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The ASQ Design and Construction Division recently initiated an
effort to define a Body of Knowledge (BOK) for Design Quality
Management. For many years, stakeholders in the construction
industry have been modernizing the practice of construction
quality, incorporating the modern science learned from
manufacturing applications. However, practices in design quality
have often remained static, primarily relying on the review of
paper plans. When errors are discovered they can be corrected, but
often the root causes of the errors in the design process are not
corrected, and many errors and omissions go undiscovered until it
hits construction.
This situation is not surprising. Most design professionals have
little formal training in the design process quality. They have
traditionally gained experience going from project to project,
picking up ad-hoc skills for specific design problems. There are
few programs that teach the design process as a system. The Design
and Construction Division hopes to contribute to the improvement of
this situation by providing design managers with a basic framework
of the fundamentals that influence design quality. While this
initiative can’t solve existing design process deficiencies on
its own, it could provide these design managers with a set of goals
to help them establish improved skill training for their
professionals.
This proposed Design Quality Management Body of Knowledge (DQMBOK)
will focus on the design of the built environment; the
Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry. While
design quality is an important part of product delivery, this BOK
will focus on the quality of project delivery. Projects in
the built environment have a unique character based on several
factors; large size, long lifecycle, custom designs only used once,
construction done by a separate organization, local regulation
based on location, and professional licensure of the designer. This
BOK will be developed in such a way that is useful to all licensed
design professionals; engineers, architects, landscape architects,
and interior designers.
Because project design is both a science and an art, adapting the
scientific principles of quality management to this area will be
difficult. Fitness for purpose in design can have many definitions.
While engineering performance might be objectively measured,
determining stakeholder satisfaction can be elusive. How do we rate
the quality of a bridge with no errors or omissions if it also has
architectural treatments that the public doesn’t like? There
is some material out there to help us, such as the writings of
Herbert Simon, who proposed a draft curriculum to teach design as a
professional skill.
A body of knowledge may have to be benchmarked from many other
creative activities, such as software development, concurrent
product development, advertising, and medical research. Even if a
final outline for a DQMBOK is slow in coming, the very activity of
trying to define it may produce basic guidelines that can be used
by professionals to begin improving design quality
The DQMBOK initiative was introduced to the American Society for
Quality members at the 2007 ASQ World Conference for Quality and
Improvement in Orlando, Florida. The goal of the Design and
Construction Division is to have a rough draft of the DQMBOK
compiled by the end of 2008. Once a draft has been completed, it
will be presented to various ASQ members and AEC sector
stakeholders for review and feedback. The eventual goal is to
develop this BOK into a new specialty ASQ certification that will
compliment the Quality Manager certification in the same way that
the specialty Biomedical and HAACP Auditor certifications
compliment the Quality Auditor certification.
An effective body of knowledge and certification program in design
quality will provide a reference point for both owners purchasing
design services and firms providing them. The availability of
certification programs tailored for the AEC community will provide
an important benchmark to help large design and construction
programs define their goals for project quality, particularly those
with contractual requirements for full time design and construction
quality managers.
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