Experience teaches us that most quality problems can be preempted, or at least prevented from recurring, if you make it a habit to ask seven simple questions: what, where, who, how much, when, why, and how.

What: Ask what are you trying to achieve, or what is the desired outcome (of your business or your process)? Or, what does “value” mean to your customer? Or, what can go wrong (trying to anticipate risks so that you can build preventive controls into the process)? Or, what is the definition of a defect for your process?

Where: Ask where does the work or the process actually happen? The Japanese call this place gemba. Depending on what business you are in, this could be your factory or customer-service location, or classroom, or wherever your company’s operations take place, and wherever customers interact with your company. Go there to observe the process as it happens. You can’t do this sitting in a meeting room or inside your office.

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