How the scientific method can turn a daily habit into a quality tool THE LAW OF gravity doesn’t depend on cally developing hypotheses, and observ- take advantage of this opportunity repre- humanity’s understanding of it to have ing, measuring, testing, and reformulating sents the hypothesis. an effect. Humans knew how to interact these hypotheses until their explanatory Similar to forming the best hypothesis with gravity—to an extent—far before Sir powers were satisfactory. The result- for a scientific experiment, it is impor- Isaac Newton “discovered” it. ing scientific understanding increased tant to consider all available data when Likewise, the principles of quality people’s abilities to function in this formulating a plan. management didn’t arrive with ISO 9001. universe. Test: Carrying out the plan correlates Successful organizations understood to the testing or experimental phase these basic principles long before the The science behind PDCA of the scientific method. Organizations first standard was published. Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) represents implement their plans akin to a scientist Before Newton, people understood an intersection between the scientific observing and measuring nature to test a the effects of gravity enough to success- method and everyday operations. Given hypothesis. fully shoot an arrow, but they were un- an objective, whatever process is defined Analyze: After completing testing, able to elicit gravity in abstract concepts to achieve that objective can be—and organizations check results to determine because there was no empirical method often unknowingly is—subject to PDCA. whether they are acceptable. behind it. In an ideal situation, as soon as an If more improvement is needed, it is Newton’s work with gravity allowed idea to achieve an objective is consid- the same as a scientist finding a false hy- us to develop a scientific understanding ered, a plan is conceptualized to follow pothesis. The organization must go back of this natural phenomenon by systemi- through on that idea. After a plan seems to the hypothesis (plan) stage and use the robust enough to ac- additional data gathered from the first count for all potential test to create a new plan and retest it. risks in achieving the Report: If the results are perfect, an objective, the plan is organization should report this conclu- implemented. sion by standardizing the process. This is The method seems ba- the final “act” stage of PDCA. sic, but it can be easy to While some quality tools can seem skip or skim over steps if abstract or unnecessary from the surface, the logic behind each is explaining the logic behind them helps not properly understood. get employees on board with improve- That is why it is impor- ment plans. It is up to top management tant for quality profes- to take ownership of these improvement sionals to understand procedures to ensure all steps are being that PDCA is rooted in taken and only acceptable results are the scientific method— standardized. Otherwise, the same results a sound approach to can be expected. QP reaching the best pos- sible conclusion. T. DAN NELSON is principal at T. D. Nelson Consulting in Groton, NY. He Hypothesis: After has an MBA from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. recognizing an opportu- nity for improvement, the plan put in place to