In our last Mentor’s meeting, we had quite a spirited debate over what constitutes a "good aim". Why is this important? An aim should help focus the organization and let it know what is important and what is not. It also forms the basis of the measurement system. It provides the "purpose" part of Deming’s number 1 point -- Create Constancy of Purpose.

We decided it is inappropriate for us, the Quality Mentors, to pass judgment on whether an aim is the "best" for a process. Ultimately, the only valid evaluation criteria for an aim is whether it leads you to do the right things...to become competitive, to stay in business, and to provide jobs. We, the Mentors, cannot decide this. Only time and customer feedback will tell. We looked at the ACORN test. While all the ACORN attributes are desirable in an aim, we did not feel they were essential to an effective aim. Also, the evaluation of these attributes is subjective to the point of being worthless. One aim scored from -50 to +160 depending on who was doing the scoring. We decided to use the ACORN test as a guide and not an evaluation tool.

In the end, we chose two criteria to judge the goodness of aims. First, does the aim give an idea of what the process provides to it’s customers? This helps to avoid vague, meaningless aims such as "Provide quality and happiness to all the world" or "Deliver highest value all the time for increased customer satisfaction." While these may be noble ideas, they do nothing to focus an organization.

The second criteria is measurability. Does the aim give a clear idea of what must be measured to determine how effectively it is being met? We are not passing judgment on how easy the measurement is or how valid it is. Again, only time will tell.

After some reflection, I would probably add a third criteria. Does the aim conflict with the overall company aim? This will have to be approved by the Mentor’s but I don’t anticipate a lot of disagreement on this one.

It is the job of each Mentor to work with the Process Owner to determine the validity of an aim. It is the job of the Process Owner to continually re-evaluate the aim in light of customer feedback.

The next page shows a list of which aims were approved according to these criteria.