Quality project management

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I. Contents of quality project management

==================
The series on What Drives Quality describes both technical activities and supporting quality
activities. Previous articles explored what Senior Management and Operational Management do
to ensure that quality software products are delivered to customers. This article describes how
Project Management drives quality.
Understanding what drives quality enables you to take action before problems actually
occur, saving time and money.
With project management I mean managing of projects and programs that include software
development and delivery. This can be waterfall projects, RUP, or Agile project Management;
the basic principles of project management and their contribution towards software quality is
needed for all these kinds of projects.
Project managers can use specific project management methods or certifications
(eg. PRINCE2, PMI or IPMA), these methods describe the quality activities that should be
performed. Also the CMMI includes process areas that cover project management and the quality
activities that are typically performed in projects.
Factors that drive Quality by Project Management are:
1.

Decision Making Capability The ability to balance quality, time, cost, and functionality
and to make timely decisions that involve the right people. Also to assure that decisions are
communicated and that the work is followed up to completion.

2.

Project Portfolio Management Planning and tracking of the set of projects, including
project steering groups and all decisions made to start, continue, cancel, and conclude the
project.
3.
Project Management Capability Skill and experience level of project managers.
4.
Risk Management Process Capability Awareness of project risks, the maturity of the
process, and the capability of managing risks.
5.
Planning Capability The ability to estimate, plan, and track projects with respect to the
quality of the delivered product.
6.
Scope Stability Impact of major changes in the projects (e.g., those related to stability
of the products to be developed), the development teams involved in the projects, and major
changes in project funding or delivery dates. These changes are often related to changes in
the product roadmap.
7.
Schedule Pressure The way deadlines are used to put pressure on projects and people to
deliver on time.
8.
Operational Overview and Insight Insight into the status of ongoing projects (e.g.,
processes used, documents delivered, quality of the documents).
9.
Operational Line Management Activities done by department managers in their role as
responsible for the short term activities.
10.
Project Management Process Adherence Checks (e.g., audits or assessments) to
determine whether the baselined processes are being followed and if they are effective and
efficient.
Decision Making Capability
Project Managers are expected to take decisions that are needed for project to deliver and meets
its goals. This can be decisions about what to do, when to do it or how to do it. Depending on the
project management method that is used and how the project is steered and monitored, there can
be big differences in which decisions are taken by the project manager, and which are taken by
members of the project team, or by stakeholders.

For instance, in an agile project, the content of each sprint is

decided in the planning game. The Product Owner and team discuss the User Stories, estimate
the work involved, and decide which ones will be included. The planning game must decide
about product quality that is required, since this can have much impact on the work that needs to
be done. Aspects of quality are theknowledge and skills that are needed to develop the software,
the quality activities that need to be done (eg. pair programming, reviews or testing) and
the process that will be used to do the work. Decisions can either be documented on the scrum

board, or in the Definition of Done (DoD). Finally, retrospectives can be used to look back on
decisions that were taken in the planning game and stand-ups, and to continuously improve the
capabilities of the agile team to manage their work.
Do we still need projectmanagers to manage projects with agile teams? Yes, but their role will be
different. Project managers can for instance organize the cordination between the project teams
(eg. with a scrum-of-scrums), to ensure that the subproducts can be integrated and delicered. In
larger projects they will do the delivery planning, to ensure that project deliveries are aligned
with product roadmaps. And they have to align the project with all the stakeholders, like project
sponsors, line managers, and product managers, where this is not done by the Product Owner. In
the end, a project manager is also responsible for steering product quality in agile teams, and for
the reporting of his/her agile project. My opinion is that there is still a need for project managers
in agile, where they support the primary planning mechanisms from agile methods like Scrum.
Risk Management

The quality of the software products is related to

the way that risks are managed in projects. Product quality risks should be identified early and
continuously, and actions taken to either reduce that change that the risk occurs, or mitigate
quality impact.
In agile, User Stories that pose a high risk are usually done as early as possible in the project. It
is better to deal with risks early, while there is still room to deal with them. Spikes are a great
way to deal with risks in projects as early as possible. They decrease project disturbances, and
help agile teams and product owners to get quick feedback about product possibilities. To reduce
risks and improve quality, agile teams should develop their capabilities to deliver code with high
quality.
Schedule Pressure

Several good books have been written on managing time and

people on projects, like The Mythical Man Month from Fred Brooks and Peopleware from Tom

DeMarco and Tim Lister. They make it very clear that (project and line) managers should
carefully manage teams, and prevent that professionals are overloaded with work. My experience
is that keeping teams composition stable enables team members to learn and improve
continuously. Also XP promotes a Core Practice 40 hour workweek, which aims to reduce
pressure on team members to prevent them from making mistakes that result in less quality.
Why do project managers put time pressure on their teams? I dont know, and it still surprises
me, so I can only guess at their reasons to do it. Maybe because they think that putting pressure
on people makes them more productive? That team need deadlines to come up with results? They
might see it as bargaining, where they want to find the optimum amount of work to be delivered
within a time frame? If you know what drives project managers to put pressure on their teams,
please react to this post, and let me know!
Summing up, there are lots of good reasons for project managers to reduce schedule pressure, to
reduce quality risks with products that are developed. Why it is still done (too) often surprises
me.
Conclusions
Project Management can drive quality. By taking decisions that enable the project team to
develop software, and by establishing a structure and environment where the team can deliver
quality products and services in an efficient way. And by taking and communicating decisions
timely so that professionals know what has been agreed with the project stakeholders. Together
with Senior Management, Operational Management and Process Management, Project
Management drives professionals to deliver high quality products, on time and within budget,
which meet their quality goals.
==================

III. Quality management tools

1. Check sheet

The check sheet is a form (document) used to collect data

in real time at the location where the data is generated.
The data it captures can be quantitative or qualitative.
When the information is quantitative, the check sheet is
sometimes called a tally sheet.
The defining characteristic of a check sheet is that data
are recorded by making marks ("checks") on it. A typical
check sheet is divided into regions, and marks made in
different regions have different significance. Data are
read by observing the location and number of marks on
the sheet.
Check sheets typically employ a heading that answers the
Five Ws:

Who filled out the check sheet

What was collected (what each check represents,
an identifying batch or lot number)
Where the collection took place (facility, room,
apparatus)
When the collection took place (hour, shift, day of
the week)
Why the data were collected

2. Control chart
Control charts, also known as Shewhart charts
(after Walter A. Shewhart) or process-behavior
charts, in statistical process control are tools used
to determine if a manufacturing or business
process is in a state of statistical control.
If analysis of the control chart indicates that the
process is currently under control (i.e., is stable,
with variation only coming from sources common
to the process), then no corrections or changes to
process control parameters are needed or desired.

In addition, data from the process can be used to

predict the future performance of the process. If
the chart indicates that the monitored process is
not in control, analysis of the chart can help
determine the sources of variation, as this will
result in degraded process performance.[1] A
process that is stable but operating outside of
desired (specification) limits (e.g., scrap rates
may be in statistical control but above desired
limits) needs to be improved through a deliberate
effort to understand the causes of current
performance and fundamentally improve the
process.
The control chart is one of the seven basic tools of
quality control.[3] Typically control charts are
used for time-series data, though they can be used
for data that have logical comparability (i.e. you
want to compare samples that were taken all at
the same time, or the performance of different
individuals), however the type of chart used to do
this requires consideration.

3. Pareto chart

A Pareto chart, named after Vilfredo Pareto, is a type

of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where
individual values are represented in descending order
by bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the
line.
The left vertical axis is the frequency of occurrence,
but it can alternatively represent cost or another
important unit of measure. The right vertical axis is
the cumulative percentage of the total number of
occurrences, total cost, or total of the particular unit of
measure. Because the reasons are in decreasing order,
the cumulative function is a concave function. To take
the example above, in order to lower the amount of
late arrivals by 78%, it is sufficient to solve the first
three issues.
The purpose of the Pareto chart is to highlight the
most important among a (typically large) set of
factors. In quality control, it often represents the most
common sources of defects, the highest occurring type
of defect, or the most frequent reasons for customer
complaints, and so on. Wilkinson (2006) devised an
algorithm for producing statistically based acceptance
limits (similar to confidence intervals) for each bar in
the Pareto chart.

4. Scatter plot Method

A scatter plot, scatterplot, or scattergraph is a type of

mathematical diagram using Cartesian coordinates to
display values for two variables for a set of data.
The data is displayed as a collection of points, each
having the value of one variable determining the position
on the horizontal axis and the value of the other variable
determining the position on the vertical axis.[2] This kind
of plot is also called a scatter chart, scattergram, scatter
diagram,[3] or scatter graph.
A scatter plot is used when a variable exists that is under
the control of the experimenter. If a parameter exists that
is systematically incremented and/or decremented by the
other, it is called the control parameter or independent
variable and is customarily plotted along the horizontal
axis. The measured or dependent variable is customarily
plotted along the vertical axis. If no dependent variable
exists, either type of variable can be plotted on either axis
and a scatter plot will illustrate only the degree of
correlation (not causation) between two variables.
A scatter plot can suggest various kinds of correlations
between variables with a certain confidence interval. For
example, weight and height, weight would be on x axis
and height would be on the y axis. Correlations may be
positive (rising), negative (falling), or null (uncorrelated).
If the pattern of dots slopes from lower left to upper right,
it suggests a positive correlation between the variables
being studied. If the pattern of dots slopes from upper left
to lower right, it suggests a negative correlation. A line of
best fit (alternatively called 'trendline') can be drawn in
order to study the correlation between the variables. An
equation for the correlation between the variables can be
determined by established best-fit procedures. For a linear
correlation, the best-fit procedure is known as linear
regression and is guaranteed to generate a correct solution
in a finite time. No universal best-fit procedure is
guaranteed to generate a correct solution for arbitrary
relationships. A scatter plot is also very useful when we
wish to see how two comparable data sets agree with each

other. In this case, an identity line, i.e., a y=x line, or an

1:1 line, is often drawn as a reference. The more the two
data sets agree, the more the scatters tend to concentrate in
the vicinity of the identity line; if the two data sets are
numerically identical, the scatters fall on the identity line
exactly.

5.Ishikawa diagram
Ishikawa diagrams (also called fishbone diagrams,
herringbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, or
Fishikawa) are causal diagrams created by Kaoru
Ishikawa (1968) that show the causes of a specific event.
[1][2] Common uses of the Ishikawa diagram are product
design and quality defect prevention, to identify potential
factors causing an overall effect. Each cause or reason for
imperfection is a source of variation. Causes are usually
grouped into major categories to identify these sources of
variation. The categories typically include
People: Anyone involved with the process
Methods: How the process is performed and the
specific requirements for doing it, such as policies,
procedures, rules, regulations and laws
Machines: Any equipment, computers, tools, etc.
required to accomplish the job
Materials: Raw materials, parts, pens, paper, etc.
used to produce the final product
Measurements: Data generated from the process
that are used to evaluate its quality
Environment: The conditions, such as location,
time, temperature, and culture in which the process
operates

6. Histogram method

A histogram is a graphical representation of the

distribution of data. It is an estimate of the probability
distribution of a continuous variable (quantitative
variable) and was first introduced by Karl Pearson.[1] To
construct a histogram, the first step is to "bin" the range of
values -- that is, divide the entire range of values into a
series of small intervals -- and then count how many
values fall into each interval. A rectangle is drawn with
height proportional to the count and width equal to the bin
size, so that rectangles abut each other. A histogram may
also be normalized displaying relative frequencies. It then
shows the proportion of cases that fall into each of several
categories, with the sum of the heights equaling 1. The
bins are usually specified as consecutive, non-overlapping
intervals of a variable. The bins (intervals) must be
adjacent, and usually equal size.[2] The rectangles of a
histogram are drawn so that they touch each other to
indicate that the original variable is continuous.[3]

III. Other topics related to Quality project management (pdf

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