Chapter 8 Project Quality Management (1) Dr. Feng-Jen Yang

Transcription

1 Chapter 8 Project Quality Management (1) Dr. Feng-Jen Yang

2 Objectives Understand the importance of project quality management for information technology products and services Define project quality management and understand how quality relates to various aspects of information technology projects Describe quality planning and its relationship to project scope management Discuss the importance of quality assurance Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 2

3 Objectives cont. Explain the main outputs of the quality control process Understand the tools and techniques for quality control, such as the Seven Basic Tools of Quality, statistical sampling, Six Sigma, and testing Summarize the contributions of noteworthy quality experts to modern quality management Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 3

4 Objectives cont. Describe how leadership, the cost of quality, organizational influences, expectations, cultural differences, and maturity models relate to improving quality in information technology projects Discuss how software can assist in project quality management Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 4

5 A Joke about the Poor Quality of IT Products Bill Gates stated If General Motors had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon General Motors issued a press release stating If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics: Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 5

6 A Joke about the Poor Quality of IT Products cont. 1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice a day. 2. Ever time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car. 3. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart, and drive on. 4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine. 5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought Car95 or CarNT. But then you would have to buy more seats. Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 6

7 A Joke about the Poor Quality of IT Products cont. 6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, reliable, 5 times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only 5% of the roads. 7. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single general car default warning light. 8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size hips. 9. The airbag system would say Are you sure? before going off. 10. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turn the key, and grabbed hold of the radio antenna. Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 7

8 A Joke about the Poor Quality of IT Products cont. 11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car s performance to diminish by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department. 12. Every time GM introduced a new model car, buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car. 13. You would press the Start button to shut off the engine. Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 8

9 The Importance of Project Quality Management Many people joke about the poor quality of IT products People seem to accept systems being down occasionally or needing to reboot their PCs But quality is very important in many IT projects Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 9

10 What Is Project Quality? ISO defines quality as The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements Other experts define quality based on Conformance to requirements The project s processes and products meet written specifications Fitness for use A product can be used as it was intended Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 10

11 What Is Project Quality Management? Project quality management Ensure a project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 11

12 Project Quality Management Processes Planning quality Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them Performing quality assurance Periodically evaluating overall project performance To ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards Performing quality control Monitoring specific project results To ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 12

13 Project Quality Management Summary Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 13

14 Planning Quality Imply the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions to bring about the desired outcome The current thrust in modern quality management The prevention of defects by Selecting proper materials Training and indoctrinating people in quality Planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 14

15 Design of Experiments A quality planning technique Help identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process Example Computer chip designers might want to determine which combination of materials and equipment produce the most reliable chips at a reasonable cost Can also apply to project management issues Such as cost and schedule trade-offs Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 15

16 Design of Experiments cont. Example Junior programmers cost less than senior programmers But cannot complete the same level of work in the same amount of time An appropriately designed experiment to compute project costs and durations for various combination of junior and senior programmers Can determine an optimal mix of personnel Involve documenting important factors Directly contribute to meeting customer requirements Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 16

17 Scope Aspects of IT Projects Important scope aspects that affect quality Functionality The degree to which a system performs its intended function Features The system s special characteristics that appeal to users System outputs The screens and reports the system generates Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 17

18 Scope Aspects of IT Projects cont. Performance How well a product or service performs the customer s intended use Reliability The ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions Maintainability The ease of performing maintenance on a product Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 18

19 Who s Responsible for the Quality of Projects? Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects Several organizations and references can help project managers and their teams understand quality International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 19

20 Performing Quality Assurance Quality assurance Include all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project The goal Continuous quality improvement Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 20

21 Performing Quality Assurance cont. Quality assurance tools Benchmarking Compare specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization To generate ideas for quality improvements A quality audit A structured review of specific quality management activities To identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 21

22 Quality Control The main outputs of quality control are Acceptance decisions If accepted, they are considered to be validated deliverable If rejected, they must be reworked Rework Action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or other stakeholder expectations Process adjustments Correct or prevent further quality problems Based on quality control measurements Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 22

23 Quality Control cont. Quality control tools Known as seven basic tools of quality Help in performing quality control Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 23

24 Cause-and-Effect Diagrams Trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations Help find the root cause of a problem Also known as fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams Can also use the 5 whys technique Repeatedly ask the question Why (5 is a good rule of thumb) to peel away the layers of symptoms that can lead to the root cause Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 24

25 Cause-and-Effect Diagrams cont. Example To uncover the root cause of the problem of users not being able to log in to the EIS Why the users cannot get into the system Why they keep forgetting their passwords Why did not reset their passwords Why they did not check a box to save a password If many users could not get into the system because their computers did not have enough memory The solution might be to upgrade memory for those computers Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 25

26 Sample Cause-and-Effect Diagram Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 26

27 Quality Control Charts A graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time The main use is to prevent defects Rather than to detect or reject them Can determine whether a process is in control or out of control Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 27

28 Quality Control Charts cont. When a process is in control Variations in the results of the process are created by random events Processes that are in control do not need to be adjusted When a process is out of control Variations in the results of the process are caused by nonrandom events Need to identify the causes of those non-random events and adjust the process to correct or eliminate them Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 28

29 Quality Control Charts cont. Can use quality control charts and the seven run rule to look for patterns in data The seven run rule states that If seven data points in a row are All below the mean or above the mean All increasing or decreasing Then The process needs to be examined for non-random problems Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 29

30 Sample Quality Control Chart Dr. Feng-Jen Yang 30