PMI Westchester – Quality SIG
Project Quality Management (PQM)
A strategy for improving the quality of IT projects
Locksley C. Philips MBA, MISM, CPIM, ITIL (Foundation)
March 8, 2011
What we will cover
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Quality and the Triple Constraint
Project Quality Management (4 processes)
The Quality Plan
Criteria for judging quality (2 perspectives)
PQM principles improve the quality of IT projects
Application of PQM to the Software Testing Cycle
Modern Quality Management
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Quality and the Triple Constraint
COST
Quality is in the center
of the triangle to show
its dependence on all
three sides. It cannot
exist unless all three
sides are balanced.
QUALITY
TIME
SCOPE
Quality It is the hardest to track and quantify!
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How Do You Approach Your Project?
• Do it right as quickly as possible?...tends to
discount quality
• Do it quickly as right as possible?...tends to
deliver better quality and faster
Often people involved with a project hold the notion that a
quality approach will make the project cost more…because
of the need for “extra” measurements, audits, and
documentation!
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Managing Project Quality
• Quality management is a repetitive cycle of
measuring quality, updating processes, and
again measuring and updating processes,
until the desired quality is achieved.
• The goal of quality management is the
prevention of defects through the creation of
actions that will ensure that the project team
understands what is defined as quality.
Who is ultimately responsible for quality management on
a project?…The Project Manager is.
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Project Quality Management
The main principle of PQM is to ensure that
the project will meet or exceed stakeholder’s
needs and expectations.
– Consists of four main processes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Quality Definition
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Quality Improvements
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Quality Definition Process
• Expanded PMI definition: “The degree to
which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill
both stated and implied requirements as
defined by the project beneficiaries”
• Alternately, it is defined as the “Conformance
to requirements, or fitness for use”
It is more about preventing and avoiding
than measuring and fixing poor quality results
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Characteristics of Quality
• All material or services have characteristics that
facilitate the identification of its quality.
• Quality characteristics relate to the attributes,
measures and methods attached to the
particular product or service, and are commonly
used to measure the project’s end result.
• Characteristics apply equally to material,
equipment or service delivered, and to any
processes or methods used to deliver them
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Quality Characteristics of IT Projects
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Functionality – fit for purpose
Performance – operates relative to intended use
Reliability – performance under normal conditions
Features – special characteristics with user appeal
System outputs – screens, reports
Maintainability – ease of performing maintenance
Correctness – program satisfies specifications, fulfils
user’s objectives
• Efficiency – amounts of computer resources
required for software operation
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Criteria for Judging Quality
• From a Business perspective:
– Was the project completed on time?
– Was the project completed within budget?
– Did the system meet my needs when it was
delivered?
– Is it stable?
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Criteria for Judging Quality…cont
• From a Technical perspective:
– Does the system comply with corporate
standards for such things as user interface,
documentation, naming standards etc.?
– Is the technology stable?
– Is the system well engineered so that it is robust
and maintainable?
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Project Quality vs Deliverable Quality
• The PM needs to decide how much focus to
put on each
– Project Quality covers managing changes within
the project.
– Deliverable Quality covers things like how well it
meets the user's needs, and the total cost of
ownership.
A quality project may deliver low quality deliverables and
vice versa. However, it is more likely that a high quality
project will deliver high quality deliverables.
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Quality Assurance Process
• The process of periodically auditing overall
project performance to ensure the project will
satisfy the relevant quality standards, including
any legal or regulatory standards
• The goal is to reduce the chances that products
or services will be of poor quality after the
project has been completed.
• Occurs during the project’s Implementation
Phase, and relies on evidence to create
confidence in ongoing compliance to standards.
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Quality Control Process
• The process of monitoring and recording
specific project results to ensure that they
comply with the relevant quality standards.
- Includes how the project performs in its efforts to
manage scope, budget and schedule.
- Uses techniques and activities to compare actual
quality performance with goals and defines
appropriate corrective action, as necessary
e.g. Cause and Effect Diagram, Pareto Charts,
Control Charts, Scatter Diagram
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Quality Improvements Process
• A continuous and systematic process that looks
to remove waste, or unnecessary actions to
make processes more effective, efficient, and
appropriate.
– Concentrates on identifying what needs to be
improved, analyzing the processes, developing
solutions or revisions that will solve the problem,
and testing to verify that the new solution is
effective. Requires that a baseline be established
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Quality Improvements…cont
• The goal of continuous improvement is to
continuously and incrementally improve all
aspects of the project, based on lessons
learned and new insights provided by the
project. To be effective it should happen during
all activities of the project.
• Requires an organizational culture of reflection
that allows the project team to learn from its
mistakes, without fear of reprisal, and apply the
lessons learned at the next opportunity.
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The Quality Plan - tying it all together
• Every project should have a quality plan, but
in reality very few of them do. The plan is a
statement of the quality standards that are
important to the project.
- Plan is developed during the Initiation Phase of the
project, and should be a team process
- Definition of the end result comes from
stakeholders and beneficiaries.
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The Quality Plan: Overview
• All the quality definitions and standards
relevant to the project, including legal and
regulatory standards.
• The conditions that the product or service
must possess in order to satisfy the needs
and expectations of project stakeholders and
beneficiaries.
- Situations and conditions which identify what
is above or below the quality standard
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The Quality Plan: Overview…cont
• The procedure to ensure that the quality
standards are being followed by all project
staff.
• Steps required to monitor and control quality
and the approval process to make changes to
the quality standards and the quality plan
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Quality Plan Details
The Project Quality Plan should be written with
the objective of providing all project stakeholders
with easy access to quality requirements and the
ready availability of these standards.
• Management Responsibility – Describes the quality
responsibilities of all stakeholders
• Documented Quality Management System – Refers
to the existing Quality Procedures that have been
standardized and used within the organization
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Quality Plan Details…cont
• Design Control - Specifies the procedures for
Design Review, Sign-Off, Design Changes and
Design Waivers of requirements
• Document Control – Defines the process to control
Project Documents at each phase of the project
• Purchasing – Defines Quality Control and Quality
Requirements for sub-contracting and part / whole
part of the project
• Inspection Testing – Details the plans for
Acceptance Testing and Integration Testing
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Quality Plan Details…cont
• Nonconformance – Defines the procedures to
handle any type of nonconformity. Procedures
include defining responsibilities, defining conditions
and availability of required documentation in such
cases
• Corrective Actions – Describes the procedures for
taking Corrective Actions for the problems
encountered during project execution
• Quality Records – Describes the procedures for
maintaining the Quality Records (metrics, variance
reports, executed checklists, etc) during project
execution, as well as after project completion
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Quality Plan Details…cont
• Quality Audits – An internal audit should be
planned and implemented during each phase of the
project
• Training – Should specify any training requirements
for the team
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Checklist for a Basic Quality Plan
The Quality Plan for many IT projects only needs
to answer a few questions:
• What needs to go through a quality check?
• When should it be carried out?
• How will we monitor our progress?
• How will we know if we're on course?
• What data do we need, when?
• What reports, to whom, when?
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Using PQM Principles to Improve
the Quality of IT Projects
• Establish leadership that promotes quality
• Foster understanding of the cost of quality
– Cost of conformance
– Cost of nonconformance
• Focus on organizational factors that impact
quality (e.g. workspace, lessons learned)
• Use a formal lifecycle development process
• Use quality focused maturity models
• Use appropriate metrics and benchmarking
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Testing Cycle in Software
Development Projects
• Types of testing
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Unit testing
Integration testing
System testing
User acceptance testing
• Testing alone is not enough
– Huge number of ways to test a complex system
– Requirements for system development are always
changing
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Applying PQM to the Testing Cycle
• Quality Planning – Test Strategy, Test Plan
• Quality Assurance – define Functional
Specifications, Quality Specifications, and
Resource Specifications
• Quality Control – define Test Specifications,
and Test Reporting Requirements
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Modern Quality Management
• Requires customer satisfaction
• Favors prevention over inspection
• Recognizes management responsibility for
quality leadership
• Understands that stakeholder’s expectations
vary with the organization’s culture, and by
geographic region
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What we covered
•
•
•
•
Quality and the Triple Constraint
Four processes of Project Quality Management
The Quality Plan: elements, judgment criteria
PQM principles could be employed to improve
the quality of IT projects
• Application of PQM to the Software Testing Cycle
• Modern Quality Management
• Sample documents for takeaway
THANK YOU!
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APPENDIX A
Quality Philosophies
• Deming Cycle – Plan, Do, Check, Act
• Juran Trilogy – Quality Planning, Quality
Control, Quality Improvement
• Crosby’s Quality Vaccine – Determination,
Education, Implementation
• Six Sigma
• Total Quality Management
• ISO 9000
• Maturity Models (CMM, CMMI, SQFD, OPM3)
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References
The Purpose of a Project Quality Plan, Retrieved March 1, 2011 from
http://www.visitask.com/project-quality.asp
Turbit, Neville (27/06/05). Project Quality Planning, Retrieved March 4, 2011 from
http://www.projectperfect.com.au/downloads/Info/info_project_quality_planning.pdf
Leal, James J (January 31, 1010). Project Quality Management, Retrieved March 2, 2011
from http://ezinearticles.com/?Project-Quality-Management&id=3664876
Project Management Book, Chapter 12 - Quality Management, Retrieved March 2, 2011
from http://www.hraconsulting-ltd.co.uk/project-management-book-1201.htm
Project Management Planning (January 1997). Quality Planning, Retrieved February 28,
2011 from
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/62836336/Quality-Planning-Project-Management
Project Quality Management, Chapter 4. Retrieved March 1, 2011 from
http://www.ictcareer.net/file/itpms_ch04.ppt
PMBOK Guide (Fourth Edition), Chapter 8 – Project Quality Management
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