Fuzzy + Expensive = Useful?

Executives as well as customers demand quality from technical communicators. However, the requirements of both groups seem hard to combine: Executives want quality to be achieved inside the company by applying quality standards without causing any delay or additional costs. Establishing customer-based quality, on the other hand, usually demands extra money and extra time. Nevertheless both demands can and should be utilized for developing a user-oriented quality system.

Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Usability>Quality

The High Cost of Quality

Quality Systems (QS) have become essential for (inter-)national competition. Companies spend large amounts of money for 'measuring' quality defined by national and international standards. Quality, however, is a value, and like creeds and ideologies values cannot be measured with scientific exactness and are difficult to control. Total Quality Management (TQM) and other standardized concepts take that idealistic dimension into account. Certification according to ISO 9000, for instance, covers only about 50% of a TQM implementation.

Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Project Management>Quality>Standards

I Know What You Need to Know: Is that User Centered Documentation?

Quality management is forcing technical communicators to meet the challenge of writing user-centered documentation. Adequate preparatory work would be to categorize potential users according to experience, knowledge, tasks to be performed, and other use-relevant features. Users' requirements and requests should then be incorporated into the document's design.

Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design

Quality for Customers' Sake

Executives as well as customers demand quality from technical communicators. However, the requirements of both groups seem hard to combine: Executives want quality to be achieved inside the company by applying quality standards without causing any delay or additional costs. Establishing customer-based quality, on the other hand, usually demands extra money and extra time. Nevertheless both demands can and should be utilized for developing a user-oriented quality system.

Bock, Gabriele. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>User Centered Design>Quality