Xinwei Deng, Section Chair-Elect

The Quality and Productivity (Q&P) Section executive committee met October 29 to ­discuss areas of focus for 2022. The committee discussed areas of strength, areas of weakness, and areas needing special attention.

Q&P is financially healthy, with savings growth from year to year. However, more effort is needed to keep documentation up to date (e.g., list of members, agenda), ensuring a smooth transition from current officers to elected officers. Additionally, significant improvement has been made over the past two years on updating the operation manuals and documentation on the roles of Q&P officers. However, a systematic approach can be taken with a more organized repository. The following are five focus areas for 2022:

1 – Refine the Q&P section charter and operating manual, making them concise and easy to access.

2 – Create a Q&P calendar (i.e., key date road map) to mark important action items. For better communication and transparency, investigate how to create the Q&P calendar to clarify Q&P officers’ duties and remind them about planning and activities in advance.

3 – Create a cloud-based sharing folder (e.g., Google drive, GitHub) to synchronize documents and meeting notes.

4 – Improve the transition of officer positions, such as treasurer. With Q&PRC and FTC meetings under Q&P, there is an emerging need for creating an additional position (such as assistant treasurer) to make the transition smoother.

5 – Increase membership by advocating Q&P membership in related conference venues such as Q&PRC, FTC, and SRC. It is important to attract young professionals and statisticians to join Q&P. Conference venues such as Q&PRC, FTC, and SRC are good for recruiting new members.