Not sure how I missed this, but back in February de facto US TAG leader Jack West, alongside his joined-at-the-hip pal Charles Cianfrani, did their usual bit and published a book on ISO 9001:2015 before it was even finalized.
Bearing a title that is guaranteed to hobble your tongue (“ISO 9001 Revision Companion 2015 & Beyond”), this one was based on the DIS, so no doubt the Jack & Chuck Show will spit out a new one after the FDIS is released next week, and then a third version when the final IS hits.
West did this previously, with earlier revisions of ISO 9001. His pattern is to release the book during draft stages, and then update it with newer “editions” every time the draft moved through an approval, effectively pushing readers to buy the book two or three times. There’s no evidence that anyone was stupid enough to do that, but there’s evidence that suggests he thinks people are that stupid. That’s nice.
Without any shred of humility, the book declares it’s written by “two of the biggest names in the world of QMS” which also ignores some of the irony, since one of the reasons West’s name is “big” in QMS is because he appears to be such an utter failure.
It’s interesting to see that the $19.95 book was not published in actual print, but only on Kindle, and not by any of the usual suspects (ASQ Press or Paton), but instead by his ISO 9000 conference outfit the “American Quality Institute,” which means he self-published an e-book. He now shares the same level of publishing status with that of Dan Nelson. And me. That’s gotta hurt.
If you needed any more evidence that the US TAG has been utterly corrupted by cronyism and profiteering, while simultaneously failing to achieve the least bit of traction for US interests within the halls of ISO and abroad, this is it.
It’s time for the West-Jarvis-Hunt reign to end. It’s time to stop keeping selfish privateers in control of the official US positions on things as important as international standards. You know what you have to do.
And for God’s sake, guys: update your headshots. You’re not fooling anyone.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
