Quality Assurance

What do newspapers, websites, household goods, food, computers, cars, and virtually every other consumable product have in common that routesetting often lacks? QA.

What is QA for routesetting?

• Good forerunning - ego at the door; objectivity; fair, concise and constructive communication. No one should be exempt from having their routes forerun.
• A plan for improvement - if you have too many of a certain move, too much of a certain style, too many sequences being skipped by climbers, etc - how will you prevent that from happening next time?
• All routes are equal - spend time on routes based on the attention they will receive, not the attention you want to give them. Harder routes sometimes necessitate more effort, but easier and moderate routes will receive the most traffic, abuse and criticism.
• The primary goal of QA is to make a better product. Are your routes better this week than last week? This month than last month? Where can your process be improved?