The elements of MDI
- A board with a few measures the team can influence, usually safety, quality, delivery, cost and people, shown against target by day.
- A daily meeting of ten to fifteen minutes, standing at the board, at a fixed time.
- Problem capture: every miss against target is written down as a problem with an owner.
- Actions: short countermeasures done within days, tracked on the board.
- Escalation: problems the team cannot solve go to the next level with the facts.
- Problem solving: repeat problems move into PDCA or A3.
- Leader presence: leaders attend the boards below theirs and walk the floor.
MDI, daily management and tiered daily management
The terms describe the same system. MDI is the name used in some lean consultancies and in the Danaher Business System; daily management is the Toyota and Lean Enterprise Institute term; tiered daily management describes the layered structure of Tier 1, 2 and 3 meetings. Whatever the name, the test is the same: does every team meet daily at a board, and do problems get solved?
Why MDI fails
- The board shows results without the problems behind them.
- The meeting becomes a report rather than a review of gaps.
- Actions have no owner or no date.
- Leaders stop attending and the routine fades within a quarter.
MDI and the rest of the management system
MDI is the daily layer. Above it, strategy deployment sets the targets on the boards; beside it, leader standard work and layered audits keep the standards; below it, structured problem solving handles what daily actions cannot.