Meeting Spec

What is “Spec”?

Specifications are shared expectations.

The more people share the expectation, the truer the spec becomes. But when someone decides spec doesn’t work, we have two choices:

1. We follow our first inclination: to throw the anomaly away.
2. We do what Deming taught Toyota: stop the production line and review it.

The trouble with Option 1 is that those ‘anomalies’ will compound. You’re left with the challenge of bailing faster than you take on water.

So we’re left with Option 2. If we must stop production to review things that don’t meet spec, it’ll get addressed quickly, and the whole team will be stronger for it.

You’re not using Option 1, are you?