Five years ago I reluctantly took my books on quality to a charity shop to make space during a renovation.
They were designed to help teams improve physical processes – but I needed to know how to fix knowledge processes.
While physical problems show up in inventory and rework, knowledge problems hide until you see someone burn out.
I have lost count of the number of people who tell me they work in jobs moving information from one place to another using inefficient systems riddled with errors – and who put pressure on themselves to get things right in a system that’s wrong.
And the problem is usually the system – not the people.
Take sustainability data reporting, for example.
It’s a simple task. Find source information on what you’re doing that has a carbon impact, roll it up and report to an auditable standard.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
There are a number of steps to follow. But if there’s a gap, if a step is missing or broken, it stops you advancing.
Asking people to work harder won’t fix things.
Quality in this kind of system is a two-way process.
First, you have to move the information from where it is to where it needs to be, without messing up.
Then you have to be able to trace it back to where it came from – so that it’s auditable.
And because every situation and company is different you need a flexible and adaptable approach rather than a single system and way of doing things.
Quality in a physical process is about doing things the same way – reducing variation.
Quality in knowledge work is about building systems to do things the right way – that are appropriate for the complexity of the situation you’re trying to handle.
And I knew that needed different books and techniques.
Handcrafted insight 