According to Phil Crosby, the study of quality has a lot in common with sex! Everyone wants more of it (under certain conditions); everyone believes they understand it (even if they can’t explain it); everyone thinks they’re good at it (another case of delusions of adequacy?); and of course we all believe that any problems are caused by other people.

It is difficult to have a meaningful discussion on sex, quality or any other complex subject until some basic assumptions are clarified. That is what this chapter is about. Read it and you will not only have a much better understanding of what quality is all about, but also some useful ideas that you can apply. Alas I can’t claim that it will improve your sex life!

Ask a group of people to name a quality product and the likelihood is that they will mention Rolex, Rolls Royce or Prada. This is because there is a tendency to measure quality in terms of price and prestige. The implications of this are that most people, unable to afford such luxuries, are deprived of quality. Yet there are many mid-price quality products available such as Tissot watches and Skoda cars (once the byword for junk on wheels). What we have to do is measure quality not in terms of price or prestige but relative to fitness for purpose; does the product or service do what we want it to do and is it accessible in terms of price and availability?

I chose 1980 as the starting point for theories in this section because, despite earlier work by many writers, it was an interview with William Edwards Deming on NBC TV in 1980 that sparked off the so-called quality revolution. In the interview Deming was asked why America couldn’t catch up with Japan in terms of manufacturing quality products. He warned the American public that he wasn’t aware that Japan was waiting to be caught.