Quality is misunderstood by many who think of it only as it relates to the final deliverable, but a quality product is itself achieved only through quality processes focused on efficiency, innovation, and continual improvement, and these require a quality management culture not only in our projects but within our organizations. In chapter two of his 1986 book, Out of the Crisis, Edward Deming presented 14 principles that he believed could make industry more competitive by increasing quality.
Organizational improvements can begin with anyone. While it’s true that our professional domain as project managers is bounded by the project life cycle, our influence is often much greater than that, and quality management is one of those areas where skilled project managers are best suited to be instrumental change agents -first in the culture of their projects, and second, in the culture of their departments and organizations. As project managers, if we follow Deming’s principles, we can create project environments where quality thrives, not only benefiting our customers and projects but perhaps serving as a tipping point for effecting a quality management change within our organizations.
1. Create constancy of purpose towards improvement
Deming is telling management to stop reacting and plan better for the long-term.
For project managers: What was has been traditionally thought of as long-term planning is no longer achievable. Business changes too rapidly, and detailed, up-front plans take too long to produce and are always outdated by the time they’re committed to paper.
Yet projects must have a plan that establishes activities, milestones, and priorities, so what we should strive for in our projects is thorough planning based on iterative, rolling-wave, or Agile approaches. Thorough planning uses detailed planning for the short-term with a longer-term view emphasizing constant reviews, re-planning, and risk management, especially for opportunities that can be exploited. This results in a project plan that can adapt quickly to abrupt business and deliverable changes without throwing the project into chaos.
2. Adopt the new philosophy
Deming is telling management to stop being hypocritical, awaken itself to the challenge, and become leaders.
For project managers: People will always see through anyone who says one thing but whose actions are entirely different. Lasting, energizing change starts first with us, and only then will it spread outward and excite others into action.
As managers, our core values can’t just be expressed through our words, but they must be evident in all our actions with our teams and coworkers. It takes time, but as our message and attitude spread to an ever-broadening base of people, a domino effect takes place and the members themselves become believers and evangelists in quality management themselves.
3. Cease dependency on inspection
Deming is reminding management that the need for inspection will decrease if quality problems are prevented in the first place.
For project managers: We all know that prevention is better than inspection, so our project management and execution processes need continual improvement methods built into them to reduce quality problems.
But inspection goes beyond its purely quality connotations. Are we propagating a management style based on inspection? If our team has a tendency to run everything first past us for approval then we may be, and that isn’t good for us, the team, or the project.
Our responsibility as a project manager isn’t to be the funnel through which everyone seeks approval. If that’s what is happening then the project will stagnate and become inflexible. Instead, let’s make sure we create a project culture where the team has the skills, information, and experience it needs to make every-day, rapid decisions on its own.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags
Deming’s purpose behind this point was to eliminate variations in the manufacturing process by having too many suppliers of component goods.
For project managers: Price alone should rarely be the determining factor because most procurement needs go beyond simple commodities. When a project is likely to involve frequent changes, we need vendors who can adapt or offer their own new ideas for responding to those changes, and that isn’t likely to happen when cut-rate suppliers are chosen.
This principle also holds true in our role as the vendor for internal or external customers. We are not just collectors of requirements — we need to be engaged with the customer and stakeholders, understanding their business objectives in order for us to provide the deliverable that best meets their changing needs.
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