Quality
A certain level of quality is present by any project. Despite this, Project Managers do not always clearly indicate the quality framework that should be applied to the Project, which is of course a big mistake. As you probably remember, PMI requires to plan the Project before starting it. This rule applies to Quality as well. We should know what do we mean by the word «quality» or «qualitative product of the project». The product produced in China does not have to be of poor quality, and the product produced in the US or Germany does not have to be of high quality. Much more depends on the customer’s requirements for product quality. Thus, the more qualitative customer requirements will be identified (including quality), the more successful the Project will be. Any additional work to the Project (and additional quality requirements will entail additional work) brings additional Cost, and that arise question: will you comply with extra quality requirements if the customer does not require it?
Beforehand, it’s recommended to read the ISO 9000 standards. All of them are available in the Library.
So what else will help us in meeting the proper level of quality? Its planning, compliance, evaluation and analysis. In principle, all these concepts are not new to you, they are presented in any area of knowledge and all of them are the foundation of project management. Because PMI is as unified as possible regardless the Scope of a particular project, we will also consider planning, quality assurance and quality control in (a decent) isolation from ubiquitous quality standards. At the same time, it should be noted that ISO 9000 and PMBoK have a lot of borrowings.
Before we begin, let’s review a number of definitions that we may need.
Gold Plating
This is quite common for project activities. The essence of it is quite simple - the Project Team performs a number of Activities that were not planned and are not part of the Scope of the Project. We cannot allow this to happen. The responsibility of the Project Manager and Team is strict compliance with the Scope of the Project and execution only of those Activities that lead directly to the implementation of the project objectives.
Preventive prevention, not correction
In prophilaxeos gratiam lubet proponere, quando longe praestantius est praeservare, quam curare
Preventing is much cheaper than correcting, so it is recommended to prevent dangerous situations rather than correct their consequences. The same is true for Quality - thorough planing and maintainance of that plan is more efficient to conduce [Deliverables] rather than to apply Defects corrections.
Marginal Analysis
Its principle is to determine the point at which compliance with certain policies or rules of quality brings to benefits and expenditures equilibrium. For example, sometimes compliance with a quality standard can be too costly to comply with - the task of Marginal Analysis is to balance the effect and cost of compliance. This can be achieved in several ways, namely by reducing the cost of quality compliance (risks of failure to comply with a quality standard) or increasing the effectiveness of quality compliance (adding the cost of quality compliance to the project cost). Whatever decision is made, planned quality must be before the project team starts to execute the project.
Kaizen
This is a strong Quality improvement technique. It comes down to making many small and frequent improvements of Quality. This method is widely used in Japan (versus the practive applied in the West (in general) - to use rare and large changes in Quality). This method is described in a separate article, where the principle of its operation is discussed in more details.
Just In Time, Kanban
Agree that it is not rational to keep all necessary resources for the project «ready». For example, to build a house it is not advantageous to be on the construction site of all materials and tools for laying the roof, if we have just started the foundation.
The Kanban principle is to deliver the resources needed to carry out an Activity immediately before it takes place. Definitely, not causing a delay its start. Implementation of this technique is extremely difficult, and the more bigger the Project the harderer is implementation. This method is also dedicated to a separate section here.
Total Quality Management
The philosophy of quality management, which comes down to the fact that each employee of the company tries to improve the Quality at the appropriate level of his position. The idea is something like communism, isn’t it?
Responsibility for product quality
Full responsibility is given to the Project Manager, who is responsible for controlling the Deliverables. This does not relieve the executor (a Team Member) of Activity, who must also bear some share of responsibility. According to Edward Deming, 85% of the project’s problems are related to management activities and the system in which the work is carried out.
Poor Quality
It entails the following:
- Increased Risks;
- Abandonment of the Project;
- Product review of the Project;
- Rework (extra Activities);
- Delays in Time;
- Customer dissatisfaction;
- Increase in project Cost.
So we’re done with the terms, what are the processes that make up the area of knowledge about Quality management?
8.1 Plan Quality
First, let’s define what is required for quality planning. Let’s name the most important points: the Scope Baseline (Scope Statement, WBS Dictionary), Schedule Baseline, Cost Baseline, Risk Register and various standards, practices and quality requirements for a particular area in which the project is being carried out. Let’s focus on the last element.
Quality Policies and Procedures
Procedures and policies regarding Quality may be specified by the requirements of the company, or the requirements of the project area. Moreover, they are not always requirements on the part of the customer, but their compliance is mandatory, if they do not hinder the Execution of the Project.
Practices
Since PMBoK is also a set of best practices in project management, it is recommended to use best practices for direct execution. Moreover, borrowing can occur not only from the same area in which the project is executed, but also from others, even not related.
Standards
Compliance with standards is perhaps an integral part of any quality requirement. Standards appear almost everywhere in our lives. Somewhere they have more influence on the Project (for example, in industry), somewhere less (for example, in creative work), but they exist everywhere in one form or another. Remember that compliance with the Standards is not only cost-effective (saves time and money on recycling), but also protects the Project from criticism. For example, if we comply with the SNIP 2.08.01-89 when building a house, it will protect the Project from the Risks of dissatisfaction on the part of the customer regarding the requirements of the construction of living spaces.
But following the standards not only protects the project, it, above all, saves you from problems. Agree, all standards go through some kind of control and verification. Of course, not all of them are «absolute truth» and may contain a number of inaccuracies, but nevertheless, it is better to follow what has been tested by time rather than inspired by its representation «as it is». After all, PMBoK itself is the knowledge base of the project management standard developed by PMI.
Quality Requirements
The requirements can be considered not only as a compliance with some generally accepted standards, but also everything that somehow determines the level of Quality. For example, what is the tolerance of cracks between the door and the entrance, the quality of laying the roof insulation, etc. Requirements can be both external and internal (applied within the company). Compliance with them is just as mandatory and should be considered as all other requirements of the Project.
So, the inputs for this process we have identified. What’s next? Consider the tools that are used for quality planning. It is important to mention that some tools are also used in other quality management processes.
Cost-benefit Analysis
The same as Marginal Analysis;
Cost of Quality
In essence, the Cost of Quality is how much we spend on maintaining the appropriate level of Quality. Used for cost-effectiveness analysis. The Project Manager should discuss with the project Stakeholders what level of quality should be applied to the Project and balance it with the Cost of the project.
Control Charts
It is perhaps the most common tool for assessing Quality compliance. It allows to monitor the degree of compliance of the Project execution with the quality declared in the planning, based on actual indicators and to control them so that they do not go beyond certain requirements. In the case of a house, it will be easier to imagine the example of brick masonry. As the method is explained, a parallel will be made with the references to this example.
The Control Charts can be applied not only as a quality assessment tool, but also as a tool for assessing project Execution, number of positive and negative feedbacks and in many other areas directly or indirectly related to Time (minutes, hours, days, months, etc.).
Lower and Upper Control Limit
These are two parallel lines that limit the maximum and minimum permissible quality limits. The boundaries are defined by the management of the executing organization and the Project Manager, based on the Cost-benefit Analysis. All indicators that fall within these boundaries are valid, i.e. show that the project is «under control». The exception is Rule of Seven, which will be discussed below. Everything that goes beyond the boundaries should be seen as an indicator that the Project Management process is getting out of control and requires special attention from the Project Manager and Team.
For example, let’s determine that when laying bricks, it is possible to allow no more than 30 and not less than 0 damaged bricks per 10 m2 of a wall.
Mean, Average
Nothing difficult, it’s an arithmetical average.
Regarding to our case, will be equal to 15 damaged bricks per 10 m2.
Specification Limits
Unlike the Lower and Upper Control Limit, they are defined by the customer. Naturally, the specification limits should be more lenient than those defined by the Project Manager and Project Team.
In our example, we define them as the maximum limit - 40, and the minimum - 0.
Rule of Seven
This is a sequence of seven indicators on one side of the graph. For example, imagine that during the Execution of the Project, measurements were taken every day, and the first three days we had less than 15 damaged bricks, and then 7 consecutive days - more than 15. This situation is considered to be dangerous for the Project and requires immediate intervention by the Project Manager.
Out of Control
Project execution is considered to be out of control if the indicator does not fall into the Lower and Upper Control Limit or when the fact of Rule of Seven is emerged. The result of the analysis of the Control Charts should be the identification of the root cause of problems.
Assignable Cause
The identification of the root cause of problems is carried out in a Perform Quality Control process, the result of which must be a Change Request.
The following is an example with some indicators:
In the example above, we determined that the acceptable limits of the specification received from the customer is 12 (upper limit, USL) and 10 (lower limit, LSL); similarly, we determined that the project’s control limits are 11.8 (upper limit, UCL) and 10.2 (lower limit, LCL); the average (CL) will be 11.
Benchmarking
Its essence is simple - by analyzing other projects (previously executed), the Project Team tries to select what can help in improving the Quality of the Project.
For example, one of the previous projects identified a way to improve the method of laying the foundation, which is used in the current project. To improve the Quality of current project, previous experience can be borrowed.
Design of Experiments
Design of Experiments allows to carry out analysis of statistical indicators for quality improvement gathered by experiments. For example, before starting work there is a choice of several tools. After testing each of them, the Project Team selects the one that best fits the conditions of the Project.
Statistical Sampling
This method is widely used in industry. The Quality Control Department performs a sampling (random) review of the project product for compliance with Quality Requirements. Sample results can be used, for example, on Control Chart.
Flowcharting
Show how quality management is carried out and how its elements interact. In the process of quality planning, the objective of a block diagram is to identify potential problems related to quality. For example, if the construction of a house is carried out by several contractors, block diagrams helps to identify possible problems related with contractors interactions (such as mismatch of materials supplied for construction).
Quality Management Plan
As usual, the result of 8.1 Plan Quality process is a management plan. The Quality Management Plan is a document that defines the policy applied by the Project Manager and Team regarding to the Quality of project Execution. It may contain:
- Metrics for quality assessment. Metrics for quality assessment should be installed before work begins. The metrics can be: number of overruns, number of negative reviews, number of Change Requests, number of resources used, any characteristics of the product, etc.;
- Processes and procedures related to quality management;
- Permissible limits of deviation from the declared quality;
- List of standards to be applied on the Project;
- Quality performance reporting format (as it should be implemented);
- List of activities related to Quality;
- [Quality Checklist]. A list of what should be checked during the Perform Quality Control process.
Process Improvement Plan
It is a list of procedures that must be carried out before quality improvement can take effect. For example, it can indicate which procedures should be followed to justify the necessity and effectiveness of the change, etc.
8.2 Perform Quality Assurance
This process is performed during the Execution process group and is performed almost throughout the entire project. Based on the name of the process, it can be logically concluded that its responsibility is to comply quality requirements by the executors of Activities. A slightly less important task of this process is to analyse the Execution of Activities and make proposals for quality improvement.
All the tools listed in the process description of Plan Quality and Perform Quality Control can also be used for Perform Quality Assurance. But the quality assurance adds another powerful tool presented below, unique to the process under review.
Quality Audit
The task of Quality Audit, like any other tool in the Perform Quality Assurance process, is to identify quality deficiencies. Not infrequently, this action is performed by external groups of specialists, but it can be done by someone from the Project Team, as well.
Of course, as a rule, Quality Audit are performed on large projects and mostly on projects related to light or heavy industry. In the meantime, you can perform a Quality Audit yourself if the company does not want to spend extra resources on it. Also, do not think that Quality Audit is some event that inevitably brings problems. Yes, testing will most likely lead to a number of Change Request, but the goal is not to rubbish the Project Team, but to improve the quality!
The Quality Audit is often assigned to the Quality Assurance Department, but it can often only be done by large organizations with a high importance of the Project for the company.
Process Analysis
This tool is highly effective in the iterative nature of one or more Acitivities required for project Execution. Of course, business process optimization goes beyond project management, but just to remember - anything that can help to the Project can take place, and business process optimization is not an exception.
Process Outputs
Traditionally, the outputs of the audit process are Change Requests, Project Documentation changes, as well as conduced [Measurements] that could be performed during the process.
8.3 Perform Quality Control
Before talking about inputs, tools and outputs of the process, it is necessary to clearly distinguish its differences from the process of Perform Quality Assurance. During the Perform Quality Assurance process the task of the project team is to guarantee sufficient quality of project Acitivities, in other words, to ensure that the process of performing an Activity meets the quality standards defined at the planning stage. In the Perform Quality Control process, the Team verifies the results of the project Deliverables for compliance with their quality requirements. Take an example.
If a fireplace has been planned for the house and one of the requirement for its cladding is the compliance with GOST R 52133-2003, then in the during the Perform Quality Assurance process, the Project Team will monitor the installation Activity directly to ensure that it meets the GOST requirements. Meanwhile, during the Perform Quality Control process, the Team (or responsible person/organization) will inspect the finished fireplace for compliance with all GOST requirements.
Let us consider this process in the stages that are inherent to most projects.
The first step is to determine how well quality is maintained. It is necessary to make measurements (remember this, one of the main concepts of project management, «measurement, measurement and measurement»?), based on corresponding rules specified in the Quality Management Plan.
Let’s say, we will measure the quality of masonry bearing brick walls according to SNIP 2.09.03-85 and additional requirement on the strength of the wall provided by the customer (i.e. this requirement is not a standard, but a private requirement for the specific project). This requirement states that the walls must withstand an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7 on the Richter scale. The designer has calculated that to meet this requirement, the walls must be at least 10 centimeters and not more than 12 centimeters thick. We also determined that the result of each Activity will be a wall length of 10 meters (for example, if the total length of the house walls is 200, then we will have 20 Activities).
Then, how will we make quality assessment? As we have determined it in terms of quality management. How do we measure whether our results fit within the quality boundary? That’s specified in the Quality Management Plan. What will we use for quality control? This information also needs to be described in the Quality Management Plan. For example, we agreed that Control Charts will be used as a quality control tool.
During the project Execution, we evaluate the quality of the wall construction (in particular, the thickness of the wall). After completing the thirteenth operation (after the construction of 130 meters of wall), we carry out another evaluation and get an unsatisfactory result on the Control Charts:
Please, notice that the Lower and Upper Control Limit, are smaller than the Specification Limits.
On the Control Chart you can see that at the last check, the measurement «flew» over the Upper Control Limit. This is a serious issue that requires the mandatory attention of the Project Manager and the executive of the Activity.
The next step in the process will be to analyse the measurements obtained and identification of the problem’s root. Identifying the root of the problem and finding a solution its elimination is the main task of the Perform Quality Control. How to do that? There are various methods for this. The most effective of these tools are included in PMBoK and are quality management tools.
Cause and Effect Diagram, Fishbone Diagram, Ishikawa Diagram
The chart with the main task to identify the cause of the problem that arises during the Execution of the Project. In medicine it is said that «we must fight the cause, not the consequence».
The Cause and Effect Diagram is quite a powerful tool, since its principle of action is very similar to the Brainstorming - the Project Team offers all sorts of causes that can lead to the problem under consideration. Then, the most likely of the presented options are analyzed - thus narrowing the range of possible reasons of the problem and proposing resolution. Thus, it is assumed that during the analysis and filtering» causes, the Team will come to the very root cause of the problem, which should be eliminated.
Histogram
This is a graphical representation of the problems based on statistical indicators collected during project Execution.
Pareto Chart
This is an analog of Histogram, but sorted by decreasing frequency of occurrence of the problem. Based on the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule, which main thesis is that 80% of problems that occur arise as a consequence of 20% of root causes of problems.
Run Chart
The essence of this diagram is to show the number of problems encountered in relation to a time period (minutes, hours, days, etc.):
Scatter Diagram
In some sources named as Scatter Plot. Allows to find the relationship between the root cause of problems and the general problem that needs to be solved.
Outputs
The result of the Perform Quality Control process can be:
- Measurements taken - the measurements must be recorded in some way to allow an analysis of the progress of the Project;
- Change Requests are the most important output (if any) because they involve changes that can affect any area of the Project, but must be passed through the Integrated Change Control process;
- Updating of Project Documents;
- Adding to the database of Lessons Learned;
- Confirmed Deliverables - since the Quality of the Project is not always out of control, the result of the process often is the approval by the customer, management or other controlling authority of the Activities performed.
Summarizing
For better comprehension, let’s go through the whole area of Quality management again:
- The list of all quality requirements should be defined clearly and as completely as possible;
- Alignment of requirements, as some of them may be unreachable or not beneficial for implementation;
- Collection of all procedures, standards, policies and practices related to quality that will be applied in the Project;
- Project Manager can add private standards, procedures etc. to improve and simplify quality control on the Project;
- The Project Manager creates a Quality Management Plan, where everything related to quality is documented - standards, practices, procedures, policies, measurement rules, responsibility for measurements, tools used, acceptable fluctuations etc. If the Quality Management Plan is not created, all this should be specified in the Project Management Plan;
- The Quality Assurance Department or designated person, perform Quality Audit;
- The Project Manager or the person in charge shall carry out continuous analysis of business processes with a view to their improvement and optimization. Improvement can be applied both privately (for private project) and for the company as a whole;
- Change Requests are created as a result of the [Perform Quality Assurance] if needed;
- The Project Team makes measurements of Deliverables during the process of Perform Quality Control. Measurements should be carried out in accordance with the requirements and limitations of the planning phase;
- The results of measurements are analyzed using the applied tools of the Perform Quality Control process and identify the root cause of problems;
- Change Requests are made if the source of the problem has been found. If the Deliverables meet the quality requirements, they must be confirmed by the customer;
Quality management is very important for the successful Execution of a Project and maintaining it at an appropriate level should be the task of all members of the Project Team.