Process > Quality Management

Quality is a nebulous term that is often misunderstood and misrepresented. In this series of articles, our writer presents a three-stage quality management process of quality planning, quality assurance and quality control using a simple example of purchasing a submarine sandwich (hold the pickles, please!).

We know, we know...you just want to sit down and eat. But before you do, we have one last lesson from The Sub Shop. How does it know that it's producing a product that meets your requirements? Is the sandwich being produced a quality sandwich? Is your experience a positive one? We can examine this through the quality control step in our quality management process.

Still hungry? As our mouth-watering series on quality management continues, quality assurance takes center stage. While the concepts are often not well defined and are made more complicated than they need to be, a trip to the sub shop may hold the answers.

Discussion on quality management has not evolved much since the mid-1990s. Within executive circles, the discussions are not about the importance of quality, but rather on what quality is, how it is achieved and how it can be measured. The issues surrounding quality seem focused on definition and approach rather than on need. What is quality? What does senior management expect from the quality process, and how do these expectations apply to IT? Read on...

Quality management concepts may not be welcome in a resource and cost-constrained environment. What you need is a secret plan to motivate workers to deliver better quality despite their rejection of common quality communications and programs.

The following recommendations will help keep quality management in mind before the company contracts with a supplier for services.

The project management office has a different role in the operational team than in project teams. In general, there are two major reasons for having a PMO as part of the operational team--and it's up to the PMO to ensure that it is supporting operations instead of hindering them.

During the last few decades, many quality management programs have delivered real benefits to many organizations across the world in a number of areas including cost control, process improvement, customer retention and product development. That is why organizations have embraced the concept of quality management as a key business enabler and a critical success factor.

In the previous installment, we reviewed five effective leadership behavior questions. This article provides a set of technical project management questions that assess the candidate’s knowledge of project management tools and techniques.

Before PMO directors pursue ISO 9001 certification, it is important to understand what it constitutes and how it can benefit PMOs. For some, the certification can be a way to increase performance and staff confidence. For others, it can be cost-prohibitive and add little value.

When unforeseen problems occur on a project, the rush to resolve them often ignores their underlying causes, and the same issues reoccur, sometimes worse. Project leaders should include root cause analysis in their corrective actions, but there are challenges to consider. Here is guidance, including a 10-step problem-solving model.

In the ever-increasing speed trip down the ramp of badly made cost-cutting decisions, many mainstream manufacturers are compromising on the quality of their products. To help address this, we all need to more carefully monitor the quality of our supplier goods.

One of the most established standards organizations (and their pronouncements) is often missing from the IT governance conversation: the International Organization for Standardization. Did you know that the ISO has been very active in the governance and compliance space? Here is an update on the standards that you might find useful.

The developer of Theory of Constraints and Critical Chain Project Management, Goldratt’s influence was deepest in manufacturing and military sectors, and his ideas were widely discussed in project management circles.

Efforts of winners have evolved into the BA Skills Center, which acts as resource for more than 100 business analysts at Merck.

In his latest course, an experienced project management trainer makes the case for a durable but resilient schedule model that accounts for requirements, dependencies and uncertainties as fully as possible.

For organizations that are ready to fully commit to the philosophy, the principles of Management by Objectives can provide a strong catalyst for team engagement in its goals. Here is an overview of the method’s six stages and five-step process for implementing it, along with potential pitfalls.

Screening candidates on PMP certification is not enough to determine if they are an effective project manager. Use the following key questions to help staff your project and program management teams.

Many project managers are expanding the scope of their skills into program management, which offers career advancement and new opportunities in a competitive job market. Here, a certified PMP explains how he has benefited from a U.K.-based program management credential, and why he chose it instead of the PgMP certification offered by PMI.

Before entering into a quality management outsourcing effort, organizations should consider the following do’s and don’ts.

From Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation offers compelling insights into the impacts that process can have on culture and vice versa. This organization understood the four reasons why many organizations fail to transform their Project Management cultures, and avoided these pitfalls with their PMO working with OPM Experts LLC.

It is clear that both roles are essential and integral to the success of a project, but often on small projects the manager and administrator role are combined. Regardless of which role you are playing in your organization, it is important to understand the distinctions and the need for both.

Many organizations are taking advantage of quality management methodologies to improve productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. These methodologies require employees to perform set tasks and adhere to structured processes involving changes to work habits that can sometimes be disruptive. Familiar, integrated IT tools can streamline tasks and reduce user resistance, enabling organizations to receive the maximum benefits from quality management techniques at a lower risk.

Project Management Institute asked 41 practitioners from around the globe to describe the future for project management in various applications and environments. Here’s a concise look at the 519-page book that resulted.

The PMBOK Guide and other best-practice frameworks provide considerable detail on schedule, budget and risk management techniques, but much less guidance on how to manage the people-related challenges that threaten the execution of these plans, and are the most commonly cited reasons for the failure of complex change initiatives.

If you really want to kick butt when it comes to project quality, you should be working toward your Black Belt--and that's not something you'll get from the kung fu dojo.

How does requirements management fit into a project management framework? Here is an overview of the knowledge areas in the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK), and their relationship to the project management plan as described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

Customer (or user) satisfaction is fundamental to a project’s success. Understanding and documenting customer attitudes and needs will better prepare project teams to meet expectations and deliver the anticipated benefits. It starts with the requirements gathering phase.

Ready to rock around the clock tonight? Cultures like the Romans, Egyptians and many others used techniques such as quality management and schedule management to achieve amazing results. It was not until the 20th century, however, that a formal body of knowledge around the technology of project management was established.

Is all hope lost for managing quality on projects? Should we just throw in the towel, or is there a better way of being able to measure and manage quality?

The Agile2011 Conference drew more than 1,600 attendees to Salt Lake City, where dozens of companies showcased new technology solutions and training offerings. Here is a recap from the busy exhibition floor.

With an integrated application lifecycle management solution, Rally Software addresses the challenges of transitioning to enterprise agile software development, with an emphasis on engaging communities of users and stakeholders.

Since service management is far more important to our customers than information technology, the acronym should be SMIT--or Service Management through Information Technology--rather than ITSM. There are many methods for structuring the improvement of the service that we provide to our customers, but all of the complexity boils down to a few important considerations.

For all of you who thought ISO means in search of, this article will give you a different perspective. Enjoy this insightful overview into ISO methodologies.

Elaborating on Dwight Eisenhower's often quoted declaration, a project plan that exists in a vacuum is useless, but active, collaborative planning is indispensable. Here are three keys to injecting a collaborative mindset into your project environment, from decision-making to execution.

It’s so easy for you to fail in your role as a project manager during a quality assurance initiative. Let us continue to count the ways…

What is the business value of agile project management for creating new products and services? What are the costs and benefits--or what is the ROI of agile project management? Has anyone ever measured the benefits? If so, what are the results? Furthermore, is there a measurable difference between agile and traditional project management? Some studies shed light on these crucial questions.

Read on for some help in instilling total quality in software development processes.

Instead of measuring quality, Agile enterprises commit to it by investing in integration and testing, developing a common language around quality, and nurturing motivated, disciplined teams. Ultimately, quality reigns when organizations value it as much as profitability and protect the agile processes that support it.