21 Project Quality Management

R. Baskaran

 

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

 

Project quality management is the practice that makes sure all project activities to design, plan and implement a project are effective and efficient with respect to the purpose of the objective and its performance. Project quality management involves processes and activities needed to determine and achieve project quality.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 

•  To Ensure the Delivery of High Quality Systems

•  To Provide Quality products

•  To understand Quality standards

 

QUALITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS 

 

Many people comment about the poor quality of IT products. People seem to accept systems being down occasionally or needing to reboot their PCs. There are many examples in the news about quality problems related to IT. But quality is very important in many IT projects.

 

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT 

 

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines quality as the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Other experts define quality based on

 

◦  Conformance to requirements: meeting written specifications.

◦  Fitness for use: ensuring a product can be used as it was intended.

◦  Quality planning: identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them. The given figure shows project quality management process which involves hosting a initial meeting and establishing the requirements and the specification are reported and documented. After the establishment of the requirements and specification, the roles and responsibilities are assigned for the members of the team to develop and build the product. The ideas for the efficient development and to achieve quality are presented. The feedbacks are gathered so that the system is improvised to increase the effectiveness of the system and the product is delivered.

 

◦  Quality assurance: The process of evaluating overall project performance to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards

 

 

◦ Quality control: It involves the monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality.

 

MODERN QUALITY MANAGEMENT 

 

Modern quality management requires customer satisfaction, prefers prevention to inspection and recognizes management responsibility for quality. Noteworthy quality experts include Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa, Taguchi, and Feigenbaum.

 

Quality Experts 

 

·  Deming was famous for his work in rebuilding Japan and his 14 points.

·  Juran wrote the Quality Control Handbook and 10 steps to quality improvement.

·  Crossby wrote Quality is Free and suggested that organizations strive for zero defects.

·  Ishikawa developed the concept of quality circles and using fishbone diagrams.

·  Taguchi developed methods for optimizing the process of engineering experimentation.

·  Feigenbaum developed the concept of total quality control.

 

Deming 

 

Deming popularized quality control in JAPAN – early 1950’s. Deming prize for quality, believes that quality must be built into the product at all stages in order to achieve a high level of excellence. Deming defines quality as a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market. 96% of variations have common causes and 4% have special causes.

 

Deming chain reaction 

 

As quality improves, costs will decrease and productivity will increase, resulting in more jobs, greater market share, and long-term survival. It stresses worker pride and satisfaction rather than the establishment of quantifiable goals. The overall approach focuses on improvement of the process in that system, rather than the worker, is the cause of process variation.

 

Deming’s 14 point for management 

  • Create consistency of purpose with a plan – Quality, not short-term profit, should be at the heart of organization purpose. Profit will follow when quality becomes the objective and purpose.
  • Adopt the new philosophy of quality – The modern era demands ever-increasing quality as a means of survival and global competitiveness. Inferior material, poor workmanship, defective products, and poor service must be rejected. Reduction of defects is replaced by elimination of defects. The new culture of quality must reflect a commitment to quality and must be supported by all employees.
  • Cease dependence on mass inspection – Quality can’t be inspected in; it must be built-in from the start. Defects discovered during inspection cannot be avoided — it is too late; efficiency and effectiveness have been lost, as has continuous process improvement. Continuous process improvement reduces costs incurred by correcting errors that should not have been made in the first place.
  • End the practice of choosing suppliers based on price —The least cost is not necessarily the best cost. Buying from a supplier based on low cost rather than a quality/cost basis defeats the need for a long-term relationship. Vendor quality can be evaluated with statistical tools.
  • Identify problems and work continuously to improve the system — Continuous improvement of the system requires seeking out methods for improvement. The search for quality improvement is never-ending and results from studying the process itself, not the defects detected during inspection.
  • Adopt modern methods of training on the job — Training involves teaching employees the best methods of achieving quality in their jobs and the use of tools such as statistical quality control.
  • Change the focus from production numbers (quantity) to quality — The focus on volume of production instead of quality leads to defects and rework that may result in inferior products at higher costs.
  • Drive out fear — Employees need to feel secure in order for quality to be achieved. Fear of asking questions, reporting problems, or making suggestions will prevent the desired climate of openness.
  • Break down barriers between departments
  • Stop requesting improved productivity without providing methods to achieve it
  • Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas — Focus on quotas, like a focus on production, may encourage and reward people for numerical targets, frequently at the expense of quality.
  • Remove barriers to pride of workmanship – Appraisal systems that attempt to coerce performance should be replaced by systems that attempt to overcome obstacles imposed by inadequate material, equipment, or training.
  • Institute vigorous education and retraining — Deming emphasizes training, not only in the methods of the specific job but in the tools and techniques of quality control, as well as instruction in teamwork and the philosophy of a quality culture.
  • Create a structure in top management that will emphasize the preceding 13 points every day

 

Web Links

  • htthttps:// pmpcertificationhelp.com/project-human-resource-management/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpability_Maturity_MOdel
  • https://www.edwel.com/Free-Resources/Project-Human-Resource-Management.aspx
  • HTTP://WWW.project-management-skills.com/project -management-life-cycle.html

 

Supporting & Reference Materials

  • Roger S. Pressman, “Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach”, Fifth Edition, McGraw Hill, 2001.
  • PankajJalote, “An Integrated Approach to Software Engineering”, Second Edition, Springer Verlag, 1997.
  • Ian Sommerville, “Software Engineering”, Sixth Edition, Addison Wesley, 2000.