Lesson 8: Current (and Future) Issues in Project Management
Quality in Project Management
Although I promised that there wouldn't be any tests or quizzes in this course, let me try a little one anyway, just for fun.
Question: What is the most important element of project management?
Choose from among the following:
(A) Cost (stays within budget)
(B) Time (doesn't exceed schedule)
(C) Quality (customer satisfied with product of project)
(D) This is a dumb quiz, it's obviously (C), I mean, just look at the title of this section. Geez. This is just sad, Jason.
The answer is (C), and if you chose (D), then you hurt my feelings just now. Okay, I'm over it. It's time to laugh again.
Yes, it's true, quality is the most important component, criteria, and feature of your project.
So why is it included in a list of current issues in project management? Well, it's not because the issue of whether quality is important or not is at all debated; the jury is in, and virtually everyone agrees that quality is the single most important feature in project management.
The thing that makes this such a hot issue is that the way to define quality, and the way to achieve quality, tend to differ. So it's vitally important that you jump into the middle of this issue and start to ask questions about how you'll approach the issue of quality in your project management life.
There are several ways you can start doing this, and I recommend you start with the American Society for Quality, which is something like the Project Management Institute, but with an emphasis on quality. You can also start with the AMA Handbook of Project Management, which has a nice chapter devoted to this subject (and includes an overview of the Total Quality Management concept).
As you develop your understanding of quality, and engage innocent bystanders in passionate debate about its definition, reflect on the fact that quality does not simply mean that a product, such as bicycle, is built well. Quality in project management refers not only to the product (the thing the project creates), but the numerous processes that intertwine in order to achieve that goal. So quality is not just an end, it is also a means. Think about something as non-bicycle-ish as a human being; how would you manage the quality of your human resource process? What does that mean? How do you tell if you're doing a good job?
The lens of quality needs to be applied to everything that you do as a project manager. This is not just a philosophical or ethical point; it is a bottom-line business point. Your Project Sponsor may tolerate paying more than anticipated (this happens quite a bit, actually...), or may tolerate things taking longer than they were supposed to (see previous bracket), and they may even tolerate accepting a product that is of a smaller scope than originally targeted, provided that this is something that everyone is OK with well ahead of time.
But if what you built breaks down six months after the project ends (even if it is a service, such as a training program that is lacking critical quality elements), then ooooooo... you don't want to go there. Just trust me: quality is important. Do some reading, have some discussions, and start to see your project world in quality terms from the very start. You'll be glad you did.
References used in this section (these books are available for order via the Resources link above):
The AMA Handbook of Project Management, by Paul C. Dinsmore (Editor). Chapter 20.
