Quality Management in Project Management

In the late 80s or early 90s, project management evolved as a new way to manage projects. Today, it’s hard to argue that quality doesn’t matter in PM. Everyone wants not just to deliver their project on time but also to “quality” project delivery.

Project management professionals are becoming more aware of quality improvement, quality control, kaizen, and other tools for project management.

Six Sigma or lean implementation is an approach taken in order to ensure zero defects in projects. The constant improvement of all projects and the elimination of errors are the desired results. Quality management has emerged as a major factor in project management. In fact, quality management is defined as a knowledge area of project management from the PMBOK Guide.

What is Quality Management?

Project management as the term suggests is all about managing the quality of services. When it comes to project management, ensuring desired quality is the goal. The project delivery should ensure quality management. Here, quality doesn’t always mean perfection and high-quality services but maintaining consistency in quality across projects.

The quality of a project is decided by the stakeholders, owners, and clients of the project. Quality standards are also defined based on organizational values and standards. A quality management process is introduced in a project toward quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

Quality Characteristics to be maintained in Project Management

There are lots of factors to consider when defining quality. Some of the most common factors include performance, functionality, suitability, reliability, consistency, and more. Levels of quality can be measured as per project and organizational standards. To ensure that projects are delivered on time, each phase should be measured in terms of quality standards. Throughout the project, aspects like computers, project equipment, team members, etc., need to be measured and controlled to ensure quality.

What are the different phases in Quality Management?

Quality management involves typically three phases — Quality Planning, Quality Assurance and Quality Control.

• Quality Management: Here, the design of a quality plan is created. Every plan should have an objective or goal and a quality management plan is no exception. The goal of quality management should be clearly communicated to all project stakeholders.
• Quality Assurance: This is a process that moves along with projects throughout the lifecycle. Quality assurance is all about evaluating if a project is moving towards delivering quality services. If all the quality characteristics are in place the quality plan can proceed in an effective manner. When quality goals are not achieved or are not in the process of getting achieved, necessary steps and corrective actions should be identified. Ensuring corrective actions too falls in the phase of quality assurance.
• Quality Control: Here, operational techniques are used in order to ensure quality standards. Any time a problem arises relating to the quality or if the quality plan is not executed in the desired manner, corrective actions should be effective. Quality control involves monitoring project results and delivery to check if they are meeting desired results or not. If not then alternative actions should be implemented.

Quality management is a vital part of successful Project Management Certification. This section details the necessary steps that should be followed to ensure that quality standards are met.

Read-Everything You Need to Know About Project Cycle Management.