Project Management is a profession and must account for project success and failures! The role of quality in projects

Ourpresident Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu has recently been inspecting government projects and often laments at the poor workmanship of most contractors.

The blame has been directed at the Engineering Institute of Zambia (EIZ). What has been ignored or spared is the fact that project management is a profession.

Project management as defined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

Project managers leading projects must have project management credentials and subscribe to the project management code of ethics and professional conduct. Contractors must be obliged to use proven project management methodology like PRINCE2® especially on capital infrastructural projects.

Engineers leading and in charge of delivering mega projects or capital infrastructural projects need additional qualifications and credentials in project management to mitigate the risk of poor project delivery.

The significance of project quality management plan needs to be fully understood by project managers in order to deliver successful projects. Project quality planning involves the identification of relevant quality standards and how to meet them so that project deliverables are fit for purpose. Why then do we still have: Snags; Defects; Rework; Bugs! Time overrun; Budget overrun, dissatisfied beneficiaries in projects! Who is to blame? Is it the customer or client? Is it the engineers or contractor? Is it force majeure? Is it the project manager from customer or contractor’s side? In our discussion this week we will try to address some of the mentioned problems faced in project management of course the burning question is.

How do you know that a project has failed or is a success? I think it’s not rocket science to understand that when project deliverables have no defects and also key project stakeholders and beneficiaries are happy and satisfied about the project outcomes then the project can be deemed as being a successful. This is the reason why project quality audit always starts with customer initial requirements and expectations.

Of course they are other key project success indicators or factors like budget, schedule, risks, scope quality etc. obviously we need to also look at lessons from past projects so we avoid repeated mistakes. Well, all said and mentioned we still experience post project snag lists, defects, rework, and bugs in software applications. So does it mean project teams do not learn from previous lessons? Alright we have talked about problems in projects now it’s time to look at what remedies or proactive actions a project manager can take to minimize the impact of defects, snag lists on project deliverables and maximize project success factors.

When a project tender is awarded or project charter is signed off by the sponsor then project managers start to make a project plan. One of the many sub project plans is called a resource project management plan. When building a resource project management plan a skilled project manager would always look at the availability of resources and their skills set in the project team. This can be done by identifying staff or employees with relevant skills set to undertake the project assignment. A simple skills matrix would be appropriate.

Project and quality assurance activities cost money and it all starts with the planning phase where we develop a project quality management plan. The cost of quality activities must be part of the overall project budget. The cost of quality is usually weighed between the costs of quality conformance versus the cost of quality non-conformance? What is quality assurance? What is project assurance? These questions must be addressed by the project manager. Does your organisation follow any of the formal methods for quality management, e.g. ISO9000?

During quality planning we need to think of quality standards applicable to our project. We need to identify right skills set in the project team to make the right products rightly. Quality activities must be planned because they take time and must appear in the project schedule. During quality control project managers must ensure that work packages are subjected to quality control before being signed- off. This is very important to ensure that defects, bugs, snags do not reach the customer or client.

Now the question is who should perform quality control activities? Project manager must ensure that product reviewers in the quality team are experts in the field and independent of those making the products. This is very important for obvious reasons in order to avoid conflict of interest. Products failing quality checks must be re-worked and resubmitted for further quality checks. Final thoughts: Project quality management plans must be developed for every project and respected in order to prevent snags, defects and bugs from reaching the customer. Like the anonymous saying that “we are good at getting projects and very bad at retaining and pleasing customers”. Quality planning is important in order to identify the quality standards and how to meet them by applying principles of quality management including; Customer satisfaction; Prevention and keeping errors out of processes; Continuous improvements and elimination of waste; Understanding project management responsibility to quality. Project managers must protect and insulate themselves by ensuring that project quality controls are scheduled and taking place so products are being signed-off by quality expert’s independent from those making the deliverables.

This article was written by Dr Laban Mwansa, MSP®, PMP®, PRINCE2® Practitioner, Agile®, Laban is a consultant and trainer in project management and specifically trainer/coach in PMP®, PRINCE2® Practitioner, and PRINCE2 Agile® in Zambia, South Africa and Europe for many years. He is also accredited PMI instructor for PMP® exam preparation. He was in the executive committee of ICTAZ as a technical chair. He is also the managing partner of Betaways Innovation Systems and can be reached at: Laban. Mwansa@betaways-innovations.com, +260975280392 or WhatsApp +27817029669. He is also a professional project management member of PMSA and PMI-USA.