A Way to Define Quality Metrics That Works

In the United States over the past few years, the focus on managing and improving quality has broadened to include the very early stages of the product realization process. Many managers in the R&D environment are driven by the imperative to get to the marketplace quickly, yet are aware of the high costs of not planning and designing early on for customer needs. These managers often feel that it is important to evaluate the quality of their internal products and the efficiency of their internal work processes, but lack proven processes by which to do so.