Tag: FD&C

ASQ WCQI 2023 – Member Leader Day

ASQ WCQI starts with Member Leader Day, the one time a year when we actually get the chance to get a large group of member leaders together.

The ASQ continues to grapple with demographics, and I would love to see the demographics of this group of member leaders. Given that 76% of member leaders joined between 1970 and 2020. I would love to see that a little more granular by decade.

I know that the divisions send 2 members each, but I am not sure what sections are allowed for conferences and travel. Given the huge amount of sections compared to divisions, I would not be surprised if there is a different dynamic. If so, then that would skew the demographics even more.

We made it 12 minutes before the membership challenge was brought up. The value of a professional association remains critical to my mind. I feel that a lot of folks in my own organization don’t see the value, let alone among the wider professional group (and I pay for an ASQE membership as well as a few others for people to take advantage of).

Stephanie Gaulding then presented a diversity moment drawing from a post Belonging: A Conversation about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Diagram from Turner Consulting Group 

We then did a brainwriting activity (yes!) on “What is one thing we, as ASQ, Member Leaders, can do together to increase the Society’s value to our members?”

Our table consolidated around push vs pull communications and the value of a personal connection. Other tables talked about entrepreneurship (overuse of the buzz term if you ask me); student organization connections; the value of fun.

I look forward to seeing the full list. More importantly, I would like to see the follow-up. Aspirational activities often end up being just that, with little follow-through.

The CFO then discussed the “Short Term Fixed Income Investment Fund” which seems more directed to the Sections (which seem to sit on a lot of than the Division. Given that on the Division basis, it usually feels like a total lack of money, not sure of the value of this. I definitely zoned out.

And then we got the 3+ year debate on Division funding grumbling through the Q&A. Only took 40 minutes.

We then broke into Geogaphic Communities (the sections) and Technical Community (the divisions). I went to the technical meeting, as I am currently serving as chair-elect of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Division.

One can take, from posts like ASQ Technical Forums and Divisions as Knowledge Communities and my thoughts from the 2022 Member Leader Day that I have struggled over the years with the concept of the technical community (divisions). For all the changes happening in the ASQ, blowing up the technical communities would be my favorite thing to happen.

As an aside, the tendency to focus on longevity as a member leader may be counterintuitive to our desperate need to have new member leaders get more engaged.

Scholarship and Donations (including Sponsorship, Grant, and Honorariums) have been a source of discussion for years. Well overdue in having a procedure for this.

It is always embarrassing when folks ask where to find operating procedures. Document/Content management is a core part of the Quality profession, and the fact member leaders continue to complain they aren’t aware of procedure and do not know how to find it is a black mark.

Way too much time spent on scholarships, it is a small segment of our work yet something we discuss a lot. Not even sure why this is such a hard matter, every kid going to college I know uses CommonApp Having 2 kids currently in college I got to know CommonApp really well). Put the scholarships in that, go from there.

And then myASQ was the topic. Same old topic, new platform. I haven’t had a chance to use the new platform that went live on May 1st. Frankly, my.ASQ has never been part of my daily or weekly internet diet, and often my engagement was driven by folks tagging me and me seeing an email. Hopefully, it will be easier to use and drive more content and discussion. Driving engagement is so critical. And at its heart lies the problem core to a lot of ASQ activities, poor communication.

Communication is a theme throughout today. It is a return to fundamentals around communication plans.

Four board initiatives:

  • Quality 4.0
  • Economic and Environmental Sustainability – this is a hard one for me. I agree we should be discussing, but in every organization I’ve been in, Quality is not welcome at this table.
  • NextGen Mentoring
  • Conference/Event Improvement

Financial Update – everyone’s favorite topic! At the end of the day, the membership cliff means everything to the budget (and lack thereof)

I am becoming more and more convinced that the individual membership model is dead. Individuals cannot afford and do not see the value of paying for a membership, so the only way to get members is to make organizations see the value. And there’s the challenge.

Congratulations to all the member units who won Performance Excellence Program (PEP) awards.

I would like to state that any rubric that is secret is not really a rubric. Also, secret scoring mechanisms may be antithetical to quality principles. Make that PEP rubric public!

myASQ Engagement

I worry that myASQ continues to falter because it is viewed as a social medial tool instead of a knowledge management tool that drives communities of practice. That said, this transition has been driven more by member leaders than past attempts, which makes me feel positive that it will meet some unmet needs.

Like a lot of things, a few more tools like job aids would be greatly appreciated.

ASQE Insights of Excellence and the Quality Body of Knowledge

I am so excited we have moved this ahead. I participated in developing this tool and seeing where it is going excites me so much. So much that this will be another post later this week.

Wrap Up Thoughts

I am so done talking about the impact of the new membership model and whether or not member units were ripped off. And the spin off of the ASQE. And the debacle of the first launch of myASQ.

I want to focus on QBoK and member value realization and how the future is in organizations and not individual members. And doing cool things like poster sessions and a few other ideas in the works as I do the 2nd half of my chair-elect term and gear up for my term as chair of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic division.

I have so many thoughts on IoE and QBoK that will definitely be a separate post. Probably after the ASQE meeting on Tuesday.

ASQ FD&C Boston Poster Session – 13Jun2023

The next ASQ Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Division Boston area poster session will the 13th of June from 3-5 pm, hosted graciously by Veeva Systems. The plan is to co-host this event with the Boston section.

The theme for this session is “A challenge in your QMS you found a solution to (and how)” so start working on your posters. Let us know your plans here.

As a reminder, we will be hosting a May session with the Princeton Section. Looking for poster ideas!

May 23rd Poster Session Planning

ASQ FD&C Boston Poster session – 28Feb2023

Yesterday the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Division of the ASQ hosted a poster session on the question “What are you proud of in your eQMS? What about your implementation or continued use stands out and that you want to share?”

This was our first try and it also happened in one of the few winter weather events we’ve had this season in Boston, but I was incredibly pleased by the turnout and the five posters were all superlative.

I was actually so busy that the only photo I remembered to take was this one, which was actually 10 minutes before our official start time.

There were five posters:

  • Visual Hierarchy (Jeremiah Genest, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals)
  • Smart Numbering & Page Layouts (Kevin Kao, AVROBIO)
  • Minor Deviation Process (Jamie Dupuis, Agios)
  • Supplier Change Notifications – Requirements & Challenges (Russ Jacob, Resilience)
  • Electronic Forms – utilizing templates, tokens, and connectivity (Greg Greene, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals)

I thought each of the posters brought a different bit to the conversation, and wow were there a lot of conversations going on!

I definitely learned that next time I need to get recorded talks from folks. I had originally planned this, but it didn’t happen mostly because I was just too involved in talking about my poster.

I want to say an immense thank you to our very gracious hosts Veeva Systems, who provided a great spot and a whole lot of hospitality. Will Gould was great to work with and really went above-and-beyond as a host.

With the great attendance and the on-the-site feedback, definitely planning on doing this again. A quick survey to gauge interest and help select a topic is here: https://forms.office.com/r/rUf7VRE6Dy

ASQ Poster Session

In 2023 I start my leadership cycle through the Food, Drug and Cosmetic division, starting as chair-elect. This means time to do some content creation! Here’s the first thing I have planned.

The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Division will be hosting a poster share on February 28th from 3-5 pm in Boston, with a cocktail hour afterwards (5-6). The event is being sponsored by Veeva Systems and will be free (big shout out to Veeva!)

We are looking for individuals and companies to share a poster on the theme of “What are you proud of in your eQMS? What about your implementation or continued use stands out and that you want to share?”

If interested in presenting a poster, please complete this form.

We ask that all posters be completed by the 22nd of February so we can get them printed.

We will record the poster presentation and make them available through my.ASQ after the event. Poster presenters must sign a standard ASQ waiver (we will make it available before the event).

An event sign-up will come out in January.

The event is open to all. While I’m thinking the focus will be heavily focused to FD&C and medical device members, other quality professionals will get value.

So please present a poster! I am very excited about this sort of sharing of ideas. I want to keep experimenting with alternative ways to share information and network, and I think the old poster session is something that has renewed utility in this day-and-age. Sort of a speed conference. Easier to create a poster and can be a compact event.