Project Quality Management addresses the management of the project and the deliverables of the project. It
applies to all projects, regardless of the nature of their deliverables. Quality measures and techniques are specific
to the type of deliverables being produced by the project. For example, the project quality management of software
deliverables may use different approaches and measures from those used when building a nuclear power plant. In
either case, failure to meet the quality requirements can have serious negative consequences for any or all of the
levels of overall project risks, employee attrition, errors, or rework.
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Part 1 - Guide
Quality
and
grade
are not the same concepts. Quality as a delivered performance or result is “the degree to which a
set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements” (ISO 9000 [18].). Grade as a design intent is a category assigned to
deliverables having the same functional use but different technical characteristics. The project manager and the project
management team are responsible for managing the trade-offs associated with delivering the required levels of both
quality and grade. While a quality level that fails to meet quality requirements is always a problem, a low-grade product
may not be a problem. For example:
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It may not be a problem if a suitable low-grade product (one with a limited number of features) is of high quality
(no obvious defects). In this example, the product would be appropriate for its general purpose of use.
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It may be a problem if a high-grade product (one with numerous features) is of low quality (many defects). In
essence, a high-grade feature set would prove ineffective and/or inefficient due to low quality.
Prevention is preferred over inspection. It is better to design quality into deliverables, rather than to find quality issues
during inspection. The cost of preventing mistakes is generally much less than the cost of correcting mistakes when
they are found by inspection or during usage.
Depending on the project and the industry area, the project team may need a working knowledge of statistical control
processes to evaluate data contained in the Control Quality outputs. The team should know the differences between the
following pairs of terms:
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Prevention
(keeping errors out of the process) and inspection (keeping errors out of the hands of the customer);
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Attribute sampling
(the result either conforms or does not conform) and variable sampling (the result is rated on
a continuous scale that measures the degree of conformity); and
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Tolerances
(specified range of acceptable results) and control limits (that identify the boundaries of common
variation in a statistically stable process or process performance).
The cost of quality (COQ) includes all costs incurred over the life of the product by investment in preventing
nonconformance to requirements, appraising the product or service for conformance to requirements, and failing to
meet requirements (rework). Failure costs are often categorized into internal (found by the project team) and external
(found by the customer). Failure costs are also called the cost of poor quality. Section 8.1.2.3 provides some examples
to consider in each area. Organizations choose to invest in defect prevention because of the benefits over the life of the
product. Because projects are temporary, decisions about the COQ over a product’s life cycle are often the concern of
program management, portfolio management, the PMO, or operations.
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There are five levels of increasingly effective quality management as follows:
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Usually, the most expensive approach is to let the customer find the defects. This approach can lead to warranty
issues, recalls, loss of reputation, and rework costs.
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Detect and correct the defects before the deliverables are sent to the customer as part of the quality control
process. The control quality process has related costs, which are mainly the appraisal costs and internal
failure costs.
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Use quality assurance to examine and correct the process itself and not just special defects.
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Incorporate quality into the planning and designing of the project and product.
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Create a culture throughout the organization that is aware and committed to quality in processes and products.
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