NL-V70-09

By Raymond E. Dyer, ASQ Senior Member, CMQ/OE, CQA, Internet Liaison and Section Secretary

Had You Connected . . . RISK MANAGEMENT

Our last event showcased Jim Moran, an experienced ISO standards professional, trainer, and speaker. The topic was managing risk with ISO 31000. Even before Jim could begin, I started the questions by asking him why ISO 31000 and not 31001 like ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 27001 (you get the idea). This was quickly addressed by Jim reminding us that standards that finish with a “1” are those you can generally get registered to. Those that finish with a “0” are typically guidelines that provide principles, a framework, and a process. In the case of ISO 31000, these guidelines are for managing risk. That is in large part what Jim went through, i.e. the principles, framework, and process for managing risk. He also went into the benefits of doing so. He showed a few approaches or tools used in managing risks, including Ishikawa Diagrams, Process Mapping, Risk Analysis Matrices, Internal Audits, etc. By the way, one attendee did comment that AS9100 was an exception of a standard finishing by “0” that you can get registered to (thanks Michael) . . . (Editor’s Note: You’re welcome).

My challenge in writing this article was that I was also moderating the webinar, and so not really taking notes. There were a few amusing stories Jim raised that caught my attention, most notably when he talked about “in his time” they used five and a quarter inch floppy disks. I reflected on that with amusement given I still remember a time we stored programs on cassette tapes and even go as far back as providing program instructions on decks of punched out cards back in university!

One of the benefits of being the moderator is having access to survey (or poll) feedback from our Webex host J.P. Amiel. I hope not to repeat too much information that our Voice of the Customer Chair Amine Djeffal will report, but here is some of the feedback:

– Great topic and presentation. – Great presentation! Much appreciated! – Thank you everyone, great presentation 🙂 – Thanks for organizing this excellent event! I only miss the human interaction! – Like the idea of survey as we go! Keeps the audience engaged! – Thanks for an outstanding presentation. – Very interesting subject. It will be nice to go a bit deeper on it. – Thank you, great presentation. – Interesting presentation on topic. Highly knowledgeable presenter. – Thank you Ray, ASQ Section and Jim Moran.

I shared the video recording with Véronique B. who could not attend, but wanted to know if she could hear the recording of the event. Her feedback was: “Great presentation, I really appreciate it. Jim is really a good communicator, he knows what he is talking about and I liked his vision. I also laughed several times such as when he mentioned the floppy disk ;-). Good job inviting him.” Thank you Véronique for the feedback.

Now we did get feedback about opportunities to improve on both the presentation and the format as well, namely to incorporate more practical examples in the presentation and to consider opening the format to encourage more exchange amongst the attendees, many of whom no doubt know each other. For example, one participant asked if it would be possible to see fellow attendees during the first few opening minutes of the event. We’ll need to explore the implications of this latter suggestion, but the feedback has been registered. Thanks!

As I said when kicking off the event, I’ve enjoyed Jim Moran’s weekly emailed bulletins on various topics surrounding the ISO world of standards for over a year and a half. They’re reasonable in duration, informative, and somewhat amusing, at least to me. If you’re interested in subscribing to them, visit https://simplifyiso.com/. I look forward to hearing from you at our next event! Thanks for attending and participating.