Monitoring and Controlling Process Group Process – Perform Quality Control – Mind Map

Quality control – deals with correctness of the deliverable & meeting the quality requirements specified for the deliverable in project quality standards.

Below is the Mind Map of Perform Quality Control process. As usual, I tried putting as much information as possible in each branch in this process map to bring out completeness to it. Hope this will be useful to you.

 

Inset image of Seven Quality Control Tools

How often should I validate current project level?

Many managers think that everyday (even sometime hourly) tracking of their real work completed with plans made. This puts more pressure on each one performing the activity to deliver things as soon as possible, as fast as they can. This problem happens because planning of validation frequency was not done as part of the project planning.

Validation has 3 important parameters – 1) Criteria for validation 2) Validation frequency 3) Validation steps

1 – Criteria for validation: Deciding the criteria for validation is important. In some manufacturing unit, criteria can be number of unit manufactured. In some other organization, it is as soon as particular activity finished. As part of criteria it is important to define the Inputs & Outputs for the validation process.

2 – Validation Frequency : How often should I validate current project level against the plans? This question gives you insight in deciding the frequency of validation.

3 – Validation steps : Having too many validation steps makes the project more complex.

The law of complexity says that the level of complexity of any task is equal to the square of the number of steps in that task. Complexity can be defined as the potential for increased costs, increased time, or increased mistakes.[1]

So, it is really critical in keeping the number of validation steps to optimal to get greatest benefits out of it in terms of increased productivity, low project cost and higher profit margins.

References:

1. Focal Point by Brain Tracy

Fishbone Diagram – A Project Management Tool

I thought of writing about this tool, but I found millions of web page result in my search engine! I decided to put a fishbone diagram with links to pages which I found useful to everyone of us.

Fishbone diagrams otherwise called as Ishikawa diagrams (or cause-and-effect diagrams) are diagrams that show the causes of a certain event. In project management, this tool is used in Quality Management & Risk Management processes. Here I depicted causes for ‘PMP Exam failure’ Effect.

 

You can read more about this in following links:

1) Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram

2) Leankaizen – http://www.leankaizen.co.uk/fishbone-diagram-i-ishikawa-diagram.html

3) This one on 5 Why cause -effect analysis: Know the root cause for any problem within 5 whys

Executing Process Group Process – Perform Quality Assurance

This is another process in Executing Process Group. Below is Inputs, Tools & Techniques and Outputs Mind Map for Perform Quality  Assurance which is classified under Quality Management Knowledge Area.

  

Important Note:

* Note# 1: There could be some typo or presentation errors. Please reply back for any corrections.

* Note# 2: You can use this for personal use (like studying for PMP Exam or PM activities). But don’t share this in common forum or web sites. As this one is part of my training guide and project management book.

Preventive Actions

Though Preventive Action term is often used with Quality Management Systems, but it is vital and used widely in all knowledge areas esp. Project Integration, HR, Quality & Risk.

Some processes recommend preventive actions as output and few other processes takes the approved preventive actions as input to bring the project into compliance with project management plans.

Preventive Actions are documented direction to perform an activity that can reduce the probability of negative consequences associated with project risks. [1]

Preventive actions are recommended in anticipation of possible problems and they are generally output from monitoring and controlling process group. Preventive actions may also include contingent actions taken to reduce the seriousness of a future problem if it should occur. Depends on the nature of responses to preventive actions, sometimes, they may results in a change request.

A simple example of Preventive action would be providing first aid kits in each block of organization and posting list of emergency phone numbers inside lifts.

Project manager and project management team along with all stakeholders need to review recommended preventive actions and debate on the effectiveness and implementation procedures before they are submitted for approval. Only approved preventive actions are later implemented.

Preventive action is a proactive process to identify opportunities for improvement rather than a simple reaction to identified problems. Preventive action include investigation, action, review, and further action if so required and follow Deming’s PDCA cycle.

In Quality management, Recommendation of new preventive actions is done in Quality control process. Preventive action involves action taken to prevent a condition that may exceed established parameters in a manufacturing or development process, which may have been indicated through a QC measurement.

In Quality Assurance process, quality audits confirm the implementation of approved change request, defect repairs, corrective actions, and preventive actions and it may recommends corrective actions.

Taking preventive actions in HR issues reduces the probability and impact of resource problems before they occur. Examples to preventive actions are: training resources beforehand to reduce problems during resource crunch, clarification on roles and responsibilities, project progress and deadlines can increase the team buy-in and reduce problems when they are asked to put extra effort to meet project deadlines.

As mentioned in my earlier post on stakeholder management & analysis, by anticipating stakeholders’ reaction to the project, taking preventive actions can be taken to win their support or minimize potential negative impacts.

Root cause analysis combined with corrective action to help understand the cause of the deviation and potentially prevent recurrence of a similar problem.

References:
[1]. PMBOK^® Guide – 3rd edition