So yesterday we had Day One of a two day audit from a company - an overseas company, in this case.
An audit, you say? In my line of business, companies verify that their vendors or potential vendors are operating in compliance with appropriate codes and regulations by performing an audit. Typically these are one or two day events which involve a presentation, a tour, and lots of document review. Since I have arrived at New Company, we've had 3-4, with promise of at least three more before the end of the year.
They're a bit of a pain, because of course you have no other focus during the day except the audit. You pull paperwork, you sit, you answer questions, you try to explain some things away, you prepare your responses in your head as they read the observations. Then you go back exhausted (they always eat up a great deal of energy) the next day to put everything back in place, prepare your formal responses, and then catch up on all the work that didn't get done.
Did I mention they're not my favorite thing?
This particular audit has turned out to be more interesting, because I was apparently put in charge of it even though I don't know much about the project and really have no power to do anything. The one in charge apparently assumed that I would take care of everything (it's in my job description, right?) even though I was never allowed to actually talk to the clients or understand the project. Then, when observations are made, it's "Why didn't we catch this?" and "What will we do to fix this by tomorrow?" (the we, of course, being me).
It's very frustrating. It's being made responsible for the conduct and outcome of something you have no control of. It also frustrates me on a grander career level, as these things come and go, yet the fruits of them - that ever popular "results produce good things" - never really seems to pan out. If you're successful, it's taken for granted. If they fail, you're left with fixing failures that you are not really responsible for.
If this is the road to success, I want nothing more to do with it.
Yes, audits are definitely a pain. Unfortunately they won't go away. Back here at the Old Job we just accept that we will hear the same comments and write the same responses, over and over. The problems mostly are never really resolved; persons from the different departments just argue about how their suggestions are better than Quality's and things should not be changed. I would not call this a valid map for the road to success!
ReplyDeleteThe more I travel, the more I realize that there is something fundamentally wrong with how Quality is viewed in most organizations. I wonder what an organization would look like if the CEO or other senior management came primarily from a Quality background.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that would ever happen because Quality does not try to cut corners to reduce costs; quality values compliance and compliance is not profitable, although you could argue that if you built your project around compliance to begin with then you would not have to spend money to correct the mistakes down the road.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, of course. As I often argue, Quality doesn't cost, it pays. However, I wonder if those that hire such senior management would consider the "Typical" quality minded individual as CEO material.
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