http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog An open source resource for business improvement, quality and auditing. Regular articles on ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001, Auditing, Quality Improvement and customer services, capable people en-us Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:10:35 +0100 Main Page Blogware Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2007/11/29/3380597.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2007/11/29/3380597.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:05:31 +0100 For years there's been something hidden in Deming's closet. Well, not hidden exactly, it's actually one of his published "Seven Deadly Diseases of Western Management". Problem is, it takes us a little way outside our comfort zone where all things can be measured, and hence predicted, controlled and managed. So we don't like talking about it too much. It can indeed be seen, to pinch someone else's catchphrase, as Deming's inconvenient truth. But what is it? Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Deming Leadership & Management deming randomness quality Management Leadership ISO9000 ISO improvement control continual 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/25/3485758.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/25/3485758.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:49:54 +0100 With the 2008 update nearing the date of issue, here's a summary of the LIKELY changes to the ISO 9001 standard Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Certification schemes 2008 standards quality process pdca organisation objectives Management ISO9000 ISO IRCA improvement control continual audit 9001 5750 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/23/3759178.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/23/3759178.html Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:02:13 +0100 These people found us from somewhere, and have added us to their circulation list. It's actually not a bad read, so we thought we'd share it with you Main Page Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/21/3750875.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/21/3750875.html Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:35:16 +0100 Thanks to Chris Angus at www.instinctivechoice.co.uk for this guest piece on Kansei Engineering. What is it? Click through and all will be explained Main Page Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/18/3750514.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/18/3750514.html Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:09:23 +0100 Time for a bit of fun. Yesterday the BBC published a neat little article on "office-speak" so let's take our own tour through the crazy terrain that is Office Buzzwords and Bullshit Main Page Offbeat Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/17/3748931.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/17/3748931.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:28:18 +0100 Here's a post aimed at providing some guiding principles and food for thought for anyone ready to tackle this knotty issue head-on Main Page Quality Improvement Customer Relationship Management Training standards service satisfaction quality process perception organisation Management improvement experience excellence efficiency effectiveness delight customer control continual conformance compliance behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/11/3739058.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/11/3739058.html Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:51:30 +0100 Quality management gurus come and go and everyone has their own personal favourite. But there is one guru that has stood out head and shoulders above all others. A quality professional whose acute understanding of business dynamics, human motivation, customer behaviour, economics and, most crucially, how this all fits together, has resulted in a body of work that remains undiminished by half a century of the most incredible change. So whenever we find ourselves drawn into an “ISO 9001 Section 5” debate, we could do worse than to pause and to think “what would Deming say?” Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Deming quality process preventive preventative policy pdca organisation Management Leadership ISO9000 ISO improvement guru experience excellence efficiency effectiveness deming corporate control continual behaviour audit 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/6/3731233.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/6/6/3731233.html Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:21:21 +0100 Follow the link in this article to Chris Baker's excellent summary of current legislation and implications for organisations Main Page Occupational Health & Safety Risk & Assurance manslaughter corporate Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/31/3721807.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/31/3721807.html Sat, 31 May 2008 08:08:58 +0100 If ever there was a storm in a teacup, this is it. Starbucks, bless them, desperately trying to re-build and re-energise, have adopted a new logo. So what? You may ask. What's the problem with that? Well, lots apparently, according to the American Christian far-right Main Page Customer Relationship Management logo starbucks standards service satisfaction perception palma marketing maria experience customer creativity corporate control branding behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3711946.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/26/3711946.html Mon, 26 May 2008 08:34:29 +0100 The requirement that processes are identified, defined, understood and measured is (supposedly) a fundamental requirement of ISO 9001. But is it ever really examined? Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Auditing efficiency standards service quality process organisation objectives Management ISO9000 ISO improvement effectiveness effect customer control continual conformance compliance certification audit 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3688702.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/13/3688702.html Tue, 13 May 2008 12:01:49 +0100 At last, you may say, continual improvement explained in simple terms. Well we've done our best Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Auditing standards quality process policy pdca organisation objectives Management ISO9000 ISO improvement DMAIC control continual conformance compliance chaos certification audit 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/8/3680637.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/8/3680637.html Thu, 08 May 2008 09:24:07 +0100 The attempt Starbucks is making to arrest a decline in business performance is unfolding into an interesting case study. In this special guest post, Maria Palma offers her up-to-the-minute views on what's they're up to, most crucially, if it's likely to work Main Page Quality Improvement Customer Relationship Management starbucks standards service schultz satisfaction quality project palma organisation marketing maria Management Leadership innovation improvement experience excellence delight decline customer creativity corporate cool continual changes care branding behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/1/3669070.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/1/3669070.html Thu, 01 May 2008 06:51:59 +0100 Sometimes you can argue until you are blue in the face and fail to make your point. And then you can make statements as short and stupid as the ones in this post and make your point beautifully Main Page Offbeat Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/30/3667715.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/30/3667715.html Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:50:21 +0100 Here's a guest piece from Chris Baker on the subject of using risk to determine the frequency of internal audits. Maybe it's time for a change from the old "intuitive" approach? Main Page Auditing Risk & Assurance standards service risk policy organisation objectives Management Leadership governance effectiveness corporate control conformance compliance changes audit Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/23/3655553.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/23/3655553.html Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:33:52 +0100 There's a very good contribution today on John Hunter's blog Curious Cat on this topic. Details inside Main Page Quality Improvement Deming Leadership & Management appraisal motivation Management Leadership improvement deming corporate control behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/22/3653381.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/22/3653381.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:41:08 +0100 We're across in Dubai right now doing some proper work for a change. In the meantime, please check out our guest post on Maria Palma's excellent customer service blog Main Page Customer Relationship Management palma maria standards service satisfaction quality motivation Management improvement experience delight customer care branding behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/13/3636423.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/13/3636423.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:23:43 +0100 London Heathrow Terminal 5. A not unexpected lesson in bad project management (Updated 15th April from an earlier post) Main Page Quality Improvement Leadership & Management project T5 transition standards service quality process preventive preventative policy organisation objectives Management learning improvement heathrow governance effectiveness effect customer control continual conformance compliance chaos changes cause air Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/15/3640057.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/15/3640057.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:33:50 +0100 We're taking our turn hosting the improvement round-up, giving Curious Cat a well deserved break. Check out this post for a summary of some of the more interesting and thought provoking articles from the last two weeks Main Page Quality Improvement Carnivals Training statistics standards service quality project process preventive preventative policy perception pdca organisation objectives motivation Management learning lean Leadership ISO9000 ISO innovation improvement DMAIC deming customer corporate control continual conformance compliance changes carnival branding behaviour 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/8/3627298.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/4/8/3627298.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:32:36 +0100 There is no point ignoring the basic weaknesses and flaws of human behaviour when designing a system. If you need compliant behaviour, you'll have more success if you make that path easy to follow Main Page Quality Improvement Leadership & Management Training standards quality process preventive preventative organisation motivation Management learning Leadership ISO9000 ISO improvement effectiveness deming control conformance compliance changes behaviour audit 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/4/3504397.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/4/3504397.html Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:03:36 +0100 Here's a short article that many people will find useful. It summarises the key requirements of ISO 9001 and offers a number of pointers that, hopefully, will help a lot of you with your implementation Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Certification schemes Auditing standards quality process preventive preventative policy pdca organisation objectives Management Leadership ISO9000 ISO IRCA improvement control continual audit 9001 5750 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/1/3440628.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/1/3440628.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:13:14 +0100 Whenever you browse business related blogs, forums, company web sites and the like you notice that there is a very wide interpretation of what exactly ISO 9000 is, and what it can achieve. In most cases its primary benefit is overlooked, whilst some potential benefits are often overstated. In this post we try to put some things in context. Hope it helps Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Certification schemes Auditing pdca standards service satisfaction risk quality preventive preventative organisation objectives Management learning ISO9000 ISO improvement effect DMAIC customer control continual audit 9001 5750 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/20/3475690.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/1/20/3475690.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:09:57 +0000 Thanks to Chris for this excellent "how to" article on the principles and cornerstones of corporate governance, and the critical attributes of a corporate governance program Main Page Leadership & Management Risk & Assurance corporate governance statistics standards service safety risk quality process preventive preventative policy organisation objectives Management Leadership improvement health excellence environment control audit Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/23/3596795.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/23/3596795.html Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:30:21 +0000 When is a safe system of work not a safe system of work? Read this article relating to the management of air traffic at London Heathrow and make your own mind up Main Page Occupational Health & Safety Risk & Assurance Near Miss air traffic blower heathrow whistle standards service safety risk preventive preventative policy organisation ohsas ohs objectives near Management health hazardous control compliance care accident 18001 18000 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/14/3580707.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/14/3580707.html Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:17:30 +0000 In this special guest article, Kelly Erickson from VisionPoints, explains the concept and principles behind this new 21st Century battleground Main Page Quality Improvement Customer Relationship Management experience erickson kelly design standards service satisfaction perception organisation motivation marketing Management learning Leadership language innovation improvement excellence effectiveness effect delight customer creativity corporate cool control continual changes branding behaviour Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/12/3576528.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/12/3576528.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:18:44 +0000 Not all "quality people" understand human motivation, or human dynamics at all if we're honest. Deming had strong views on the role that people and their motivation play on the efficiency of working systems Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Deming Leadership & Management Training standards satisfaction quality process policy organisation motivation Management Leadership ISO9000 ISO improvement health deming delight creativity control continual conformance compliance changes behaviour 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/5/3562059.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/3/5/3562059.html Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:39:35 +0000 Following on from our first post in the series "Deming on the 8 Quality Management Principles" where we looked at leadership, in this post we take on the system Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Deming standards service quality process policy pdca organisation ohsas objectives motivation Management learning Leadership ISO9000 ISO improvement excellence effectiveness DMAIC deming delight customer control continual conformance changes cause audit 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/27/3548265.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/27/3548265.html Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:31:05 +0000 In this post we attempt to add some context and depth to our favourite quality management principle, leadership, using the words of the master. What better way? Main Page Quality Improvement ISO 9000 Deming Leadership & Management statistics standards quality process policy pdca organisation objectives motivation Management Leadership juran ISO9000 ISO improvement guru effectiveness DMAIC deming crosby corporate control continual conformance compliance 9001 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/24/3542091.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/24/3542091.html Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:33:00 +0000 With the 2008 standard published later this year, we highlight the two greatest opportunities that are about to be missed Main Page Quality Improvement Certification schemes 14001 transition standards safety quality process policy pdca organisation ohsas ohs objectives Management ISO9000 ISO improvement effectiveness customer control continual conformance compliance changes audit 9001 5750 2008 2007 18001 18000 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/21/3536957.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/21/3536957.html Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:16:44 +0000 Different audits have different objectives and, consequently, need different approaches. In this post we compare and contrast. Hope you find it useful Main Page Auditing effectiveness compliance conformance standards service risk quality process pdca organisation ohsas ohs objectives Management ISO9000 ISO IRCA improvement governance DMAIC customer control continual audit 9001 18001 18000 Shaun Sayers http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/15/3525693.html http://blog.capablepeople.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/2/15/3525693.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:23:12 +0000 Thanks to Chris Baker for allowing us to publish this excellent piece of work Main Page Occupational Health & Safety OHSAS 18001 Auditing standards safety risk policy pdca organisation ohsas ohs objectives Management improvement health hazardous governance corporate audit accident 18001 18000