Chapter Summary

Quality, quality, quality. Everyone talks about quality, but what is it? Quality is the capability of the project to meet the expected requirements of the project customer. Quality is the good, the worth, the profitability gained from and during the implementation. Quality is also the level of excellence within the project process. An IT project that produces quality results will have quality at its core ”which is accomplished through planning, guidance, and leadership.

The trick to ensuring quality deliverables is to make sure that quality is designed into the project itself. Quality management is a process that ensures quality is a central point of each work unit of a project. As the project moves through its different phases, you must sample and readjust the work to be in alignment with the project deliverables to ensure quality.

Progress reports allow the project team, the project manager, and management to be aware of the status of the project at any given time. The reports can be simple one-page summaries or lengthy detailed accounts of problems encountered and solutions discovered . Reports designed for management typically are quick and to the point ”good news or bad. Management doesn t have the time, or desire , to read a lengthy report only to discover everything is great.

As the project progresses, you must implement a process to ensure quality through each phase of the work. You can use leverage with your team members to ensure quality within their work by implementing peer review, sampling the project, and hiring an outside consultant to review the work.

Ultimately, the quality of a project is measured not by the project manager, the project team, or management, but by the end users of the project. Their experience and the productivity gained by the technology will be the true measure of the worth of the project.