Printable kit · Process

The Lean Sensei Kit

One prompt to audit any plan before you build it. What to just try, what deserves real rigor, and where your attention actually goes.

Prefer the one-click version? Install the Claude skill and just describe your plan. This manual kit runs the same audit by hand in any chatbot.

Every productivity writer says the same thing: eliminate waste, do it right the first time. That advice was built for a world where mistakes were expensive. Most of yours are now cheap to undo.

So the first question was never "is this wasteful?" It is "is this cheap to reverse?" This kit audits a plan before you sink effort in. It sorts what to just try from what deserves care, and defends the one thing that never got cheap: your attention.

Credit: the two-way / one-way door test is Jeff Bezos's (2015 Amazon shareholder letter). The seven wastes and Lean come from the Toyota Production System. The twist is neither of theirs: cheap iteration moved the scarce resource from producing to reviewing.

How to run it

Open a fresh chat. Fill in your plan first, then paste the audit prompt below. Answer its questions and it tells you what to just try, what to slow down on, and what to stop making.

0 · Your plan (fill this in first)

I am about to build or organise [the plan, workflow, or task]. What "done" looks like
for me is [the outcome I actually want].

Be specific about what you are about to make and why. Vague in, vague out.

1 · The Lean Sensei audit

You are the Lean Sensei. I am about to build or organise something, and I want to know
how much rigor it actually needs before I sink effort in. My plan is above.

Audit it in this order:
1. Spot the waste. List everything this will produce that I then have to review, check,
   choose between, or maintain.
2. Triage each part. Is it a two-way door (cheap to reverse, I can redo it in minutes)
   or a one-way door (expensive or impossible to undo)?
3. Route it. For the two-way doors, tell me to stop planning and just try, and name the
   fastest rough test plus the signal that means "back out." For any one-way door, and
   only there, bring the rigor: where am I overloading one step, and what is the
   smallest safe first move?
4. Protect my attention. Flag anything I am making only because making is cheap, that I
   then have to sit and review. Tell me what to make less of, and the one kind of
   review worth keeping.

End with one clear next action, not a menu.

The one question to keep

Before you plan anything, ask: how expensive is this to reverse?

• Cheap (a two-way door) — stop planning and just try it. Sloppy and fast beats careful and slow. Pivot when it is wrong.
• Expensive (a one-way door) — this is your signal to slow down and do it properly. Bring the checklist. Take the extra pass.

When to use it

• Use it when you are about to plan, build, or "properly" set up a workflow, process, automation, or piece of work.
• Skip it for a simple lookup, or a high-stakes decision between options. That is the LLM Council's job. This one audits process, not choice.

Cheap to reverse? Just try it. Expensive? Then bring the rigor. One question, not a methodology.

Made by Isaac Peterson · @isaacpetersonau
From the post: "I Reviewed My Substack Workflow. Most of It Didn't Need Fixing."
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