Project Quality Management

Project Quality Management

• Project quality management ensures a project satisfies the needs for which it was undertaken
• It involves meeting or exceeding stakeholder needs and expectations.
• Project teams should foster relationships with stakeholders, especially the customer
• The customer ultimately determines if the quality is acceptable
• Technical projects can fail because the project team fixates on written requirements, while ignoring stakeholder needs and expectations.
• Quality should be on par with scope, time, and cost
• Stakeholder dissatisfaction requires adjusting scope, time, and cost.

Phases in Project Quality Management

• Quality management planning identifies quality requirements and standards for the project and product
• Should be shared with all stakeholders
• Appropriate tasks delegated to those responsible.
• Quality assurance audits quality requirements and quality control results
• Used to ensure appropriate quality standards are used.
• Necessary steps and corrective actions should be employed when standards are unmet.
• Quality control monitors and records quality activities to assess performance and suggest changes.

Quality Management Plan

• Describes the activities and resources to achieve quality objectives.
• Can be formal or informal, depending on project needs
• The quality management plan should be reviewed early
• Benefits include:
• Making accurate decisions and having a sharper focus on the project's value proposition
• Reducing costs and mitigating schedule overruns.

Quality Management Plan Components

• Quality standards to be used
• e.g., APA standards for written content
• Quality objectives
  • e.g., 100% APA compliance, 90% peer review satisfaction.
• Quality roles and responsibilities
• e.g., assigning a quality manager to oversee peer reviews.
• Project deliverables and processes subject to quality review
  • e.g., peer review using a rotating review system.
• Quality control and quality management activities for the project
• Quality tools used for the project
• Major procedures like nonconformance, corrective actions, and continuous improvement.

Quality Standards and Regulations

• Standards are documents established by authority, custom, or general consent
• Regulations establish product, process, or service characteristics, including administrative provisions
• De facto regulations are widely accepted through use
• De jure regulations are mandated by law or experts
• ISO 9000 Series is a quality system standard applicable to any product, service, or process.

Quality Metrics

• Defined as a description of a project or product attribute with steps on measuring it
• Examples:
• Percentage of activities completed on time
• Cost performance and failure rate
• Number of defects per day
• Total downtime per month
• Errors per line of code
• Customer satisfaction scores.

Planning Quality Management

• Identifies quality requirements and standards
• Documents compliance methods
• Provides guidance on quality management and verification throughout the project
• Incorporates quality standards into project design
• Key outputs: quality management plan, quality metrics, and updates to project and document management plans.

Project Communications

• Project communications consist of the following items
• Project Communications
• Communication Types
• Successful Project Communication
• Communications Management Plan
• Choosing Communication Technology
• Sender-Receiver Communication Model
• Communication Methods
• Communication Approaches
• Importance of Communication
• Best Practices For Communication Plan

Dimensions of Project Communications

• Internal/External focuses on stakeholders:
• Within the Project/Organization
• External such as Customers/Vendors
• Formal/Informal include:
• Reports and Meetings
• General Communication (Emails, Social Media, etc.)
• Hierarchical focus looks at the position of the stakeholder such as:
• Upward to Senior management
• Downward to Project team
• Horizontally to Project manager's peers
• Official/Unofficial communications such as:
• Annual reports
• Project team communications
• Written/Verbal communication

Communication Types

• Face-to-face meetings
• Email
• Fax
• Instant Messaging
• Text Messaging
• Print Media
• Video and Voice Conferencing
• Social Media
• Company Website

Successful Project Communication

• Developing an appropriate communication strategy based on project and stakeholder needs is key for success
• A communications management plan developed ensures stakeholders receive appropriate messages, which can be distributed via a variety of formats defined by strategy
• Project communications are the outputs of the planning process, addressed via the communications management plan

Communications Management Plan

• A communications management plan involves developing project communication via appropriate approaches based on information needs of stakeholders, available organizational assets, project needs
• Key benefit is a documented approach to engage stakeholders effectively and efficiently with timely information
• Analyze stakeholder communication needs to avoid wasting time and money
• Communication planning starts early during stakeholder identification and project management plan development

Communications Management Plan Contents

• Stakeholder communication requirements
• Information to be communicated (format, content, and level of detail)
• Sender and recipient of information
• Methods and Tech for conveying info
• Frequency of Communication
• Escalation procedures
• Revision procedures
• Glossary of terms

Choosing Communication Technology Considerations

• Urgency of Information needed
• Tech availability and reliability
• Ease of Use
• Project Environment
• Sensitivity and confidentiality

Communication Model

• Sender encodes message and transmits through a medium
• Receiver decodes the message
• Noise, feedback, and personal biases can influence this process

Communication Methods

• Interactive communication involves multidirectional, real-time exchange between 2+ parties through various artifacts like meetings, instant messaging, and videoconferencing
• Push communication sends information directly to specific recipients
• Ensuring the information is distributed, but not necessarily reaching or understood by intended audience
• Push communication artifacts include letters, voice mails, and press releases
• Pull communication is for complex information or larger audiences requiring recipients to access content at their own discretion
  • For example, web portals, e-learning, or knowledge repositories

Communication Approaches

• Interpersonal communication is information exchanged face-to-face between individuals
• Small group communication includes 3 to 6 people
• Public communication: single speaker addressing a group
• Mass communication: minimal connection between the sender and large, anonymous groups
• Networks and social computing communication: supports emerging communication trends via social computing technology and media

Importance of Communication

• Communication is essential for project success
• Without effective communication, projects risk missed opportunities and failure
• It is the flow of information
• Includes all the key aspects of a project, and who those aspects are shared with
• Effective communication engages stakeholders
• Helps the project run on time
• Considers the diverse needs of stakeholders

Best Practices for Building a Communication Plan

• Identify Stakeholders
• Create a RACI chart to identify audience and who should be kept informed
• Determine Communications Frequency
• Identify how often stakeholders should be contacted
• Determine their communication methods and the level of detail each requires
• Set Goals
• Define the goals of communication and if a response or engagement is required
• Identify Barriers
• Determine time and language constraints
• Respect stakeholders time, and be aware of privacy issues

Additional Communication Plan Best Practices

• Use a suitable tool to document, and begin developing the communications plan
• Add a notes column to keep track of important but easily missed info
• Use formatting to emphasize important components to draw the eye
• Ensure that multiple team members can access the document
• Allow the team to offer feedback or voice questions
• Send test runs to ensure that all technical communication functions (email, links, and presentations) operate properly

Project Procurement

• Project procurement involves acquiring goods and services from an outside source
• Procurement services from suppliers, vendors, contractors, subcontractors, or sellers
• Outside source defined by PMI comes form a source outside the project team, whether from the organization or another
• Planning procurements involves identifying needs best met via outside products/services
• An output of this Process is determining whether to make/perform in house, or outsource

Planning Procurement Management

• Project management plan component that describes how goods and services acquired outside of the performing organization will be supplied to the project
• Determines whether to acquire goods and services from and outside, what to acquire, and how/when to acquire
• Specifies contract types and the process for obtaining, evaluating bids
• Mandates standardized procurement documents and methods for ensuring providers are managed

Make-Or-Buy Considerations

• Use data and analysis tools to organize and analyze product data and/or alternatives
• Base desicions on data regrading the internal or external manufacture of a product
• Make or buy includes considerations for:
• Impact on cost, time, and quality
• Ongoing need for the skill set
• Steepness of learning curve Required resources readily available

Supplier and Contracts

• Mutually binding agreement that obligates seller to deliver the specified project/service, obligating the Buyer to pay for it
• Contracts should be customized
• Common contract types:
• Fixed price = well defined scope
• Cost-reimbursable = scope may change
• Time and materials (T&M) = undefined workload
• Agile contract types include
  • Capped time and materials
  • Target cost contracts
  • Incremental delivery contracts

Components of Contracts

• Description of work to be procured and its deliverables
• Delivery dates in schedule information
• Identification of authority
• Responsibilities of both parties
• Management of technical and business aspects
• Price and Payment terms
• Provisions of termination
• Applicable guarantees and warranties

Source Selection Methods

• Least Cost: appropriate for standard procurements with well-established practices where a specific, well-defined outcome is expected.
• Qualifications Only: best when a full selection process is too costly
• The buyer establishes a short list and picks the best bidder
• Quality based/highest technical proposal: selected firm is asked for proposal and then an invitation to negotiate

Selection Methods II

• Quality and cost based: uses both elements in the process
• Sole Source: buyer asks a specific seller to prepare technical and financial proposals (acceptable only if properly justified as an exception)
• Fixed budget: Disclosing budget by finding the highest ranking technical proposal based on limitations

Source Selection Criteria

• Attributes buyers use to decide on selecting a contract
• Include:
• Understanding stakeholder's needs
• Business size and type
• Proprietary rights
• Cost
• Intellectual property rights

Procurement Management Plan

• Procurement management plan includes guidance on:
• How the coordination will take place with project schedule
• What activities are on the key timetable
• What roles do stakeholders play
• List assumptions
• Determine jurisdiction and currency
• Risk management issues
• Will independent estimates be used?
• Prequalified sellers