A common complaint of the “modern quality system” or “process” is that it has too much documentation or takes up too much time. I don’t disagree. There exists a better method to managing quality that I’m implementing at my current organization, and Cal Newport’s new book, Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, had a comment that validated some of my thinking:
“In many cases, it’s not the actual execution of a small commitment that generates distraction, it’s instead the cognitive effort required to remember it, to worry about it, and to eventually find time for it in your schedule. If you can minimize this preparatory effort, you can contain the impact of the task itself.”
Many of our industry quality systems are built in a manner that requires significant cognitive capacity to organize and manage. Yes, planning the work and critical thinking are important in our industry – regardless of one’s thoughts on quality systems in design and construction. However, we can do more to simplify the planning without destroying the intent.
We also cite that planning up front helps save time later on in the project. This is a valid point, but it does little to sell the quality management system. “Saving time later on” is not sufficient for the modern worker in design or construction.
I’m also reading Elon Musk’s biography, which outlines Elon’s improvement algorithm:
- Question every requirement.
- Delete any part or process (or step) you can.
- Simplify and optimize.
- Accelerate cycle time.
- Automate.
Regarding quality systems, applying this type of simplification could significantly reduce the cognitive overload in managing quality. Many look to Procore or other software to automate first, hoping that we’ll save time or get time back for other things. This is a fallacy and will only get us so far.
The question we should be asking is:
How can we save time in the management of quality?
How can we apply these ideas to simply our systems? This would eliminate the “I don’t have time” commentary expressed by project teams and remain focused on what really matters.
This doesn’t just apply to quality, but to business operations as a whole.
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