When You Know How to Do It, but Don’t Know How to Say It: My Journey in Quality

For years, I worked on the production floor solving real problems, watching the process from start to finish, and understanding exactly what happened when something went wrong. But there was something I lacked: The terminology.

I heard words like deviation, root cause analysis, prevention, or correction… and even though I didn’t know the terms at the time, I was already doing all of those things every single day.

Because here’s the truth:

People on the floor know a deviation better than anyone else. They see it, feel it, and recognize it the moment it happens.

They also perform root cause analysis naturally, because they understand exactly where the issue comes from and how the line behaves in real conditions.

And most importantly:

People on the floor know how to prevent it from happening again. They know which adjustments work, which processes fail, and which operational decisions make the difference. And yes they also know how to correct it. Quickly, efficiently, with hands-on experience and intuition built from reality.

Over time, I learned something I say often today:

Communication is one of the most important skills in quality.

I’ve met QA professionals who master the standards, the schemes, the terminology (FSSC, BRC, ISO)… but who don’t know how to translate those concepts into day-to-day production. And that’s where everything falls apart.

To me, a great QA is not someone who only knows the theory from an office. It’s someone who steps onto the floor, understands the operation, gets their shoes dirty, listens to the team, and connects the theory with real practice.

Because quality doesn’t live in a manual.

Quality lives on the floor.

And the people who make it happen often know more than they realize.