Quality Management for Projects and Programs

Rating:
Summary: High-level, but covers the important points
Review: If you're seeking a solid introduction to basic quality techniques and how to apply them to project management this book will meet your needs. It starts off with a macro view of quality, starting with why quality is important and how it meets both project and business objectives within the context of competitive advantage.

There is nothing new in this book. It's the way that the critical success factors for integrating quality into projects are presented that makes it valuable. For example, the chapter on customer requirements is common sense, but the issues and challenges are exposed in the next chapter on planning for quality projects. In that chapter the elements and dimensions of a project and stakeholder requirements are dissected, which then adds insights into the previous chapter. This material is then taken to a new level in the chapter on cost of quality, which explores the cost to achieve quality, and the costs of not having quality - these are the foundation for building a business case for taking a quality-focused approach in the project. They will also provide ammunition to rebut management when they want to take short cuts as the project evolves (especially product development projects) by quantifying the ramifications of their decisions.

One chapter that I especially like is V, Statistical Concepts and Quality Tools. Not only does this chapter introduce tools and techniques that can be applied to project management, but it also introduces statistical process controls. While statistical process controls are overkill for many projects, they can serve as a dashboard at the program management office level for tracking cost and performance indices, requirements churn and other key indicators across a portfolio of projects.

Overall, this book is brief and only touches upon many of the factors for incorporating quality into project management. However, it is sufficiently detailed to teach the concepts and the value, and will point you in the right direction.

Rating:
Summary: High-level, but covers the important points
Review: If you're seeking a solid introduction to basic quality techniques and how to apply them to project management this book will meet your needs. It starts off with a macro view of quality, starting with why quality is important and how it meets both project and business objectives within the context of competitive advantage.

There is nothing new in this book. It's the way that the critical success factors for integrating quality into projects are presented that makes it valuable. For example, the chapter on customer requirements is common sense, but the issues and challenges are exposed in the next chapter on planning for quality projects. In that chapter the elements and dimensions of a project and stakeholder requirements are dissected, which then adds insights into the previous chapter. This material is then taken to a new level in the chapter on cost of quality, which explores the cost to achieve quality, and the costs of not having quality - these are the foundation for building a business case for taking a quality-focused approach in the project. They will also provide ammunition to rebut management when they want to take short cuts as the project evolves (especially product development projects) by quantifying the ramifications of their decisions.

One chapter that I especially like is V, Statistical Concepts and Quality Tools. Not only does this chapter introduce tools and techniques that can be applied to project management, but it also introduces statistical process controls. While statistical process controls are overkill for many projects, they can serve as a dashboard at the program management office level for tracking cost and performance indices, requirements churn and other key indicators across a portfolio of projects.

Overall, this book is brief and only touches upon many of the factors for incorporating quality into project management. However, it is sufficiently detailed to teach the concepts and the value, and will point you in the right direction.