7 Reasons Why QMS Projects Fail (Part 2)

In part 1 of this two-part series, we discussed three important reasons why quality management systems (QMS) projects fail. Here are four other reasons:

Lack of Management Support

Top management must be absolutely, unequivocally committed to the idea that implementing a quality management system will improve the business. If management isn’t sold on the premise, the rank-and-file isn’t going to buy it. ISO 9001 puts it this way:

Top management shall provide evidence of its commitment to:

• Developing and implementing the quality management system; and
• Continually improving the effectiveness of the QMS.

What do you suppose the developers of ISO 9001 meant by “providing evidence of commitment”? A quick e-mail to a select group of individuals, saying “good old Wutsizzname” has been assigned the task? Or, does it go much further than that?

Insufficient Resources

Management has to ensure the availability of resources needed to develop, implement, and maintain the company’s QMS. By resources, ISO 9001 means people, training, equipment, tools, funds, and time. To ensure that there are adequate resources for your QMS, you need SMART objectives and you need a development, implementation, and maintenance plan.

These aren’t separate plans, either. They’re all part of a larger plan. The development, implementation, and maintenance phases of your QMS each have to be planned with the others in mind. Are you familiar with the saying, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts”? Well, nowhere is it truer than your QMS.

So, set your objectives, make your plans, and provide appropriate and sufficient resources. Monitor the progress of the project and adjust as needed.

Or, take a wild guess as to how much and how long it’ll take to develop your QMS. (You might get lucky.)

Poor Communication

For your QMS to conform to ISO 9001, top management has to communicate to the entire organization how important it is to meet customer and regulatory requirements. You didn’t need ISO 9001 to tell you that, did you?

The quality standard also says that “top management shall ensure that responsibilities and authorities are defined and communicated within the organization.” If Wutsizzname is the lead developer of the QMS, he has to be a developer in more than name only. Top management has to be clear about what his responsibilities are and how far his authority extends and should make it clear Wutsizzname is backed by management.

Poor communication isn’t simply a matter of what you say — it’s mostly what you do (or don’t do).

Lack of Customer Involvement

Customers and their satisfaction are the heart and soul of every successful business. And it’s not just external customers that deserve the company’s attention — there are internal customers for every project and process, as well. The ISO process model doesn’t make a distinction — a customer is a customer.

Customers of the QMS include procedure users. Their satisfaction may be measured by how well a procedure is executed, time after time. The best way to ensure customer satisfaction (i.e., consistently outstanding execution) is to involve the users in developing the procedure.

Who would know better than they whether the procedure accurately depicts the process in question? Why wouldn’t you have the users — the process owners and stakeholders — test and validate the procedure before its implementation?

In other words, if you tell Mr. Wutsizzname, “Don’t bother the people in XYZ department with silly questions – just write the procedure“, is the result of that procedure likely to come anywhere near what you expect?

Recapping the seven ways you can make your QMS project a success:

• Have a positive attitude;
• Carefully craft a comprehensive development plan;
• Manage your expectations;
• Ensure the unqualified support of top management;
• Provide sufficient resources to get the project done right;
• Keep the lines of communication open at all times; and
• Involve users/customers in the development process.

Is there anything that I missed? Anything you’d like to add to the list? If your QMS project — or any other major project of yours – didn’t turn out like it was supposed to, what would your experiences tell you to do differently?

I appreciate all your comments. Thanks for your time, and best of luck.

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Originally published in 2010 by Bizmanualz, Inc. under the title 7 Reasons Why QMS Projects Fail (Part 2). All rights reserved. Reproduction permitted with attribution only. www.bizmanualz.com