I joined ASQ in 1984. I began working for ASQ in 1986. I suspect I was called to quality long before 1984, but that’s a different story.
I have two questions on my mind and would welcome your response. The first question stems from the past. The second question is about the future.
The Past: The philosophy of modern quality reaches back to the late 1930s and 1940s. That’s not so long ago, but it might be ancient history. I’ve been in three large quality gatherings in the past year where the question was asked, “How many of you have heard of W. Edwards Deming?” I was shocked and saddened when less than a third of the hands went up. “How about Joseph M. Juran?” Fewer hands. It occurs to me that something isn’t right about that. Am I being nostalgic, or does the quality community bear some responsibility for making sure its philosophic foundations are not lost to history?
The Future: What do professionals under the age of 35 see as the future of quality? Perhaps for most of the readers, this will mean asking someone who fits the demographic, although I’d be pleased to learn that young professionals read my blog. Why the question? Well, I’m guessing the panel of 150 experts from around the world who contributed to the ASQ Futures Study are all much senior to 35, so the future the study paints is one described by a senior group. What do the 35s and under think and see, on a global scale?
The insight you gather may well connect the dots between the first and second question.
Quality suffers from not knowing our past. It seems everyone thinks they follow quality processes - and they do. But, they don't know what they don't know. When we lose the basics of Deming & Juran teachings, we lose some of the reasons to do quality with their tools and we then don't do as well. In any discipline, knowing the history allows us to better use that knowledge because we have reference points. We can share this knowledge with others, but others also have the responsibility to research it on their own because it will benefit them.
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