In our last episode, we looked at how the crew of the USS Enterprise might have employed quality management systems (QMS) to help streamline their processes, mitigate risks, and foster continuous improvement throughout the galaxy. Now we will continue our “trek” and look at some of the other areas that might have been covered within the Enterprise’s QMS.

Employee training. Starfleet Academy is said to be the finest in the system, and all recruits come out of it with a wealth of knowledge. No matter what the problem, there always seems to be a crewmember who not only knows how to fix it, but has an endless capacity to create a mundane analogy to explain a complicated process: “We have to reverse the polarity of the tachyon pulse to divert the energy back into the enemy’s tractor beam, causing a feedback loop that will break the link between the two ships—like putting too much air in a balloon.”

Ah, now I get it!

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