Making A Better Job Of Software QualityWith Total Quality Management
B.J. Faith · WIT transactions on information and communication technologies · 1970
Established opinion tends to consider that a quality system for technology based design relies on two 'legs': * Life cycle activities (specification, development etc); * Supporting activities (configuration management, document control etc). These activities are specified by ISO 9000-3. However, any system needs a minimum of three 'legs' for stability (eg tripod). That third leg, for a quality system, is effective management support of the project team. Total Quality Management philosophy can provide this essential third 'leg', by providing a holistic approach which encourages every member of the team to seek improvements for the greater good of the organisation. Implicit within this statement is the recognition that customer satisfaction (internal or external) and business objectives are inseparable. WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT? The recent (August 1992) Department of Trade and Industry Henderson Report on a proposed United Kingdom Total Quality Award defines TQM as: A way of managing an organisation to ensure the satisfaction, at every stage, of the needs and expectations of both internal and external customers that is, shareholders, consumers of it's goods and services, employees and the community in which it operates by means of every job, every process being carried out right, first and every time. Transactions on Information and Communications Technologies vol 4, © 1993 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3517