Hello, I hope your weekend is exactly what you need it to be. My name is John and I do the things around here which include talking too much and helping people with their problems. I thought it would be useful to go over some audit related language as I find it useful to understand. I do all sorts of audits in my work and I come across this phrase as a common answer. In some ways, there's some tongue in cheek going on with this write-up. I think we can agree it'll be good for the weekend read.
It depends
How many of you have done and audit, been in an audit, or been audited and the only answer you can come up with for a question is "it depends"? It depends on X, it always does. The thing is though, this isn’t a non-answer or even a bad one. This answer should inform you, when you receive it, the person who responded this way can see a whole bunch of solutions for you and they actually aren’t sure which one is the best.
So what depends, exactly? Nearly everything.
One of my services is to assist with systems compliance. Compliance to requirements (ISO/CFR/AS) quite often “depends”. It depends on auditor opinion. It depends on how you have documented “x”. It depends on how your process is structured. It just depends. Some things will be black and white. Some things will require discussion and investigation.
What is dependence though? What is it in these situations?
Context. “It depends” is all about context of the situation. Context. We usually hear this word on the news when someone is whining about “being taken out of context”. They are invoking the “it depends” defense here and quite often it is useful, is it always true….no, it depends.
Context is an important component of a quality system. Everything within the system exists contextually to another piece. An internal audit system cannot function without a training structure to prepare the auditors for what they need to do to accomplish their work. The production system cannot operate without contextual intermingling with quality control and assurance actions and personnel.
"It depends" reveals deep contextual relationships
When we go around the “it depends” carousel, we are exploring the interdependencies of business processes, their systems, and the relationships of these. Relationships too live in a contextual world. We cannot function in business without some sort of relationship with coworkers. The depth and functionality of each relationship…depends on roles, personalities, process interaction, etc. Dependency and context run through the systems we develop at work. Neglect your dependencies at great risk. A large component of my observed dependencies where relationships have been ignored, broken, and just plain sabotaged: the operations to quality relationship. It is a travesty how often these two functions have a history of hostile interactions.
Homework: go find out where relationships in your place of work are where they should be...or are not. I have other posts you should look into about mechanisms to help. And you can call me.
Seek understanding of dependencies
So what the hell is the point then? Well, the answer of “it depends” isn’t a cop-out. It is often quite informed. Few things in your business are yes/no. They are often highly dependent on something else. So don’t fret when you are on the spot and the best thing which comes to mind is “it depends”.
Additionally, if you aren't able to get to the "it depends" answer yourself, take the time to look at the dependencies of your organization. You might just find some opportunities for improvement.
Start. Somewhere. and dependencies
My systems are built to teach you how to look for improvement opportunity. A functional component is showing my clients how to find dependencies. Once you identify them we then embark on determining if those serve the business or are they dysfunctional. If you'd like to know more, schedule a free consultation. Together, lets start somewhere.
