TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:ISO 9000 Quality From:Steven Jong <SteveFJong -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 26 Nov 1997 22:31:31 -0500
A recent posting related the comment that ISO certification only means that
an organization can produce consistent products, but that the products can
still be junk. I would like to take issue with the word "only," as if
consistency is unimportant to quality. Actually, consistency is required for
quality. Deming's work concentrated on achieving measurable, mathematical
consistency.
However, it's true that there's more to what we call quality than
consistency; and in fact the ISO standards have in them a secret ratchet to
crank quality up: the continuous-improvement process. There is a process in
ISO whereby customer complaints and employee suggestions are handled and
implemented. Then the consistency becomes important, for what good is an idea
if it's not fully adopted? Over time, any organization following the full ISO
precepts cannot help but improve the quality of its output. It's a two-step
process. First, do consistent work; then, improve it.
