Earlier posts discuss the Management Review (MR), a key
element of the ISO 9001 Quality Assurance Standard; this post turns attention
to the subject of standards in general. There are two primary motivations to
seek certification for compliance with well-known standards such as ISO 9001.
First, certification signals to potential customers that your company has convinced
an auditor that you meet the standard; indeed, some government agencies and
prime contractors may use compliance with standards as filters when awarding
contracts, or at least may look favorably on compliance. Second, many elements
of the standards represent “best practices” and adoption of these practices
raises the probability of improved customer satisfaction, employee morale, and
business conditions at your company. These two motivations are not mutually
exclusive; they are not even independent. However, over time, they may become
decoupled because, following initial certification, you may be tempted to do
only the minimum required to renew certification. Moreover, because it is
unlikely that all elements of any standard will be equally applicable to your
company – elements which do not apply at all are generally identified in
advance – it is also unlikely that you will give them all equal attention. The
problem is that, unless you retain focus on the most relevant elements, doing
the minimum needed for recertification may divert your attention from the
pursuit of best practices.
In previous posts, consistent with the theme of this blog, I
have made clear that the MR is an ISO 9001 gem; I am convinced that this is
true for most companies. Depending on the nature of your company, there will be
other elements within that standard of benefit to your company. In any event,
whether you are pursuing certification or the efficient use of best practices,
you will want to invest carefully. Since these practices are only effective
when they receive regular attention, and since the investment of overhead
resources can only be justified if it is cost-effective, one enabler is
automation. For those pursuing certification, there is software on the
market for that purpose. I would suggest that any company considering purchase
of such software consider these factors: suitability; cost; ease of use;
flexibility; security; and long-term support. Invariably, software developed
for general use requires adaptation for specific users and uses.
More interesting for this blog is the case of companies
pursuing selected best practices rather than certification; this viewpoint
becomes more dramatic as the scope is expanded such that elements from more
than one standard are adopted and elements not mentioned in any widely
published standard (possibly unique to the company) are added. While those who
write the standards may be “experts” across a broad range of practices, they do
not know your company as well as you do. Even though certification may not be
your goal, automation is no less important to the use and continual improvement
of best practices. That said, “less may be more” with respect to software
support. A couple of general questions come to mind with regard to this classic
“make-or-buy” decision: Should you buy a commercial support package or build
your own? Is it possible to tailor an off-the-shelf product to the organization,
functions, and budget of your company? Or, would you be better off building
your own support system, one that you own and control, and one which closely
reflects the characteristics of your company (note: internal development, while
it may offer advantages, may not be cheaper)? I will have more to say on these
points in future posts.
"Management is doing things right; leadership is
doing the right things...
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which
should not be done at all."
-
Peter Drucker
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