Chapter 8 - Quality Management Flashcards
1
Q
What to do if a team member has created their own process for doing something?
A
Investigate the Quality Management Plan to determine if a standard process should’ve been followed
2
Q
What is quality?
A
The degree to which the project fulfills requirements
3
Q
Grade
A
A general category or classification of a deliverable or resource that indicates common function, but varying technical specifications
4
Q
Quality management
A
- Creating and following policies and procedures and tailoring them to ensure the project meets the needs of the customer
- In other words: ensuring a project is completed in compliance with the project requirements
5
Q
Gold plating
A
- Giving the customer extras (functionality, scope, performance, etc.)
- Gold plating is NOT recommended, and the team should stick to the project objectives
6
Q
Quality must be ____ in, not ____ in!
A
Quality must be planned in, NOT inspected in
7
Q
Total quality management
A
Encourages companies and their employees to focus on finding ways to continuously improve the quality of their products and their business practices at every level of the organization
8
Q
Six Sigma
A
- A methodology for achieving organizational process improvement and high levels of correctness with extremely reduced variances
- Level of quality required by an organization is usually represented by 3 or 6 sigma (standard deviation)
9
Q
Who is ultimately responsible for the quality of the product/project?
A
- PM is responsible for product/project quality
- Team members must inspect their own work
- SM is responsible for promoting an organizational approach that supports quality efforts, i.e., establishment of a quality department
10
Q
Plan quality management
A
Defining quality for the project, product, and project management, and planning how it will be acheived
11
Q
Manage quality
A
- Purpose is to ensure the team is following organizational policies, standards, and processes as planned to produce the project’s deliverables
- PM also evaluates whether QM plan needs to be improved or modified
12
Q
Control quality
A
- Examining the actual deliverables produced on the project to ensure they are correct and meet the planned level of quality
- Evaluating variances
- Findingthesource of problems
- Recommending ways to address problems
13
Q
Plan Quality Management process
A
- Identify all relevant organizational or industry practices, standards, and requirements for the quality of the project, the product of the project, and the project management efforts
- Plan how to meet those quality standards and requirements
14
Q
What allows the PM to maintain the proper perspective and plan quality to the appropriate level?
A
The scope baseline, i.e.,:
- Project scope statement
- WBS
- WBS dictionary
15
Q
Tools and techniques used in Plan Quality Management process
A
- Interviews
- brainstorming
- Benchmarking
- Decision-making (selecting the most critical metrics or prioritizing quality requirements)
- Cost-benefit analysis
16
Q
If you have poor quality, you might also have…
A
- Increased costs
- Decreased profits
- Low morale
- Low customer satisfaction
- Increased risk
- Rework
17
Q
Cost of quality
A
- Making sure the project is not spending too much to achieve a particular level of quality
- Involves looking at what the costs of conformance and nonconformance to quality will be on the project, and creating an appropriate balance
18
Q
What should be lower - the costs of conformance or the costs of nonconformance?
A
The costs of conformance should be lower than the costs of nonconformance
19
Q
Marginal analysis
A
Focused on finding the point at which benefits or revnue to be received from improving quality equals the incremental cost to achieve that quality
20
Q
Logical data model
A
- Contains a description of the quality needs of the project, and is used to understand the requirements, clarify business rules, and define processes
- Can be presented using an entity relationship diagram
21
Q
Matrix diagram
A
- A visual representation of the relationship between two or more sets of items
- Used to sort quality requirements and identify the requirements that are most critical to the project
- A prioritization matrix is useful for decision analysis about quality management plan components that may need to change
22
Q
Flowchart benefits to Plan Quality Management process
A
- Can help determine the cost of quality by mapping the expected monetary value of pursing paths of conformance and nonconformance of quality
- Defining and communicating processes that will be used on the project
- Visualize a process and find potential quality problems or quality control issues
23
Q
Outputs of Plan Quality Management process
A
- Quality management plan
- Quality metrics
- PMP and project document updates
24
Q
What do quality management plans include?
A
- Quality practices, standards, and processes
- Who will be involved in managing quality, when, and what their duties will be
- A review of earlier decisions to make sure decisions are correct
- Meetings that will be held regarding quality
- Reports that will address quality
- What metrics will be used to measure quality
- What parts of the project will be measured and when
25
Who handles/leads the Manage Quality process?
Typically, a **group outside of the project team**, such as a **quality department**, often handles this work
26
Tools and techniques for Manage Quality process
1. **Checklists**
2. **Cuase-and-effect diagrams (Fishbone, Ishikawa, or Why-Why)**
3. **Histograms**
4. **Scatter diagrams**
5. **Document analysis**
6. **Alternatives analysis**
7. **Process analysis**
8. **Root cause analysis**
9. **Multicriteria decision analysis**
10. **Flowcharts**
11. **Affinity diagrams**
12. **Audits**
13. **Design for X**
14. **Problem solving**
27
Design of experiments (DOE)
* **Technique** that can be used to **analyze alternatives**
* **Experimentation is performed to determine statistically what variables will improve quality**
* **Fast and accurate**
* **Allows** you to **systematically change** the **important factors in a process** and s**ee which combinations have an optimal impact on the deliverables**
28
Process analysis
* **Lessons learned** on the **first few installations/activities** are **used to improve the process for the remaining installations/activities**
* **Should be planned in at specific points in the project (e.g., every 10 installations)**
29
What type of tool/technique is the prioritization matrix tagged to?
A prioritization matrix is a type of **multicriteria decision analysis**
30
Design for X
* Another way of **analyzing variables** to **evaluate both the effectiveness of the quality management plan and the team's ability to meet objectives**
* **"X" can represent an attribute of quality**
* **If the plan is not delivering the intended results in the relation to "X", Design for X can help determine what chanegs or adjustments are needed**
31
Outputs of Manage Quality
* **Test and evaluatino documents**
* **Quality reports**
* **Change requests and PMP updates**
* **Project document updates**
32
What is the major function of the Control Quality process?
* To **MEASURE,** i.e., aspects are measured to **determine whether they meet the quality standards**
* **Helps ensure customer acceptance**
33
What is the difference between the Manage Quality and Control Quality processes?
* **Manage quality = _addressing effectiveness of QM plans, processes, and procedures,_ and determining _whether we're on track_ to meet quality objectives**
* **Control quality = addressing the _quality of the product_, and _correcting issues_**
34
Who is in charge/leads Control Quality efforts?
* Although a PM must be involved and concerned, a **quality department** may complete much of this work
* **The quality department then informs the PM about quality issues through change requests**
35
Mutual exclusivity
* **Two events that cannot both occur in a single trial**
* **E.g., flipping a coin once cannot result in both heads and tails**
36
Normal distribution
* **The most common probability density distribution chart**
* **Bell curve used to measure variations**
37
Statistical independence
* **The probability of one events occurring does not affect the probability of another event occuring**
* E.g., the probably of rolling a 5 on a die is statistically independent from the probability of getting a 5 on the next roll
38
How are checklists used in the Control Quality process?
Checklists are used to **determine that all required features and functions are included, and that they meet acceptance criteria**
39
Checksheets
**A type of checklist that can be used to keep track of data as well as to document how often a particular defect occurs**
40
Statistical sampling
* **Technique used to verify quality by taking a sample of the population and inspecting it**
* **Best if** you believe there are **not many defects**
* Also **best if studying entire population would:**
* **Take too long**
* **Cost too much**
* **Be too destructivd**
41
Control charts
* **Used to help determine if the results of a process are within acceptable limits**
* **Parameters such as the mean, specification limits, and cotrol limits are defined in control charts**
* **Limits are shown as two dashed lines**
42
Upper and lower control limits of control chart
* **Represent the performing organization's standards for quality**
* **Indicate what is stable versus unstable (out of control) in the process**
* **Data points within this range are generally thought of as "in control", excluding the rule of seven**
43
Specification limits
* Represent the **customer's expectations (contractual requirements) for performance and quality**
* **NOT calculated based on the control chart,** and are instead **inputs from the customer**
* **Therefore, they can appear either inside or outside of the control limits...but for the exam, assume they are OUTSIDE the control limits**
44
What needs to be stricter - control or specification limits?
**To meet the customer's specification limits,** the performing organization**standards for quality, i.e., control limits**'s , must be **stricter** **than those of the customer**
45
Out of control
**Lack of consistency** and **predictability** in the **process** or its **results**
46
In what circumstances is a process out of control?
* **A data point falls outside of the upper or lower limit**
* **There are nonrandom data points, such as rule of seven**
47
Rule of seven
Refers to **a group or series of nonrandom data** **points** that **total seven** on **one side of the mean**
Tells you that, **although none of these points are outside** of the **control limits**, they are **not random** and the **process is out of control**
48
Assignable cause/special cause variation
* **A data point, or series of data points, requires investigation to determine the cause of variation**
* **Signifies that a process is out of control**
49
Cause and effect (Fishbone, Ishikawa, or Why-Why) diagrams
Used to **look backward at what may have contributed to quality problems** on the project**,** as well as to **analyze the impact of defects on the quality and acceptability of a deliverable**
50
Is it better to fix a defect, or get to the root cause?
* **BOTH**
* A **cause and effect diagram** can help achieve this
51
Examples on the exam of phrasing for cause and effect diagrams
* A **creative way** to look at the **causes of the problem**
* Helps **stimulate thinking, organize thoughts, and generate discussions**
52
Histograms
* **Presents data, via bars or columns, in no particular order and without reference to time**
* Results are displayed to determine the problems that **need the most immediate attention** or that are **most likely to prevent the project from achieving its quality requirements**
53
Pareto charts
Arranges results from **most frequent to least frequent** to **help identify which root causes are resulting in the most problems**
54
80/20 principle (Pareto Principle)
**80% of problems are due to 20% of the root causes**
55
Scatter diagrams
* **Used to determine the relationship between variables and the quality of results**
* **Positive correlations = line going from 7 to 2**
* **Negative correlations = line going from 10 to 5**
* **No correlation = no line**
56
Outputs of Control Quality process
* **Measurements**
* **Work performance information**
* **PMP updates**
* **Change requests**
* **Verified deliverables**
57
Trick for understanding if a situation is a part of plan, manage, or control quality
**Plan = forwards in time**
**Manage** = **backward**s in time on **policies/procedures**
**Control** = **backwards** in time on **results**
