Quality in Unexpected Places: Books and Movies!
(Image Credit: Doug Buckley of http://hyperactive.to)
Continuing ASQ CEO Paul Borawski’s March discussion about finding quality in unexpected places, one of the places I LOVE to see quality problems and solutions appear are in works of fiction – books and/or movies. Although I’ve encountered many examples over the past several years, I just started keeping track of these about a year ago on my Quality in Fiction & Drama list.
The ones I have so far are: Unstoppable (movie), Bad Luck and Trouble (book), and The Story of B (book). I didn’t include Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (book) because it just didn’t move me – but your experience may have been different, and if so, I’d like to hear about it.
Do you have more examples to add? I would love to include them. Just post a synopsis of the quality-related book or movie, your name, and a web site where people can find out more about you or your business to the comments on this page, and I’ll update the list with your new info. THANKS!
My pick is Tucker: The Man and His Dream, which profiled Preston Tucker and the creation of his innovative Tucker brand of automobiles in Post-WW2 USA.
Michael Keaton movie Gung Ho, as a commentary on the evolution of quality culture in the 1980s, and American adjustment to a different approach.
The movie Man of the Year approaches quality from a software testing perspecitve, with dramatic elements of corruption and vote-rigging to keep everyone interested.
Couldn’t make it through Zen… – felt a bit too self-indulgent, although I recognize that it speaks to many people.