This is going on the idea that there wasn't a documentation event with this change? I'm positing that knowing it is a recall on all of the trucks indicates that it was, in fact, a signed off change on the assembly line.
That is to say, just because it was on the assembly line doesn't mean it wasn't reviewed. And just because it was reviewed doesn't mean it wasn't a mistake. Part of the sign off was almost certainly "does not need retesting" for implementation. Which, was clearly a mistake. But isn't a sign of a broken QA system.
Relevant part of the quote which started this discussion:
>“[a]n unapproved change [...]
Unapproved, to me, implies that it was not reviewed or signed-off.
>Part of the sign off was almost certainly "does not need retesting" for implementation
If you are not assuring your quality, you have a QA failure. Regardless, I initially said "serious policy and procedure failure". Which, if you change a safety-critical component in your product and don't do testing on it, that is a serious policy failure.
Ah, totally fair. I took that to be "unapproved all the way back to the designer." Which, yeah, that doesn't happen. It almost certainly has approval from a line manager at the bare minimum, if it helps perform the assembly. If it goes to more teams than a single line, it gets more approval.
I think I largely biased to the next message, which did indicate reviews would happen, but that they have some freedom at the line. And that still sounds right to me.
That is to say, just because it was on the assembly line doesn't mean it wasn't reviewed. And just because it was reviewed doesn't mean it wasn't a mistake. Part of the sign off was almost certainly "does not need retesting" for implementation. Which, was clearly a mistake. But isn't a sign of a broken QA system.