In a world where appetizers often are more important than the meals themselves, repeated information and news can become boring. That is, what appears to be new attracts more than what actually is new.

Effective reporting likewise suffers from this tendency.

As an obstinate ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO/TS 16949 auditor, my reference for reporting is obviously ISO 19011, the guidelines for auditing management systems. It’s not a bad standard, except for one thing: It doesn’t require auditors to review the audit report for understanding; it only requires that the audit findings be agreed on between the audit parties.

Understanding is one thing, agreement quite another: We all know that, when the audit parties meet to close the audit, they just want to finish up as quickly as possible. They will argue a finding only when it affects them personally. Any problems the company will face when addressing the nonconformances are the least of their worries.

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