ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization:
- needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and
- aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
This pretty much says you need to document everything you do and display that you follow all of the procedures that you have documented. Seems easy enough except for the fact that this business was built on the back of one man with the help of some friends maybe 15 years ago. It has stayed under 10 people to this day. When I arrived there in January of '07 there was not a written procedure to speak of. I learned everything I knew from the coolest 75 year-old man I ever met. Dude would be eating a sandwich in one hand while dropping crude oil into a bottle with the other hand. All training was word of mouth. There were no records of training either. Training records and procedures and processes are what ISO is all about. I mean obviously you cannot make a quality product unless you have documented the entire process amiright?
A little sarcasm there but it has definitely been a worth while endeavor for us. Having all of this stuff documented makes it much easier to train and hold people accountable. Hold yourself accountable for that matter. I learned my management lesson early as to what happens when you ask the smartest person in the room to get from point A to point B with free range...or no written procedures to follow. Good luck having him or her follow any suggestions from someone with 95% more experience than him or her...obviously he or she knows more than you in the few weeks he or she has been there. Heaven forbid you try to implement any kind of written procedures after he or she has already developed the most efficient methods in the history of man...but I digress.
This has been two years in the making and it started with my previous manager who left 17 months ago or so. I went from very little responsibility to probably the most responsibility in the company. While undeserving I was very thankful for the opportunity. Remember me saying I have never seen the consequences of my 75% effort level...this is one of those times. I had never really thought about being a manager at this point as I knew I was not likely management material. Almost a year-and-a-half later I still may not be...but I have definitely progressed. Hopefully enough to pass this audit. We WILL pass this audit. For not passing it I fear would have great consequences. Even though I am fairly confident at this point I have heard it can depend on the auditor. We have had a great consultant though so we should be okay. Tomorrow begins the first half of the audit where the auditor will familiarize herself with our QMS or quality management system. Pretty much a big binder with all of our procedures, records, and controlled forms. The goal here for me and my employees is to make sure that she does not know the binder than we do.
The second half of the audit is scheduled for next Friday, October 12th. After she has taken a plethora of notes on our QMS she will begin interviews with everyone who is involved with it. This is everyone at the lab. Watching us work while asking questions about procedures we are supposedly following and making sure we maintain some or all of the records/documentation the QMS says we are responsible for. It is possible she will start this second half of the audit tomorrow afternoon right after her study of the QMS. Therefore much of today was spent making our final preparations so we can be ready if she does. In my best form I have left a few things for the morning as it will take her a few hours to comb the QMS anyway. I just need to do a final check of the training records, label some recently made files, and create a few preventative action reports.
I must say that the files I just made tonight in this previously unused file cabinet right next to my desk should work wonders for me. As you can imagine I am a fairly unorganized person most of the time. It is really easy to only give 75% and/or wait until the last minute on a given action item when you do not do any prep work. I have never been good with files, to-do lists, or anything that leads to productivity for that matter. Definitely a step in the right direction here and since it is right next to my desk it should not require too much effort after the initial investment.
I have also started using OneNote recently and I love it. Since we use Outlook at work it has made it very easy to manage action items much more effectively. It has also been a great tool for running weekly meetings for the staff...important for managing properly I have found. For me anyway. The ability to manage the same OneNote from my phone and from home has led to me actually taking quality notes in meetings as well as maintaining it every now-and-then away from the office. I intend to start using it for personal stuff like grocery lists, budgeting, and house projects since I am always forgetting what I want to do/get and in what order. I also hope for it to be key in actually managing goals for myself, personal and work. Some of those goals will make it over here since I am looking for accountability. For example:
Fitness update:
After three days of running a mile right after work followed by an Insanity workout (Pure Cardio, Plyometric Cardio Circuit, and Cardio Power and Resistance) my body did not want to get out of bed today. Snoozed once at 5am. Set the alarm for 6am. Snoozed for over an hour I think. Woke up in the 7 o'clock hour and didn't get out of bed until around 8. Got to work a little after 9. This led to being at work until 9 so I chose not to workout when I got home. On Wednesday I ran the mile at 7:44 again and it definitely felt harder than the first two times. Probably just because I was thinking about how hard it was most of the time.
The mind is a fickle thing...all of the time. If I could keep my mind occupied with something else during the run it would be so much easier. I often miss out on how hard the running actually is while I am distracted by thoughts of carrying Will Lowry over the finish line after his ankle gives out in the final stretch of the Spartan Beast...or throwing up at the end of a run where J-Ho set a really fast pace for me and it was all I could do to keep up at Memorial. Then I remember that I am actually running right now and continue to remind myself of how hard the running is in case I had forgotten. I hope to get a workout in tomorrow...that is if I do not go to Conroe to draft or sealed it up. Whether or not to let myself back into magic will be a topic here very soon. Quite the dilemma.
Here's to hoping.
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