The New Year is that magical moment when we believe that this time we will really make it. Gym, diet, regular audits... all right, let us focus on the last one.
Here are 3 quality resolutions that may be worth putting on the list right next to "drink more water":
1. We stop saying "the auditor wants it this way"
The new official sentence for 2026:
"We do it because it makes sense for our process."
The auditor:
- will check,
- will ask,
- will write it down.
But we are the ones living with this system all year round.
2. Quality without one-day heroes
This year:
- firefighting is not our standard,
- we value stability more than heroic "saving the delivery",
- we build processes that work without superhuman effort.
Because the best quality is the one that does not require miracles.
3. Corrective action does not equal "train the employee" (seriously!)
- before we write "training", we will check the process,
- before we close the issue, we will make sure the problem does not return like an Australian boomerang,
- and the words "corrective action" will mean more than the first idea that comes into someone's head.
I do not promise miracles. But the absence of repeated mistakes? That one, yes.
To sum up:
let us not promise ourselves a perfect system. Let us simply promise ourselves fewer sentences like "because it has always been this way" and more like "what can I do to improve it?"
And if we break one of those resolutions in February...
well, in March we can always implement a corrective action.
Happy New Year, and may it be a quality one!