Imagine launching a product or service that gets everything right the first time—no hassles, just rave reviews. Quality control in project management is all about making sure that your deliverables hit the mark and meet end-user requirements straight off the bat. This process is essential for saving resources and avoiding costly do-overs.
In this post, we’re diving into what quality control means, why it’s crucial, and some best practices you can use to keep your project on track. We’ll cover everything from audits and benchmarking to pie charts and histograms. Plus, we’ll show you how tools like monday.com can help make all of this a breeze, with customizable templates to keep everyone on the same page. Let’s get started and see how you can boost the quality of your projects from day one.
What is quality control in project management?
Imagine being able to produce a product or service and being successful the first time around. People can’t wait to try your product, and you get rave reviews! Quality control in project management is where the team implements strategies to ensure that the deliverable or product meets the end-user requirements. Quality control is the element of the project management plan that saves resources because it reduces quality issues and the need for do-overs.
Quality planning determines the criteria for project management quality control. During quality control, project managers and the team use techniques and tools to assess whether the product or service meets standards and provides a means to address problems or concerns. A clear-cut plan for management increases the likelihood of success. Quality control activities also offer opportunities to learn from the adjustments to the project, which helps contribute to the expediency of future projects
Why is quality control important in project management?
Quality control identifies problems and corrects issues before releasing the product or service to the end-user. Team members identify the strategies for quality control during project planning. Quality control is an iterative process that can save time and resources, while resulting in high-quality products and services.
For example, a smartphone app for ordering groceries may work well for individuals who do not mind perusing an entire menu to order a meal. However, the employee with a short lunch break may prefer a straight-forward way to order and pick up food quickly. After testing the app, the team might decide to develop an express lunch menu for busy individuals. Discovering this need before releasing the app to the stakeholder improves the quality of the deliverables and increases the likelihood of customer satisfaction.
How do you manage quality as a project manager?
Managing quality as a project manager involves a series of processes to ensure that project deliverables meet the required standards and goals. Here are some key steps you can take to effectively manage quality in your project:
3 key aspects of quality management:
- Quality planning: Define clear goals and quality criteria for the project at the outset, ensuring that all team members understand the benchmarks for success
- Quality assurance: Use tests, metrics, and checklists throughout the project to confirm that processes are on track and meeting established standards. Communicate these findings to stakeholders to build confidence
- Quality control: Implement tools and techniques to monitor deliverables, identify any deviations or issues, and make necessary adjustments before the final release
Other tools project managers should use to manage quality:
- Regular audits: Conduct internal and external audits to evaluate compliance with company policies and regulations, addressing any discrepancies promptly
- Benchmarking: Compare your project’s processes and outcomes with industry standards or leading practices to identify areas for improvement
- Feedback loops: Establish regular feedback loops with the team and stakeholders to continuously refine processes, address concerns, and manage customer expectations
- Documentation: Keep thorough documentation of all quality management activities to track progress and inform future projects
Some best practices for controlling quality in project management
Managing quality requires proven techniques that enable project teams to look at areas where there may be potential problems. Strategies used for quality control in project management include audit, benchmarking, cause and effect diagrams, checklists, flowcharts, histograms, pie charts, and statistical sampling. Each of these techniques helps teams carry out the quality control cycle tasks.
Audits
An audit evaluates the project processes, including compliance with company policies or regulations. The audits may be internal, second, or third party. Audits can review risks, procurement, quality control measurements, and issues that can cause problems during the project or impact the quality of deliverables.
An internal audit assesses a company’s internal controls related to processes, regulations, and finances. Second-party audits, the customer looks at a supplier’s operations. The outcome of a second-party audit can influence whether the customer continues to use the supplier. Second-party audits help ensure that supplies meet quality requirements. When an independent auditor evaluates a company’s processes, it is a third-party audit. Regardless of the audit type, auditors should show impartiality and communicate findings in an audit report.
Benchmarking
When an organization wants to be competitive, benchmarking helps identify areas for improvement. Benchmarking involves looking at areas where industry leaders excel, measuring the quality of services and products against industry standards, and determining where the organization can implement similar strategies to improve products or services.
Cause and Effect Diagrams
Cause and Effect Diagrams help the team visualize the root causes of problems that may be getting in the way of progress or quality. Also known as a fish bone diagram, the image uses branches to identify issues that impede project success. The problem is the head of the fish skeleton and the branches resemble bones. The branches are where the team identifies the root causes of the issue.
Checklists
Checklists help keep a project on track and can include goals, stakeholders, deliverables, milestones, and any other information necessary to ensure that the project is progressing as intended
Flow Charts
When a team needs to visualize a process, a flow chart meets that need. Flow charts use standard symbols and text to represent inputs, processes, and outcomes. The flow chart outlines workflow decisions, sequences, and steps to enable users to get a big picture of the process. It simplifies the process for stakeholders at various levels.
Gantt Charts
A Gantt chart is a widely used visual representation of a project schedule. It is a horizontal bar chart showing the start and completion dates of project deliverables and other aspects of a project.
Histograms
Teams can use histograms to display numerical data necessary for evaluating and improving processes. A histogram is a bar graph that shows the frequency of variables in a data set. For example, a histogram can show the average time individuals engage with a website. The team may use this information to imagine ways to increase website use.
Pie Charts
A pie chart is a circular graph with fractional wedge shapes that make up the whole. For example, a pie chart can compare how many people purchase items in a store or a website.
Statistical Sampling
A team can make inferences about a larger group through statistical sampling by observing a smaller population sample. Statistical sampling can be a way to gauge customer satisfaction.
Quality checklist:
- Create a comprehensive quality management plan outlining processes and procedures to meet quality standards.
- Define and agree on product quality metrics, such as defect rates and customer satisfaction scores, to ensure quality outputs.
- Implement process quality metrics like cycle time and process adherence rates to monitor quality control processes.
- Establish a quality metrics review process to analyze data and take corrective actions for quality assurance.
- Ensure all quality metrics are clear, measurable, controllable, and reportable to meet customer requirements and stakeholder expectations.
- Establish, document, and communicate quality thresholds and limits to maintain consistent project quality.
- Set up a centralized repository for quality management documentation to ensure accurate documentation and easy access.
- Use standardized methods for collecting and reporting quality metrics, including affinity diagrams and matrix diagrams, for effective quality control.
- Schedule regular intervals for collecting quality metrics using statistical tools like Statistical Process Control to ensure consistency.
- Hold regular quality metrics review meetings to address quality issues and ensure ongoing improvement of high-quality deliverables.
- Plan quality assurance activities as a key step in project quality management to ensure adherence to quality standards.
- Conduct quality audits, including peer reviews and technical reviews, to ensure compliance with industry standards.
- Incorporate quality assurance methods and quality control procedures in the project plan to ensure effective project quality management.
- Use project management software, like monday.com, for maintaining control over project quality with tools like process checklists and Gantt charts.
- Regularly update the quality management processes and project quality control activities for continuous quality improvement and stakeholder satisfaction.
How does monday.com contribute to quality control?
Ensuring quality control activities stay on track requires the commitment of each team member. The goal is to get the stakeholder to accept the product. Best practices keep the project moving by informing team members of what is happening at each stage. Keeping members informed means planning for quality reviews and scheduling meetings to accomplish the reviews. Assigning roles to specific team members gives ownership which means attention to details that the team might overlook.
Related templates
Whether the problem is missing parts due to an assembly line problem or a website visitor experiencing pain points during navigation, monday.com helps teams organize the data and processes necessary to address quality control concerns.
Customized templates from monday.com means having the planning and quality control data and tools in one place, and accessible to all team members for project quality management in real-time.
Monday.com provides the tools and interfaces a team needs to implement a quality management plan that ensures deliverables meet the organization’s quality metrics and the customer’s expectations. Get a free template to get you started with efficient quality control.
FAQs
What is a Quality Control Cycle?
A quality control cycle is part of the quality management plan and consists of four components that make up a continuous improvement process. Some organizations refer to the steps as plan, do, check, and act, while others use the terms plan, do, study, and act. Regardless of the semantics, using the quality control cycle enables an organization to improve processes, products, and services by repeating each of the cycle's components.
The process begins with the planning phase to determine the goals, objectives, and outputs. Do refers to implementing the plan and creating the product or service. During the check or study step, the organization compares how the product or service works based on the expectations and targets outlined during planning. The act step is where the team looks at ways to improve the product, process, or service. The team analyzes the differences between expectations and results, and determines the changes or corrective actions to implement to meet the requirements and quality standards.
What are the Four Types of Quality Control?
The four types of quality control may vary depending on who defines or describes them. However, quality control is based on inspection, which involves checking for defects and inconsistencies. The goal is to check the output or deliverable to ensure it does not go out to the consumer before it is ready.
Whether the setting is a manufacturing plant, the four types of quality control are similar. For example, in a manufacturing environment, project managers may implement quality control activities during the following four phases: pre-production, production, packaging, and shipping. Four general types of quality control in the project management process are:
Planning for the inspection or review
Implementing the inspection or review
Action
Continuous improvement
Planning involves determining how the data analysis will occur and who will participate. Inspection or review looks at the product or service to assess what works well and where changes need to be made. During the action phase, the team makes the adjustments that will improve the product or service, and continuous improvement involves reassessing and making changes that will result in the deliverable that meets the customer’s quality standards.
The key to achieving quality control in project management is to get the team on the same page. Using a project management template that allows each member to visualize processes and progress makes the process easier.
What's the difference between quality control and quality assurance?
Quality control can be defined as "part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements." While quality assurance relates to how a process is performed or how a product is made, quality control is more the inspection aspect of quality management.
What are the 4 Cs of quality control?
The 4 Cs of quality control are fundamental principles that help ensure products and services meet desired standards and customer expectations. They are - consistency, compliance, communication, and continuous improvement.
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