Should QA (Quality Assurance) be its own independent Department?

[mlin1]

Hello... I'm a QA Manager in a med size company. My department has been it's own department until recently. We've been put under the umbrella with the Development Team. I have a real concern about this since I feel that QA should be a stand alone department because we drive "quality" for all aspect of and for the company, not just one specific area. I would like to hear back from others on your opinion regarding this subject and provide feedback on why you feel it's important that QA is an independent department, or why you feel it should NOT be.

Thank you,
QA Manager

[somashekar]

Originally Posted by mlin1

Hello... I'm a QA Manager in a med size company. My department has been it's own department until recently. We've been put under the umbrella with the Development Team. I have a real concern about this since I feel that QA should be a stand alone department because we drive "quality" for all aspect of and for the company, not just one specific area. I would like to hear back from others on your opinion regarding this subject and provide feedback on why you feel it's important that QA is an independent department, or why you feel it should NOT be.

Thank you,
QA Manager

I have always visualized each department as a quality department and believe that if this is achieved, the purpose is served. Your whole efforts should be in developing the quality and process approach concept and make everyone in the organization think feel and say that they belong to the QUALITY <whatever> department. Could you do that ? ....... wish you well.

[Jim Wynne]

Originally Posted by mlin1

Hello... I'm a QA Manager in a med size company. My department has been it's own department until recently. We've been put under the umbrella with the Development Team. I have a real concern about this since I feel that QA should be a stand alone department because we drive "quality" for all aspect of and for the company, not just one specific area. I would like to hear back from others on your opinion regarding this subject and provide feedback on why you feel it's important that QA is an independent department, or why you feel it should NOT be.

Thank you,
QA Manager

It all depends on the culture. In an ideal world, there would be no quality department, or dedicated inspectors, or quality managers. In some companies the quality manager is a police chief, and in others he/she directs improvement activities and manages the quality system. If, as you say, the quality department is expected to "...drive 'quality' for all aspect of the company..." there's probably something wrong somewhere. Top management should be responsible for "driving" quality, and if that responsibility is thoughtlessly delegated, the need for a quality department will perpetuate itself.

Added in edit: Welcome to the Cove!

[mlin1]

Thanks for your response.. However, the reason why I love my job, is because I have the opportunity to provide support, and suggestions on process improvements, to drive consistancy, and maintain "quality" throughout a company task, ot a project life-cycle. I would agree that Top Management should be there to help "drive" this, but it should be the responsibility of the QA Manager to implement and maintain the "quality flow" through-out the organization.

[sfkevin]

Quality should be working with all departments. It should not matter whose “umbrella” you are under as long as you do have the independence you are required to have. I would think of it as a plus that you and the Development Team work together at the beginning to help with requirement standardization, and understating the customer’s goals. This should help make everything work better in the long run for the company as a whole.

[mlin1]

Thank you for your reply.. I would agree that for each department there is a level of quality that is focused on, but within each department, that "quality" is only focused on "their" department, where a QA Manager looks "outside" the box and makes sure "quality" covers the whole organization.

[Jim Wynne]

Originally Posted by mlin1

...it should be the responsibility of the QA Manager to implement and maintain the "quality flow" through-out the organization.

Why? Why shouldn't each department manager be responsible for that? If a process approach is used (and "process approach" is given something more than lip service) managers need to collaborate across department lines, and department circumscriptions need to fade. The fact that a quality department is expected to be a police force or some sort of evangelical organization is evidence that management hasn't established what Deming referred to as "constancy of purpose." IMO, if there's a dedicated quality department, its mission should be to facilitate elimination of itself.

[mlin1]

Thank you for your quick response.. I would agree with you when it comes to a "project" standpoint, and our QA department does work with the dev team from the start til the end, however, QA covers just more than the tasks that relate to "development".