3sets Diagnostic Canvas
A complete diagnosis on one page. Printable on A3 or usable as a digital whiteboard.
Date: Team: Facilitator:
1. Trigger — What is the observable problem?
Concrete, not abstract. Not "We're not agile enough", but "Our teams rarely deliver usable results within a sprint".
2. Context — Clear / complicated / complex / chaotic?
This classification decides whether you need standards, analysis, experiments, or stabilization.
- Clear — apply standard practice
- Complicated — expertise needed
- Complex — experiments, learning
- Chaotic — stabilize first
3. Symptom — How do we notice it concretely?
Observable, not interpreted.
4. Affected Outcome — Which dimension?
- Quality
- Speed
- Cost
- Satisfaction
- Learning
- Safety
5. Tool-Set — Which tools, processes, or structures limit us?
Tools, processes, standards, roles, interfaces, meetings, boards, documentation, technical systems.
6. Skill-Set — Which abilities or routines are missing?
Not only domain knowledge — also facilitation, conflict skills, prioritization, test design, decision design, feedback, self-learning.
7. Mind-Set — Which attitude, fear, or assumption is constraining?
The unspoken rules that shape behavior.
8. Weakest Set — Which one constrains most right now?
The weakest set is not necessarily the lowest one — it's the set that most strongly limits effectiveness right now.
- Tool-Set
- Skill-Set
- Mind-Set
9. Cause — formulated as a relationship
Hypothesis, not judgement. Use the form: "We suspect that …, because …, which in turn …"
10. Intervention — Which small action do we test first?
Small enough to be tried safely. Concrete enough to show effect.
11. Measure — How will we recognize impact in 2–4 weeks?
Quantitative or qualitative.
12. Review
Date: Owner:
Working notes
- Order: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5/6/7 (parallel) → 8 → 9 → 10 → 11 → 12
- Don't jump straight to field 10. Whoever starts with the intervention cheats the canvas.
- Rule of thumb: Read fields 9 and 10 aloud back-to-back. Does the word "because" make sense between them? If not, the intervention doesn't match the cause.
Source: The 3-Sets Method — Diagnostic Methods. More at 3sets.org/en.