Fieldstones and Commonplace Books
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- Last Updated on Monday, 20 June 2011 15:41
- Written by Marianne Tromp
I am reading Gerald M. Weinberg's book: "Weinberg on Writing: the fieldstone method." Jerry shares his process of collecting quotations and ideas that resonate with him. He has many writings in process at the same time. Jerry compares this to the person interested in building a wall out of fieldstones, where the stones need to be collected before starting the building process. I find the metaphor intriguing.
In another book, "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Steven Johnson, contains reference to the commonplace book. The commonplace book was used by individuals in the 1700s for cultivating ideas.
Ideas take time to ripen. Methods for collecting ideas that are of interest to me so that I can rummage through them easily, reorganizing them and combining them in a free-flowing manner with others is very appealing to me.
In the past I've used index cards and found it tedious to review and organize them. My enthusiasm for them increased every time I went through my box of cards. I had to put them away when I became frustrated at not knowing what to do with them.
Now I've started using a wiki to collect the ideas and concepts that interest me. Wikis have the advantage of also being able to collect images and sounds. The ability to search for keywords is also helpful in locating where I've left a certain thought. Using copy and paste, I can place the same sentence or paragraph in a variety of pages, each with its own context surrounding it. Will the sentence have more or less meaning in each context? There will be plenty of questions to answer as I play with the thoughts that flow around in my mind within the wiki environment.
Procedures are Not Enough
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- Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 September 2008 14:44
- Written by Marianne Tromp
Process improvement is on the minds of Engineering Managers. Those involved with ISO-9001 know that certification requires documented procedures with built-in improvement through the analysis of faults, failures and customer complaints.
It appears that "document what you do and do what you document" is the answer to product development as well as manufacturing problems. Appearances can be deceiving. Procedures focus on listing the activities needed to produce the specified deliverables, they can not specify the attitude with which people are to perform those activities.
Quality procedures focus on objective, observable behavior without acknowledging the subjective and feeling nature of the people involved. How can respect for others and a safe environment for taking risks be documented in procedures? I believe that they cannot be and yet these are vital for incorporating a quality mentality.
Therein lies the limitation of having a documented quality system. Within one organization the procedures of the quality system are used easily and do aid in producing quality products. However, in another organization the same set of procedures are used to blame individuals for not following all the procedures properly. Quality products may or may not be the result in the second situation.
A quality environment or culture needs to be grown in order for the procedures to be meaningful. Ironically, in a quality-oriented culture, the procedures are not really needed because the employees do these tasks without prompting. The culture encourages the respect, the caring attitude and the pride of satisfying the customer. Documenting what is done provides a way to bring new employees into the culture quickly.
Our society loves to analyze success and then document, in ten-easy-steps, the way any person or organization can achieve the same success. ISO-9001, the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model, FDA's Good Manufacturing Process and others are attempts to ensure quality products for any organization that follows them.
On the other hand, there are people, like Deming, who write more about the intangibles for achieving product quality. "Drive out fear" is one of Deming's 14 points. It is more difficult for organizations to accomplish these intangibles since they impact each employee's way of perceiving and responding to their work. How do you change the meaning you give to what you see or hear? A trusted friend can help you, if the friend is not caught up in the same assumptions and perceptions that you are.
When working in an organization the members often are not aware that they are locked into a set of assumptions, perceptions and responses that are reinforcing of each other. To break the cycle it is helpful to bring in an outsider who can question each item in the cycle.