KieranTimberlake Associates is a mid-sized architectural firm recognized for the quality and originality of its design, and for the research which informs its work. In 2003 we used an AIA Latrobe Fellowship grant to study forward-looking design and fabrication processes employed by the automotive, aircraft and shipbuilding industries, with a focus on lessons for the building construction industry. One of the things which struck us about the manufacture of cars, planes and ships was the use of ISO standards to provide a consistent approach to quality assurance in design and fabrication processes throughout the complex supply chains of these industries.

We know from direct experience the difficulty of quality control in the multi-party enterprise of building design and construction. For many years, the approach to quality control in our office was informal but effective, relying upon close involvement in all aspects of projects by partners and senior staff. However, as our firm grew and the size and complexity of our projects increased, the risks posed by inconsistent practices and lack of built-in checks multiplied, requiring us to seek a more structured approach to quality management of our working processes. Drawing on our investigation of quality assurance in the Latrobe research, three years ago we decided to pursue ISO 9001:2000 certification as a way of managing quality within our firm.

ISO is an international federation of national standards organizations which aligns the structure and requirements of many constituent national standards. One of the most widely used standards, ISO 9001, establishes requirements for quality management and assurance systems within an organization. In this context, ‘quality’ is defined simply as efficiently meeting client and regulatory requirements. ISO 9001:2000 (the current version) consists of an outline of requirements for the scope and operations of an effective quality management system, with sections which address management responsibility, resource stewardship, product/service planning and realization, performance measurement, analysis and improvement. Though originally developed for manufacturing industries, ISO 9001 is a generic management system standard in that it can be applied to any organization which produces products or services. The focus on quality as the outcome of process meshes well with the operations of creative service professions like architectural design and engineering, among which ISO 9001 is beginning to make significant inroads.

ISO 9001 is based upon a ‘process approach’ to implementing a quality management system. Attaining and maintaining certification requires that an organization: 1) define the processes by which it conducts work in a manner which facilitates analysis and improvement; 2) structure these processes so they build in quality assurance practices which are measurable and recordable; 3) deliberately monitor the way it works to ensure that the defined processes are followed and incorporate the quality measures identified as necessary and important to its practice; and 4) adjust the processes as opportunities for improvement or correction are discovered. This “Plan, Do, Monitor, Learn” cycle, integral to the concept of continual improvement, operates at multiple levels within ISO 9001. We felt at home with the Plan and Do steps of this cycle; our challenge was to ingrain Monitor and Learn into our firm in a way which wouldn’t stifle the creativity of our design process, the open culture of our workplace or the originality of our designs.

The first step we took toward ISO certification was documenting a management system for our practice—a comprehensive description of the way that we work. With the assistance of John Broomfield, a systems consultant, we defined normative processes for the key work interactions within the firm, a total of 41 processes covering project management, design resources, administration, business operations, IT, HR and quality assurance. These descriptions are developed as flow charts--generalized road maps conveying the key roles, steps, decisions, checks and records involved in managing the firm and the design projects we undertake. We defined these processes as they usually occurred rather than as we thought they should work, recognizing that they may be imperfect, but can be examined and improved upon. The ISO 9000 standard intruded into one corner of this activity, introducing quality assurance processes to address internal auditing, corrective and preventive actions, and management of our QA/QC system.

We also assembled the forms, formats and instructions developed for managing and standardizing our work, and established a control system to identify these documents, indicate whether they are current, and link them to our process descriptions where relevant. We named the resulting creature KTMS, which could stand for KieranTimberlake Management System, but also served as admonition to Keep Things Mighty Simple.

With KTMS in place, we drafted a quality policy for the firm, with measurable goals and specific priorities. Our quality policy requires that we monitor our work and make improvements to the way we work based upon what we learn—activity governed by quality assurance processes defined in KTMS. During the following nine months we introduced KTMS and our quality policy to the office staff, conducted a cycle of internal audits of our working practices, identified many issues requiring attention, and initiated corrective actions which involved the entire office.

Verifying an ISO compliant quality management system involves external auditing and certification by an accrediting agency. We choose Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) to review our system and audit the firm for compliance with ISO 9001. The audit sequence consisted of a preliminary document review, an in-depth accreditation audit, and annual surveillance visits during the three year period of the certification. Our relationship with LRQA is valuable, providing unbiased feedback on our quality practices and producing mutual respect. We attained certification in January 2006, and are coming up on our third surveillance visit this summer.

The cost of this effort has been significant. In addition to a year of preparation, maintaining ISO compliance of KTMS occupies a third of one associate’s time for managing ongoing audits and improvement activity, and adds responsibility for record keeping and feedback to project managers. The benefits to the firm are gradual but profound. It has enabled us to correct some long-standing deficiencies and standardize best practices, without becoming too procedural or bureaucratic. It has helped us maintain a balance between analytical rigor and creative intuition.