A Quality Thought

Its July 4, 2007, I'm sitting in the kitchen watching the Sunshine Boys (Burns & Matthau are brilliant!), and listening to my wife and son playing guitar together which lead me to this quality thought...

The Practice of Quality

In many businesses like music, sport, theather/acting, medicine, law, accounting, etc. the professionals and amatures alike refer to what they do as practice...some practice before a performance, others practice as they perform. So why can't we refer to the quality profession as a practice.

Our organizations' products or services will never be perfect (at least not perfect to everyone) Quality professionals and practitioners are called upon to help improve the product, process or service by guiding the organizations to solving problems. Is what we do not a practice...practice until we get it perfect.

We are expected to solve the problems regardless of the cause. Yet if a solution is not achieved, we are held responsible, typically. This does not seem just to me. In baseball, an error is part of the game. Our function is not a function of laying blame. It is a function of guidance toward solution. We guide the groups experiencing the problem to a solution or solutions. So, I ask, why is there blame if we do not achieve an acceptable solution?

So long as we continue to Practice the Art of Quality, our products, processes and services will continually improve, and the world will continually become a better place!