Story 18: Quality
The story: They both agreed to raise the quality bar. Then he spent three weeks refining a logo, two versions, barely distinguishable. She was baffled. Quality takes time, he said. Three weeks on a logo, she said. They had agreed on the standard and never on what it applied to, or what it was worth.
What it means for organisations: Raising the quality bar sounds like an unambiguous good, which is why it rarely gets a second sentence. But quality only means something against a cost. Higher than what, on which work, instead of what else. Left unsaid, each person applies the bar wherever their own instincts already point, and the ones who apply it hardest look most committed right up to the moment the schedule breaks.
Where next?
Read the comic as text
The Alignment Gap, Story 18
by Stavros Stavru, Ph.D. (weallagreed.com)
Scene 1: The meeting room
A conference room with a long table covered in laptops, notebooks, cups, and a small plant. A large screen hangs on the wall, and a pinboard and windows onto the city surround them. Ally sits at one end, gesturing with conviction. Axel sits across from her, nodding along.
Ally: We must raise the quality bar.
Axel: Totally agree.
Banner between scenes: “What could go wrong?”
Scene 2: The reveal
The same office. The big screen now shows two versions of the AhaPlay logo, one above the other, almost identical. Axel stands beside the screen, proudly presenting. Ally sits back in her chair with her arms crossed, stunned.
Ally: What? Three weeks on a logo tweak?
Axel: But quality takes time…
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