Figure 8–1 Project Quality Management Overview

PROJECTQUALITYMANAGEMENT 8.1.1.1

• Management responsibility—success requires the participation of all members of the team, but it remains the responsibility of management to provide the re- sources needed to succeed.

• Processes within phases—the repeated plan-do-check-act cycle described by Deming and others is highly similar to the combination of phases and process- es discussed in Chapter 3, Project Management Processes.

In addition, quality improvement initiatives undertaken by the performing orga- nization (e.g., TQM, Continuous Improvement, and others) can improve the quali- ty of the project management as well as the quality of the project product.

However, there is an important difference that the project management team must be acutely aware of—the temporary nature of the project means that invest- ments in product quality improvement, especially defect prevention and appraisal, must often be borne by the performing organization since the project may not last long enough to reap the rewards.

8.1 Q

P

Quality planning involves identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them. It is one of the key facilitating process- es during project planning (see Section 3.3.2, Planning Processes) and should be performed regularly and in parallel with the other project planning processes. For example, the desired management quality may require cost or schedule adjustments, or the desired product quality may require a detailed risk analysis of an identified problem. Prior to development of the ISO 9000 Series, the activities described here as quality planning were widely discussed as part of quality assurance.

The quality planning techniques discussed here are those used most frequently on projects. There are many others that may be useful on certain projects or in some application areas.

The project team should also be aware of one of the fundamental tenets of mod- ern quality management—quality is planned in, not inspected in.

8.1.1 Inputs to Quality Planning

.1 Quality policy. Quality policy is “the overall intentions and direction of an organi- zation with regard to quality, as formally expressed by top management” [4]. The quality policy of the performing organization can often be adopted “as is” for use by the project. However, if the performing organization lacks a formal quality policy, or if the project involves multiple performing organizations (as with a joint venture), the project management team will need to develop a quality policy for the project.

Regardless of the origin of the quality policy, the project management team is re- sponsible for ensuring that the project stakeholders are fully aware of it (e.g., through appropriate information distribution, as described in Section 10.2).

Inputs Tools & Techniques Outputs .1 Quality policy

.2 Scope statement .3 Product description .4 Standards and

regulations .5 Other process outputs

.1 Benefit/cost analysis .2 Benchmarking .3 Flowcharting .4 Design of experiments .1 Quality management plan .2 Operational definitions .3 Checklists .4 Inputs to other processes .1 .4

.2 Scope statement. The scope statement (described in Section 5.2.3.1) is a key input to quality planning since it documents major project deliverables as well as the project objectives which serve to define important stakeholder requirements.

.3 Product description. Although elements of the product description (described in Sec- tion 5.1.1.1) may be embodied in the scope statement, the product description will often contain details of technical issues and other concerns that may affect quality planning.

.4 Standards and regulations. The project management team must consider any appli- cation-area-specific standards or regulations that may affect the project. Section 2.5.1 discusses standards and regulations.

.5 Other process outputs. In addition to the scope statement and product description, processes in other knowledge areas may produce outputs that should be considered as part of quality planning. For example, procurement planning (described in Sec- tion 12.1) may identify contractor quality requirements that should be reflected in the overall quality management plan.

8.1.2 Tools and Techniques for Quality Planning

.1 Benefit/cost analysis. The quality planning process must consider benefit/cost trade-offs, as described in Section 5.2.2.2. The primary benefit of meeting quality requirements is less rework, which means higher productivity, lower costs, and in- creased stakeholder satisfaction. The primary cost of meeting quality requirements is the expense associated with project quality management activities. It is axiomat- ic of the quality management discipline that the benefits outweigh the costs. .2 Benchmarking. Benchmarking involves comparing actual or planned project prac-

tices to those of other projects in order to generate ideas for improvement and to provide a standard by which to measure performance. The other projects may be within the performing organization or outside of it, and may be within the same ap- plication area or in another.

.3 Flowcharting. A flowchart is any diagram which shows how various elements of a sys- tem relate. Flowcharting techniques commonly used in quality management include:

• Cause-and-effect diagrams, also called Ishikawa diagrams or fishbone diagrams, which illustrate how various causes and subcauses relate to create potential prob- lems or effects. Figure 8–2 is an example of a generic cause-and-effect diagram.

Energy Measurement Personnel Environment

Time Machine Method Material

Major