Life as a conductor

Last week I talked about the role Quality personnel have in an organization, even though they are not directly engaged in production or sales. And it put me in mind of a comparison that Rose Duncan made some weeks ago. (I've quoted Rose before, briefly in this post here.) Rose's image was simple and memorable, and it would have delighted me even more back when I was five years old and loved trains. 😀

She wrote:

Your quality management system / QSE is like a train.

You need an engine and carriages.

You can attach as many as you want: beautiful ones, compliant ones, expensive ones, simple ones, complex ones, unique ones, a few, or a lot...

But let's be clear:

The engine is the leadership.

Their job is to pull the train.

You [in Quality] are the conductor.

Her post went on from there, and mostly it was about leadership. Her main point was that without leadership, the organization goes nowhere.

But I was struck by the idea of Quality as the conductor. What I commented at the time was:

The conductor doesn't personally load the coal (or diesel). The conductor doesn't hop down into the yard to hook up the cars manually. The conductor doesn't choose what speed to go around a tight curve. The conductor doesn't personally do ANY of those things! But you've got to have a conductor.

But then I went to look up, What exactly does a conductor really do? According to Wikipedia, the tasks of a conductor include:

• Ensuring that the train follows applicable safety rules and practices
• Making sure that the train stays on schedule starting from the stations
• Opening and closing power operated doors
• Selling and checking tickets, and other customer service duties
• Ensuring that any cars and cargo are picked up and dropped off properly
• Completing en-route paperwork
• Directing the train's movement while operating in reverse
• Coupling or uncoupling cars
• Assisting with the setting out or picking up of rolling stock

And seriously? That doesn't look like a bad match, mutatis mutandis. Let's look at it again, more slowly.

• Ensuring that the train follows applicable safety rules and practices Quality regularly has to check that the organization is following all applicable regulations, including legal and contractual ones. Some of these checks might be carried out by a Facilities Department or a Safety Committee. And yes, strictly speaking legal or safety regulations might be out of scope for the QMS, depending on how it has been defined. But Quality has a clear interest in the topic of regulations in general.
• Making sure that the train stays on schedule starting from the stations Again, schedule maintenance might be most immediately managed by Project Management or Production Management. But if the organization regularly fails to meet its committed delivery dates, there's going to be a long talk during internal audits about why.
• Opening and closing power operated doors Remember that this is an analogy. If the train represents your system, then the doors are points in your process that accept inputs or release outputs. Presumably you have requirements that your inputs and outputs have to meet. Quality safeguards that those requirements are met, and therefore functions as a "doorkeeper."
• Selling and checking tickets, and other customer service duties Tickets are how you make sure that "passengers" (which Rose later identifies with your employees) are in the right places (roles / functions) at the right times. Quality checks that training requirements have been met, and that resources are adequate.
• Ensuring that any cars and cargo are picked up and dropped off properly This is again related to inputs and outputs, as above.
• Completing en-route paperwork Everyone knows we are all about paperwork. 😀 (Not solely, of course. But it is inevitably part of the picture.)
• Directing the train's movement while operating in reverse Under certain exceptional circumstances, when something tricky is being done, it is not unheard-of for Quality to be given—temporarily!—some kind of operational role for the duration of the special circumstance.
• Coupling or uncoupling cars ... and ...
• Assisting with the setting out or picking up of rolling stock I ran out of inspiration for these last two. No analogy is perfect.

So there you are. It's a fine analogy to explain to five-year-olds everywhere what a Quality professional does all day. We're conductors. And every train needs a conductor.