5.3. Policies and Procedures

We need policies, procedures, and documented work processes to assure consistent quality and service and to work safely, as the head of any chemical plant or nuclear facility will tell you—with passion. Reliable methods ensure that people use the same processes to help guarantee reliability. It's not profitable for people in a company to reinvent the wheel every time they do what someone in another part of the company did yesterday. We need policies and procedures to communicate expectations and standards.

In a speed-driven world, though, where customer demands and standards seem to shift daily, people also need the latitude to make decisions quickly. We can't expect them to "do it the way they've always done it" ...

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