Quality (how we fulfill commitments). Examples of Quality principles....

• We help customers define what level of service or features (price point) they wish to buy. Since customers may vary in their willingness to pay for perfection and functionality, quality does not always mean doing things perfectly; rather, it means that we produce contracted deliverables within the agreed budget and time with professional excellence.

• We ensure the quality (professional excellence, not price point) of our own work. We do not depend on peers inspecting our work (as quality assurance "police") or making up for our lack of quality (even if external parties mandate inspection). (Note that the voluntary use of testing services is not abdicating accountability for the quality of our work. "No police" does not mean no supervision; a supervisor has the legitimate authority to manage and control the staff under him or her, and the responsibility for quality remains within the group.)

• We produce high-quality products, where "quality" is a measure of the goodness of design and delivery within customers' requirements (professional excellence), not price point (level of service or functionality). (There are two points in time when this section applies: for commodity products, design occurs when products are put on the shelf; for bespoke products, design occurs only when a customer chooses to buy.).
  • We design products to perform well in their intended use, including maximizing the efficiency and safety of our products, to the extent that it doesn't add costs or time (based on excellence in design, not higher price point).

  • We maximize the life-cycle cost effectiveness of our products, to the extent that it doesn't add costs or time (based on excellence in design, not higher price point), by designing products which are easy to:....

  • When trade-offs are required among the above quality objectives, we make judgments based on customers' values, and ask for their explicit input on their values (not necessarily on the technical decision).

  • We proactively include, in the scope of every project, correcting any damage to existing assets caused by the sale of our products (chase the ripples).

  • In addition to all agreed [contracted] deliverables, we proactively include all the qualities [attributes] (not functions, features, or performance levels) that must be present to make the intended uses of our products. (For example, cars come with air in the tires; batteries and cables are included if needed.)

  • Whenever possible, we design products to facilitate integration in the future (without sacrificing the ability to tailor functionality to customers' unique needs), eg, by using common components and standards.