Year of Quality: 365 Questions and Answers About Business Performance

Welcome to the world of business performance! Quality and business performance are one and the same, so you will see the two terms used interchangeably throughout this book. This collection of questions and answers is intended for ambitious entrepreneurs, business owners, people in management roles, project managers, those who have recently had quality management added to their job descriptions, and seasoned quality management professionals. Entrepreneurs may be interested in the high-level questions about how to set up a business for long-term success, whereas quality management professionals may be interested in the technical questions about usage and application of specific tools and techniques.

There are also different scenarios discussed herein, such as personal situations, nonprofit organizations, governments, manufacturing, service-oriented businesses, remote work, etc. Even if some of the techniques mentioned in this book were developed in a manufacturing environment, please do not let that prevent you from applying them to a non-manufacturing situation.

The questions in this book start with high-level business performance topics, then follow the order of the sections of the ISO 9001 standard. Where ISO 9001 leaves off with continual improvement, lean six sigma takes over. Thus, the questions flow naturally from ISO 9001 to lean six sigma topics. The lean six sigma topics follow the order of my Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Wheel. The book then concludes with organizational growth management and futuristic questions.