QM Song: Plan, Do, Check, Act in a 90s Groove

Heiko Schulz attended a quality auditor training course at TÜV Rheinland Akademie in Cologne, which Dr. Roland Scherb taught there as a lecturer. On the evening before the exam, he turned the topic of quality management into music – as 90s-style hip-hop. He created the song using the AI music platform Suno. We are publishing it here with his kind permission.

The PDCA cycle as an earworm

The technical core lies in the pre-chorus:

This is the PDCA cycle – the foundation of every management system according to ISO 9001 and the basis of continual improvement. The bridge picks it up again: „Vom Plan zum Tun. Vom Check zum Akt.“ (“From plan to do. From check to act.”) We have rarely seen the control loop explained so memorably.

The first song to pass the 3-2-1 rule

For good documentation, we have long used a simple test, the 3-2-1 rule of documentation: your documentation is excellent if, even after three years, a second person can explain the matter to another person.

The QM Song passes this test with ease. Anyone who has heard it twice will still be able to explain the PDCA cycle in three years’ time – singing, if necessary. And it meets the second principle as well: describe only what you actually need. Four words, one control loop, not a single chapter too many.

With a wink

The chorus promises: „Das ist das Qualitätsmanagement, das jeder kennt!“ (“This is the quality management everyone knows!”) And indeed, the song also plays on the familiar clichés: a quick glance at the paperwork, and everything runs perfectly. Audit passed, certificate in hand. Anyone who works with us knows that it is not quite that simple. A management system only works when it is lived, and a certificate is not a goal but a confirmation. That is exactly why we focus on helping our clients to help themselves. Those who understand why a requirement makes sense are happy to put it into practice every day – and audit it with the right perspective.

There is one line, however, that we endorse without reservation: „Der Auditor kommt, wir bleiben ganz entspannt.“ (“The auditor arrives, we stay perfectly relaxed.”)

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