If you ask any project manager if they want their project to be of a high quality or not, chances are they are going to say “of course”. We naturally value things more the greater the quality is of a product or any other object. What makes something have a high or low quality though? This ultimately depends on the customer’s expectations and the intentions of the product itself. Let’s say I’m given the responsibilities of designing and developing a new app for Wells Fargo. What matters most to the project is that the app allows the user to easily, and reliably access their bank accounts and any functions related to their account. While designing the app I decide to implement a few extra “flashy” features to make the experience more enjoyable for the user. They’re quick and easy to implement and they’ll provide a more enjoyable experience for the user. The one downside is that it creates a slight security risk because it requires giving access to a third party. Overall the app is more useful for the user and may even provide more of a monetary value to the company in terms of advertising. The problem is that it lacks arguably the most important unspoken, but implied needs of the project, for the user to access all of this information securely. Ultimately, the quality of this project is poor because it neglected the projects needs and the customer’s natural expectations of a secure banking experience. “Many technical projects fail because the project team focuses only on meeting the written requirements for the main products being created and ignores other stakeholder needs and expectations for the project. … Meeting only written requirements for scope, time, and cost is not sufficient. To achieve stakeholder satisfaction, the project team must develop a good working relationship with all stakeholders and understand their stated or implied needs.” (Schwalbe, 2018, pg. 330) Now that we have a better definition of project quality, let’s look at some problem areas and ways to improve project quality.
Leadership
Like many common problems in business’s today, the first place to look is usually management and the same applies to project quality. It is up to management to create an environment that expresses a focus of quality in their products. “As globalization continues to increase and customers become more and more demanding, creating high-quality products quickly at a reasonable price is essential for staying in business.” (Schwalbe, pg. 356) There has become an expectation, realistic or not, for quality to be at the forefront of the business model in virtually every situation. While perhaps not easily, this level of quality is usually still attainable. Employees can tell if quality is not a priority from management, and will in turn, tend to not create quality products. One way to show the priority of quality is to invest in programs and training that improve the quality of products. When lower-level employees see the focus on quality from upper management down, quality products are more likely to follow.
Quality Expectations
Another common and sometimes difficult problem to correct, is managing expectations. Everyone on your team could be fully invested in your project and its quality. The problem is that, if not clearly defined, everyone’s view of the project’s expectations can be as unique as each team member. This creates a problem when these expectations are not aligned with the customer’s expectations of the product. While expectations can create many problems for the project, it is potentially easy to avoid. Once again, having good and ongoing communication with the stakeholders and team members can help prevent many problems related to the project as well as misinterpreted expectations.
Maturity Models
One approach to help improve the quality of projects is to use maturity models. Maturity models act as a structure to help organizations improve their processes and systems. They tend to be made up of five levels starting with least organized characteristics on one end and most organized characteristics on the other end. One common maturity model is the Software Quality Function Deployment (SQGD) model. This model helps define user requirements and plan software projects. “Having clearer requirements can lead to fewer design changes, increased productivity, and, ultimately, software products that are more likely to satisfy stakeholder requirements.” (Schwalbe, pg. 360) Probably the most common maturity model is the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The CMMI is “a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes. It can be used to guide process improvement across a project, a division, or an entire organization. CMMI helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.” (Schwalbe, pg. 360)
There are several popular ways to help improve project quality because it is vital to any IT project. If you’ve experienced any of the previous problems in your projects, a good place to start is one of the above approaches. Since a project’s quality is in essence how well it satisfies the needs it was designed to alleviate, it should be prioritized on the same level as the scope, time and cost of the project.
Bibliography
Schwalbe, K. (2018). Information Technology Project Management. Boston: Cengage.