I think that some ideas must be emphasized and "lived" everyday of our lives and since I work in the Quality profession and this is World Quality Month and my blog is about quality, I want to focus on quality and why it's important to live it everyday.
So, what is QUALITY? There are various definitions, from the metaphysical (Persig) to the practical (Juran, et. al.) to the casual. For our discussion I want to consider two aspects of quality, subjective and objective. Ask someone, "does this have good quality?" and point to anything in your environment. If you ask several people, you might get different answers based on their experience, education and field of work. This is known as subjective quality. On the other hand, if you have a specification and you measure a product against it (e.g. an ink pen with plastic barrel OD of 4 +/- 0.1mm) and it is within the specification then you can say that it also has good quality. This is objective quality. Our business, our life, is a combination of these two aspects of quality and there are endless books, articles and lectures available to explore either or both aspects. I think that the subjective aspect, measured qualitatively, gets short shrift in business as the inane mindsets of "you can't manage what you can't measure" and "if you don't have data you only have an opinion" rule the business world. Life is more than quantitative measures and business--as part of life--is also more than quantitative measures. Qualitative/subjective quality is a big part of our lives, so the better question is not "what is quality?" but "what is quality to you?".
For me, it means adding value to the world, to society. Making people's lives better, in even tiny ways. I've worked in manufacturing for almost 14 years with most of that time in some kind of "Quality" function in the automotive industry, arguably one of the most regulated and competitive industries in the world. My role in the Quality department has changed over time with changing business conditions and the responsibilities of my specific positions. My thinking also changed for those reasons and due to my experience and education. Now I see that even though I play a large role in a large company the direction that I give and the actions that I take influence only a tiny part of the world. My sphere of influence includes several dozen people directly, and my audience includes several thousand through this blog and my postings on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The results of my work affect the drivers of certain automobiles in global markets and the patients in some hospitals. All of this influence, added together, is but a small drop in the ocean of the world. However, I know that it does make people's lives better and, for now, it is the limit of my influence and voice. I will never stop trying to add value and improve the condition of the world, in big or small ways.
What about you? What does quality mean, from your heart? What do you do about it? What do you want to do?
My Father was a Quality Control Engineer for most of his professional career. Paraphrasing him - quality is what your customer thinks it is. Nothing else matters.
ReplyDeleteI think this is largely correct. I've watched the shift in the US market away from quality being defined as "reliability and durability" to "value, defined as a lot of features at a low price" I still value reliability and durability, so I'm out of step with many consumers.
I think that your father was correct. I also agree that the US market in all areas has gone more towards the Wal-Mart mentality in the past twenty years.
ReplyDeleteThat thinking trades long-term value for short-term value, that's all. When I lived in the US I shopped at Wal-Mart on a regular basis and bought most things there. For many things, marginal functionality for low-price is a fair tradeoff. But for some things like clothing, watches and electronics I tend to shop higher than Wal-Mart; for those products I am more interested in reliability than price.