How we approach a transition

Every tool in the package follows the same few principles. They come from watching transitions go well and badly in small aerospace shops, and they are the reason the tools are built the way they are.

1. Answer from the record, not from memory. Every self-check answer names the record looked at. A plan built on what people believe is in place fails at the first sample.
2. Records first, procedures second, training third. The record is what the auditor samples and what shows the change working. Procedures written around a working record are short and true; training on an issued procedure sticks.
3. Do the cheap things now. About a third of the change items are small and useful for today's AS9100D audits: a tested restore, a safety line on the change form, counterfeit training for the buyer, a sentence in the PO terms. Do them before the final text.
4. Hold the wording, not the work. Where the draft may still change, put the practical record in place and hold the procedure and manual wording. Rewriting a quality manual twice costs more than it teaches.
5. Plan in windows counted from the final text. No one can date the transition yet. Invented dates cost the plan its credibility the first time one moves.
6. One owner and one record per line. Each change item has a named owner and a named record that will show it done, written before the work starts.
7. Review it where the work is decided. The transition is reviewed in the monthly production or operations meeting, not in its own meeting, because it competes with deliveries for the same people.
8. Counts, not scores. Management sees plain counts of your own answers and a plain share of applicable items shown. No weights, no readiness rating to argue about.

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