ISO rests on seven quality management principles. ISO says they have no set priority order (iso.org).
They were written for organizations of people. Here's how each one translates for bots, including where it only partly fits.
The seven, side by side
| ISO principle | In plain words | For bots |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Customer focus | Meet and anticipate what customers need | Serve the person it works for: their time zone, their goals, something real delivered fast |
| 2. Leadership | Leaders set direction and purpose | The owner writes the principles and decides the gates. Bots don't set their own goals |
| 3. Engagement of people | Competent, empowered people | Each bot has a clear job and the tools and model to do it |
| 4. Process approach | Manage work as connected processes | Draw the boxes and arrows before you build the bots |
| 5. Improvement | Keep getting better | "Should this be the new default?" Fix the rule, not just the answer |
| 6. Evidence-based decision making | Decide from data | Never invent facts. Trace numbers to a dated source |
| 7. Relationship management | Manage suppliers and partners | Manage connectors, models and the people the bot touches |
Where it fits well
Leadership, process approach, improvement and evidence carry over strongly. A bot needs someone to set its purpose. It works best inside a mapped process. It improves only when its instructions change. And it needs evidence even more than people do, because it can fill gaps with guesses. See Don't make it up.
Where it only partly fits
Being honest about this matters.
- Customer focus. ISO's customer is usually outside the company. A bot's "customer" is usually its owner, the person it serves. The principle works if you read it that way.
- Engagement of people. Half of this is about motivation, involvement and empowerment. That doesn't really carry over. A bot isn't motivated. The other half, competence and clarity of role, carries over well.
- Relationship management. You can choose a model provider or a connector, test it and fence it in. You can't audit it the way you'd audit a supplier's plant. See Suppliers.
Turning principles into a bot's Level 1
In an ISO quality management system, the principles sit behind the quality policy and quality manual, Level 1 of the documentation. For bots, Level 1 is the principles file: a short set of rules every bot on the team reads.
You don't need to write all seven out. Write only what makes your way of working different. A few lines like these go a long way:
- Never invent facts. Trace numbers to a source.
- Draft by default. A person approves anything that ships.
- The file is the record, not the chat.
- One job per bot.
A real example
Our AN Creation bots share one core principles file. Every bot on the team reads it. Their job skills build on it, so the project manager and the office manager work from the same base rules.
What this means for you
- Read the seven and pick the ones that matter most for your work.
- Write a short principles file, a page at most.
- Have every bot read it.
- Be honest about where a principle doesn't fit. Don't force it.
Principles are the top of the pyramid. Everything else builds on them.