ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an examples of how measurement might be used to assess the worth of the quality effort itself. Any discussion of measurement in the context of a quality effort needs to begin with the refutation of a myth and the establishment of a guideline. If a survey were taken to determine which of the three major components of a quality process—leadership, participation, or measurement—was the least popular in the sense of being liked or enjoyed, measurement would surely be the runaway winner. The moment when data begins to be used to punish people is normally about 60 seconds before those being measured start looking for ways to beat the system—including falsifying data. In the world of business, a tripwire is any measurement which indicates that more specific measurements need to be taken, where an organization should concentrate its limited resources. The science of measurement—often summarized under the collective title “Statistical Process Control”—simply isn’t all that complicated.
