Who owns quality for your product? Whenever I ask that question, I am often met with one or more of the following reactions: A blank stare “Testing/Quality Assurance/Quality Control, of course!” “Management.” (lots of variations on that) “Creative/technical leadership.” So, maybe the better question is: Who defines quality?

Ever feel like your outsourcing partner just doesn’t “get” you, your product or your business?  Having worked with many different outsourcers across a few different industries, I have developed a good sense of what makes a good partner.  Here are a few things I wish all outsourcers understood about how to make clients happy. Do […]

This month I am working closely with one of our production teams to help fix some process issues.  I thought I would discuss my approach each week as a sort of diary on improving an Agile process.  Out of respect to the project team, I can’t give any context or details of the project itself.  […]

Being on vacation this past week, I have not been thinking much about work.  However, I couldn’t help but follow the story of RIM‘s woes after announcing poor quarterly results and subsequent major sell-off of their shares.   The  Open letter to BlackBerry bosses on Boy Genius Report really caught my attention.  I am sure […]

A commenter on one of my posts suggested I write about how companies shift from focusing on “making widgets” to providing customer satisfaction.  What a great suggestion!  Companies known for customer satisfaction don’t just make it one department’s job.  All teams understand their customers and work to make them happy.  Here are some tips to […]