Commitment

James H. Burrill, 1/29/97

For today's text I cheated and did not randomly stick my finger into my book of quotes. Instead, I consciously looked for some way to write more about commitment to quality. For those of you allergic to smaltz, take only one quote an hour.

Why should a company be interested in quality?

If you satisfy customers, profits will increase in the long run; but don't forget, satisfying customers, not increasing profits, must be your primary goal.
Gitlow and Gitlow, The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive Position, Prentice Hall, 1987.
(I hope everyone understands the relationship between profits and prospects for long term employment.)

What is our company's commitment to quality?

[Company] is committed to becoming the best source of [area] software, systems, and services. We accomplish this by meeting or exceeding our customers' requirements and expectations as measured by customer satisfaction, customer complaints, and reported problems. We are committed to continually improve the company's performance against these measures.
Quality Policy

How do we go about obtaining quality?

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
W. Somerset Maughan

How should we feel when we fall short?

I consider a bad bottle of Heineken to be a personal insult to me.
Freddy Heineken

Quality is not something for which someone else is responsible. Quality is something for which you are responsible. I believe that everyone is committed to quality whether that commitment is explicitly stated or simply part of each person's nature.

Since we are all committed to quality, what else do we need? We need to be able to achieve quality in concert with each other, to multiply the effect of our personal commitment through synergy, to work towards the common goal as stated in our quality policy.

  • Commitment to give us a shared goal.
  • Communication to enable us to work in concert.
  • Continuous improvement to keep us focused.
    • These are the three most important aspects of ISO 9000. (There is a fourth important aspect of ISO 9000 but I couldn't think of a way to characterize it with a "C" word. That fourth aspect will be tomorrow's topic.)
    It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
    W. Somerset Maughan
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