Defining Quality

Quality. How many times a day do you hear that word? Reports of it come from all around you: upper management, television commercials, salespeople, and the news. At every turn, someone is spouting off about their quality carwashes, the process of quality management, or the benefits of purchasing their quality products.

But what is quality and how does it relate to project management? Quality, according to the Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge, is the “totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.” Quality, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is “the degree of excellence of a thing.” Hmm… to a project manager then, quality could mean many things—and it does. Quality to a project manager falls into two areas:

In this chapter, both areas will be examined, though the focus will be on the process to produce the deliverable. Arguably, to produce a quality product, there must be a controlled, organized process to get to the end result. Not often can a project full of chaos, disorganization, and pandemonium create an excellent deliverable.