Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM: pros, cons and an alternative
Two ways to cascade strategy through a company, one from post-war Japan and one from Salesforce, set against Clearahead
The short answer
Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM both turn a company’s direction into aligned plans for every team. Hoshin Kanri does it through catchball and a planning matrix; V2MOM through five questions every team answers each year: vision, values, methods, obstacles and measures. Clearahead is lighter and continuous: one goal, the constraints holding it back and the moves that clear them, kept current by AI. If you’re a larger organisation that needs strategy deployed through many layers, these methods are proven. If you’re a smaller team that needs focus now, Clearahead fits better.
Weighing up other options too? See OKR alternatives compared.
What are Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM?
Both are ways of deploying strategy: taking the company's direction and turning it into plans that every team owns.
Hoshin Kanri, roughly "compass management", sets a small number of breakthrough objectives at the top and cascades them through the organisation. Plans are agreed through catchball, a back-and-forth where managers and teams pass ideas and feedback up and down until everyone agrees what they'll do. A planning matrix links long-term objectives, annual goals, the improvement work that will deliver them and the measures that show progress. Progress is reviewed through a cycle similar to Deming's Plan-Do-Check-Act.
V2MOM is a simpler, one-page approach. Every team, and at Salesforce every employee, answers five questions: Vision (what do we want to achieve?), Values (what's important to us?), Methods (how will we get it done?), Obstacles (what stands in our way?) and Measures (how will we know we've succeeded?).
Where they came from
Hoshin Kanri grew up in post-war Japan, shaped by the quality movement and the ideas of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, and is closely associated with Toyota and with Lean. It spread to Western companies as Lean did.
V2MOM was created by Marc Benioff at Salesforce. In the company's first weeks, he asked his co-founders to write one, sketching his own on an envelope; Salesforce used it as its business plan and still uses it to set goals every year, with every V2MOM published internally. It has since been borrowed by many other companies. We've written about how planning methods like these fit into the longer story in Why are you doing that?
Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM pros and cons
What Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM do well, and where they struggle.
Where Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM shine
- Both connect the company’s direction to every team’s plan.
- Hoshin Kanri’s catchball makes planning a two-way conversation, not just top-down.
- V2MOM is simple: five questions that fit on a page.
- V2MOM names obstacles explicitly, which most planning methods skip.
- Both are proven at large companies, Toyota for Hoshin Kanri and Salesforce for V2MOM.
Where Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM struggle
- Both are largely annual, so plans can lag behind a fast-changing market.
- Cascading through layers takes a lot of time and meetings in a large company.
- Hoshin Kanri’s matrices and terms are a lot to learn for a small team.
- Plans need people to keep them current, or they become documents written once a year.
- They suit large organisations better than founding teams and fast-growing start-ups.
Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM vs Clearahead: side by side
| Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM | Clearahead | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are | Strategy deployment methods: Hoshin Kanri’s matrix and catchball; V2MOM’s five questions | Software for one company goal: the constraints holding it back and the moves that clear them |
| Where they come from | Hoshin Kanri: post-war Japan. V2MOM: Marc Benioff at Salesforce, from its first weeks | The Theory of Constraints, rebuilt for teams that work with AI |
| Cycle | Usually annual, with reviews through the year | Continuous: when a constraint clears, the team finds the next one |
| What’s in the way | V2MOM lists obstacles; Hoshin Kanri reviews gaps through PDCA | The core of the model: constraints, in your order, each with moves and evidence |
| Keeping it current | Teams revise plans and review progress | Owners tell AJ in a sentence; AJ updates the model and logs the evidence |
| Best fit | Larger organisations with many layers | Companies from founding teams to around 200 people |
| Cost | The methods are free; consulting and tools cost extra | Free for up to 3 people and 1 workspace; £297/month or £2,997/year for the whole company |
How they differ from Clearahead in practice
These methods and Clearahead share a lot of DNA. V2MOM's Obstacles question and Hoshin Kanri's roots in Lean both point at the same truth Clearahead is built on: progress comes from tackling what's in the way.
Obstacles as a section, or as the centre
In a V2MOM, obstacles are one of five sections, written once a year. In Clearahead, they're the whole point. Built on the Theory of Constraints, each workspace holds one goal and the constraints holding it back, in the order your team chooses, with moves under each, each with one owner and a due date.
An annual cascade, or a continuous loop
Both methods are mostly annual: plan, cascade, review through the year. Clearahead runs as a loop: set the goal, find what's holding it back, move on it, and when a constraint clears, find the next. There's no cascade, because everyone works in the same model: heads of department own constraints, their teams own moves.
Revising documents, or telling AJ
Hoshin plans and V2MOMs stay useful only if people revise them. In Clearahead, owners tell AJ, the AI inside Clearahead, in a sentence when a move starts, gets stuck or finishes. AJ updates the model, logs the evidence and writes This week from AJ, with up to three things that need a decision.
What Clearahead doesn't do
Clearahead doesn't cascade goals through layers, hold a planning matrix or ask every employee for a personal plan. If you need strategy deployed through a large, layered organisation, these methods are built for it.
Should you choose Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM or Clearahead?
Choose Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM if
- You’re a larger organisation that needs strategy deployed through several layers.
- You want an annual planning process that every team takes part in.
- You already use Lean and want planning that fits it (Hoshin Kanri).
- You want a simple, one-page plan for every team and person (V2MOM).
Choose Clearahead if
- You’re a smaller company that needs focus now, not an annual cascade.
- Things change too fast for a yearly plan.
- You want obstacles to be the centre of the plan, not one section of it.
- You want AI to keep the plan current rather than people revising documents.
Our honest read
Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM are thoughtful methods with long track records. If you're a large organisation and need everyone's plans to connect to the company's direction, either is worth a look, and V2MOM in particular is refreshingly simple.
For a smaller, faster company, an annual cascade is usually more process than the goal needs. What matters is that everyone knows the goal, can see what's in the way, and is moving on it this week. That's the job Clearahead does. If you like V2MOM's Obstacles question, you'll find Clearahead is that question, kept alive all year.
Questions about Hoshin Kanri and V2MOM
What does V2MOM stand for?
Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles and Measures. Marc Benioff created it at Salesforce, where every department and employee writes one each year.
What does Hoshin Kanri mean?
“Hoshin” means direction and “kanri” means management or administration, so it’s often translated as compass management. It uses catchball, a back-and-forth between levels, to agree plans.
Can you use V2MOM and Clearahead together?
Yes. A V2MOM is a good way to write down vision and values. The obstacles section maps naturally onto constraints in Clearahead, where each one gets moves, owners and evidence that stay current through the year.