QA professionals should constantly seek to pursue potential opportunities for improvement. This process is officially referred to as ‘continual improvement’ (the correct term according to the most recent ISO 9000:2015, which defines it as ‘recurring activity to enhance performance’). However, throughout the industry we see it referred to as ‘continuous improvement’ as well. There’s a lot of confusion between the terms, and they’re often used interchangeably.
As far as the common consensus goes; continual improvement has a notably incremental system, whereby improvements will be made, then there’s a pause to measure and analyse the success, and thereafter further improvements are made. Basically a stop/start model where improvements are made one after the other.
Continuous improvement, on the other hand, never stops. It’s a steady, uninterrupted and sustained process of development. One of the most common applications of continuous improvement is Lean. This approach aims to embed a culture of continuous improvement (Kaizen culture).
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