> Just two questions -
>
> what industry are you in?
Telecommunications. The folks I work with most deal with a satellite
telephone system that gets sold around the world, including lots of 3rd
world countries. Personally, I'm a consultant to the group, and I deal
with user issues, including documentation.
> Is it possible for internal reviewers to have the same impact?
Inspectors are internal reviewers. It's a peer review, basically, though
one's place in the hierarchy is not as significant as one's ability to
contribute or one's need to stay in touch with a development.
> Is it possible that people might be diverted from the real issues by
> having to comply to the requirements of internal inspectors (as seems to
> happen in some other inspection and accreditation processes)
There are outside auditors for ISO certification who descend on the
company from time to time, but they have nothing to do with the inspection
process I was talking about.
One of the appealing things about the ISO approach (again,I'm speaking as
a private, not a general) is that the yardsticks are primarily internal.
You're not getting assessed on an external set of criteria or getting
compared to somebody else's ideal of the way things should be done.
There are some requirements imposed on top of existing work (like doing
internal inspections in some fashion and documenting some key things), and
they can seem like makework/paperwork initially, but I don't see how
"people might be diverted from the real issues" at all. Perhaps I'm
missing your point.
I'll also forward you another email on the nitty gritty of inspections.
cheers
Bill Buxton
--"William Buxton" <wbuxton@hns.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>