In the Wonderland of Quality Certification

I was a student of engineering. I have often heard student’s talk, “what principles are taught in class room and what get’s implemented in life are two different things”. This is because of the failure of implementation. I have a different opinion on the subject. I have always found that whatever principles are taught, they can be applied in totality in practice. The gap is often found in understanding and putting the principles in simple steps for implementation. The art of putting a principle in simple steps for implementation and the passion for implementation are the two keys for success. This is same as having an Engineering degree and being an engineer. I studied engineering and regularly scored high grades in Design, Applied Mechanics etc. But my work life began in Industrial Engineering field. I never practiced Design principles in my life. In practical sense I have an Engineering degree but I will not call myself an Engineer. To become an Engineer you need practice, an art of applying the principles in your practical life.

If I look at software engineering and quality movement, I often think the industry is generally suffering from similar “Degree Syndrome”. CMM, CMMI and ISO are the standards which have brought excellent principles in life. Many companies have graduated and have passed the examinations; the certification process. Rarely companies have applied these principles fully and reaped benefits. All these standards give you short of curriculum. The practitioner has to understand the principles, pass the exam and practice the art of implementing in real life. First two things always happen but the practice is always a victim. That’s the reason; many companies having CMM level 5 certifications are not able to produce consistent results.

Malcom Gladwell in his book “Outliers” has talked about a practice 10,000 hours to become expert in any field. I think this principle applies perfectly in quality implementation as well. In order to make the process seamless with the workflow, the company needs a practice of 10,000 hours or more. Practice has to be in such a way that it can be synthesized and can create a learning experience too. Project Managers often tell, “Let me complete the work then we will do the documentation”. If you hear such words in any company then you should conclude that the company lacks many more hours of practice before it reaches the level of maturity in applying the principles which the degree; certification has provided. The result will never come until one has attained a perfect integration of process in work flow. The work and process have to be seen as a single entity and not two separate tasks. As long as they are seen as two separate tasks, the effectiveness of process rigor will be farfetched.

I would like to give a simple analogy of process integration with work. Let us take a payment transaction in a privately owned company. The payment assistant normally makes payment on authorization of the payment. There is a process of request, authorization, verification, payment and finally acknowledgement. The person making the payment considers all these as a single process of payment. Even if the owner asks for 10,000 rupees, the payment assistant creates a voucher and gets his signature or signature of his secretary before making any payment. This is a perfect integration of documentation with the workflow. You find such process implementation work flawlessly.

I therefore suggest implementation is a bigger task then getting certification. One needs to get out of “Degree Syndrome”. Getting a degree is the first step. Implementation of the principles needs understanding of the principle, putting them in simple steps and finally nitrating with the overall work. This simple principle can act as a guide for process implementation and therefore leads to success. Just ensure that the basics are being done, they are integrated with work, documentation is not separate than the work; you are bound to succeed.