Quality

Quality, in general, addresses four main points: Process Compliance, Work Product Creation, Work Product Quality and Process Improvement.

Process Compliance
Organizations spend a great deal of time and money creating processes. To not follow them is to waste the time and effort that went into creating them. If the processes are not useful, that is more properly addressed in topic 4, Process Improvement. Even if the processes are less than optimal, they should still be followed, at least until enough data is collected such that you can make an effective process improvement suggestion.

Typically, people follow the processes using tools to create the work products in accordance with a contract and complying with standards. Following the process usually leaves some type of “paper” trail that can be used to determine that the process was followed. The “paper” trail is composed of things like: meeting minutes, measures of the process, audit trails, activity logs, attendance sheets, etc.  These types of process records tell us that the right people, spent the right amount of time doing the right things to create the work product.

Work Product Creation
All organizations are in business to create/deliver a product/service. The work products are created by following the process. Work products can be destined for internal or external use, deliverable, or non-deliverable.

Work Product Quality
It is essential that the work products created are fit for use by those for whom they are intended. Essentially there is no purpose in following any process unless it creates a work product that is intended for use by the author(s) or another, now or at some time in the future.  Work product quality is determined by assessing the work product against its requirements: format, content, function, performance, etc. (generally, Verification).  Work product usefullness, or fitness for use in its intended operational environment by its intended users, is determined by those who must use it (generally, Validation).
Process Improvement
Never confuse doing it differently with doing it better. Running away from the old bad process is not the same as moving with intent toward a new and likely better process. The processes we follow ought to result in our being able create/deliver a quality product/service profitably. That means the total cost of creating, following, assuring and improving the processes plus the cost to create/deliver a product/service ought to be less than the revenue the business derives from delivery of the product/service. The data we collect ought to be able prove this. If the data tell us differently, we have a decision to make, do we keep losing money, or do we improve our processes so they drive us to be profitable.