What is "The Word"?

"Quality Management" is the word (or should we say phrase). The PMBOK states Project Quality Management as "the processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken". Setting up your project to deliver a quality product can be as robust or as simple as you need.

Quality Planning is one process that falls under the umbrella of Quality Management. It is the act of "identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project, and determining how to satisfy them." Quality Assurance is another process under the umbrella of Quality Management. It is "the process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards." Quality Control is yet another process that falls under the umbrella of Quality Management but is not a part of this discussion.

Quality Planning and Quality Assurance do not have to be difficult or time consuming in certain instances and industries.

If your Organization is not following a rigorous Quality Management System or doesn't have a quality framework, the following activities could be used as a jump start to performing Quality Management within your organization:

1. Baseline Project Problem Area

• Determine how many projects had schedule overruns; budget overruns; unsatisfied customers; a large number of defects or overall quality issues.

2. Develop or Update Templates

• Create an SQA Plan template or Update your overall Project Planning document to include an SQA Plan section - this section would include the overall quality standards and activities that will be performed on the project.
• Create an SQA Review template - this template will reflect the quality standards and activities that have been outlined in the SQA Plan. This template could be as simple as a checklist to ensure all the standards and activities were followed.

3. Plan SQA Activities For Each Project

• At the very beginning of the project, using the template created in Step 2 above, plan out the SQA standards and activities for the entire project. 
• Determine a schedule to perform SQA reviews.
• Communicate the expectations of the SQA Plan.
• Ensure the project schedule accounts for the effort and resource(s) involved in the SQA activities.

4. Perform SQA Reviews

• Based on the schedule determined in step 3, review the project to ensure the project is following the quality standards they agreed upon.
• Give the Project Manager feedback on where there are deviations from what they had originally agreed to in the SQA Plan.

5. Develop a new Baseline

• After a number of projects or a specific time period, re-evaluate how many projects had schedule overruns; budget overruns; unsatisfied customers; a large number of defects or overall quality issues.

6. Improve The Process

• Make enhancements to your process by updating the templates created in step 2 above or update this process established here.

Setting up your project to deliver a quality product can be as robust or as simple as you need. But it should never be the first thing thrown out when time constrains. However, quality activities such as subject matter expert reviews, unit testing, check point reviews, etc., have been seen as non-critical tasks. Therefore, when push comes to shove and your project is running out time, those quality tasks are typically put aside. Evidence has shown when this occurs, the number of defects/issues goes up and customer satisfaction goes down. Then you need to ask yourself, was it worth it?

And that's "The Phrase".