin Planning Offsite: A Three-Day Agenda for where each tool fits in three days, and the Hoshin Kanri software page for what happens to the output afterwards.
The grading in step 4 of the worked example carries into the matrix as graded correlations rather than as marks on a poster; Primary, secondary, partial: grading X-matrix correlations covers what each grade has to mean for that to be worth anything.
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Questions this article answers
The affinity diagram, interrelationship digraph, tree diagram, prioritization matrix, matrix diagram, process decision program chart and activity network diagram.
The basic tools, such as Pareto charts and fishbone diagrams, analyze numerical data. The new tools work with ideas, relationships and plans, which suits strategic planning.
The matrix diagram, because the X-matrix is built from it, followed by the interrelationship digraph and prioritization matrix for choosing priorities.
A committee of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers assembled them in the 1970s. They were set out in the book edited by Shigeru Mizuno, published in English as Management for Quality Improvement: The 7 New QC Tools.
The interrelationship digraph. Skipping it means choosing priorities for every theme rather than for the two or three that drive the rest, which spreads effort across symptoms.
No. Most hoshin programs use only one or two. Pick the tool that fits the stage where your planning usually goes vague.
