The Zero Defects Option

by Dave Crosby

“The Whole Idea Is To Prevent Defects!”Web www.qualitynews.com“The Zero Defects Option”How To Get Your People To Do Things Rightby Dave Crosby.This short book—just 100 pages—is based on the premise that Every Leader Has The Option To Have Work Done Right – or Not. Defects happen when leaders do not exercise their Zero Defects (ZD) option. “Many leaders don’t even realize that they have the option,” says author Dave Crosby. The book explains the ZD concept, and describes the “Seven Principles of Defect Prevention,” that a leader must understand and observe to exercise their Zero Defects Option; and have work done right. These principles are in play if the leader knows it or not.The seven principles deal with such things as the cause of mistakes, the meaning of quality, quality and performance standards, and the leaders role in defects prevention“Producing a defect free product or service doesn’t depend on gimmick programs or technical advances,” says Crosby. “Quality is a leadership option. Actually, Quality is Easy. Explaining problems to the boss or the customer, and paying for work done wrong is what’s difficult. ”The book shows how Zero Defects applies to all organizations performing Commercial and consumer manufacturers, military and governmental agencies, sports teams, schools, magazine and newspaper publishers, and even philharmonic orchestras.Crosby gives one example of preventing defects in a non-manufacturing business. He quotes the late Eugene Ormandy, musical director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The maestro explains how he got the “Ormandy Sound, or the Philadelphia sound.” How did he do it? He exercised his option to have work—the music—done right. Ormandy told Crosby that, “When Toscanini stood in front of our orchestra, in fifteen minutes he transformed it to a different sound. It was no longer the so-called Philadelphia Sound, or Ormandy Sound, but his sound.” “You might say that every leader has his or her own sound,” adds CrosbyAuthor Dave Crosby has fifty years experience in the field of quality control, quality management, and software development. He served as corporate director of quality for RCA, General Instruments, and Portec Inc. In 1980 he formed The Crosby Company to produce training programs and software for Statistical Process Control (SPC). His SPC software was the first available for the personal computer. His other books include NBS Quality, and Quality is Easy. The U.S. Army awarded Dave the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal for his contribution to the Army Zero Defects program. It is the highest award the Army presents to a civilian.“The Zero Defects Option” is short – just one hundred pages. “Keeping it short was the hardest part of writing the book,” says Crosby. “I had to fight down the urge to preach to management and tell funny stories. I just let the readers know how they can improve their work and their life by producing a quality product or service.” Along with the Ormandy example, there is one short success story about a small screw machine company that improved from 25% defective to zero defects in thirty days using the ideas in this book. The book is available on Amazon.com, book stores, and www.qualitynews.com.

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2008