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8 - PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Adaptive software projects use the techniques of prototyping, inspections, reviews, and incremental development
to minimize technical debt. In addition, adaptive software projects use frequent internal demonstrations of the
evolving product to identify and quickly correct defects throughout the development process without incurring
significant costs.

8.3 Control Quality

Section 8.3 of the PMBOK Guide states that Control Quality is the process of monitoring and recording results
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from executing quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes. Software quality 8
control (SQC) is a system of technical activities used to measure and control the quality of the development
processes and the quality of the product as it is being developed; and to report the quality measurement results
throughout the lifetime of a software project.

For purposes of this Software Extension, “measure, control, and report” involve comparing work products to
requirements (including agreements, policies, standards, plans, requirements, and expectations). SQC often relies
on statistical methods such as control charts and Pareto diagrams to analyze software defects and the associated
rework used to correct the defects. This analysis may generate feedback for process improvement.

The most effective method of controlling and improving software quality is to focus on early detection and
removal of software defects using continuous verification and validation techniques (e.g., reviews, inspections,
testing, and demonstration of product increments), and to focus on changing the software development process to
reduce or prevent defects. A large part of quality control for software products has historically relied on a predictive
approach of post-development techniques, including staged levels of software testing and analysis of the detected
defects. Adaptive software project life cycles integrate testing and demonstration of working, deliverable software
on repetitive cycles throughout the software development process.

Quality control is integrated into adaptive software project life cycles by the inclusion of testing, demonstrations,
and a retrospective review on each iteration cycle. A retrospective review is used to assess the results of the
completed iteration and to plan for improvements in successive iterations. Internal SQC activities are conducted by
the project team using techniques such as pair programming, peer reviews, functional testing, and demonstrations
of working software within the development team. External SQC personnel sometimes conduct feature-level and
release-level testing.

Retrospectives can sometimes result in finger pointing or may occur at times when the developers are feeling
rushed due to insufficient time to complete the features in the features backlog set. An important way to overcome
frustration is to make sure that the software developers are involved in selecting the feature set and specifying
the acceptance criteria, so that they understand the goals and will ensure that planning for the next iteration
incorporates the needed process changes. This approach contributes to team learning and builds continuous
improvement into the project iterations.

©2013 Project Management Institute. Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide Fifth Edition 155
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