Re: This page blank...

["L. H. Garlinghouse" <garlinghou -at- WATERLOOINDUSTRIES -dot- COM>]

A very basic definition of Quality is "Meeting the customers' needs."

I once received a photocopy of everything I needed to know about a
statistical sampling plan from the Corporate Director of Quality
(CDQ).

There was no page 16.  I was concerned that the entire document would
be useless if page 16 contained some key information.  I contacted
the CDQ about this.  He in turn looked into this and saw that the
page was in fact blank, and that the secretary had chosen to not copy
a blank page (actually not blank as it did have a header and a page
number on it). The CDQ's secretary mailed me a copy of the blank page
so that I would have a complete document.

The result was a lot of wasted and expensive time by people who had
better ways to serve the company.  True, one contributor was a
secretary "saving" 5c in photocopy expense and causing $200 in
avoidable communications expense.  I suspect that if the page had a
notation of "Left Blank on Purpose," or whatever, she would have been
less likely to try and save 5c.  When I am the consumer of tech.
documentation I want to know what is and what is not supposed to be
there.

I vote for a notation to the effect that lack of information on
a page is by design, not by default.  Affirmation by silence is not a
good management style.

<< All opinions, statements, &c are my own>>
L.H. Garlinghouse, C.Q.E.
Pocahontas AR U.S.A.
(870) 892-4586  ext 7659
garlinghou -at- waterlooindustries -dot- com