Engineering Project Management

14Achieving Quality

Many engineering textbooks teach that what you need to focus your project management efforts upon are schedule, cost, and technical capability. In the real world, that is insufficient. Factors such as reliability, safety, low latent‐defect rates, and “environmental friendliness” increasingly play a role in product and company success. In this chapter, I teach you the basics of this aspect of your role as an engineering project manager, which we group together under the title of quality.

14.1 Defining the Term Quality

In this chapter, we will discuss quality. By the term quality in this context, I mean:

• Products and services that are effective and suitable (Chapter 3).
• Products and services that meet the specifications and the contractual terms.
• Products and services that are easy to use, or effective for trained users (remember the difference? Chapter 4), whichever is appropriate for the product or service that your project is creating.
• Products and services that work the first time and every time – consistency.
• The number of latent defects is at or below a defined level.
• Products and services that are reliable and long‐lasting.
• Products and services that are safe to use, safe to manufacture, and environmentally responsible.
• Products and services that look and feel good (the user experience, Chapter 4).

There could be other intangible factors that people consider attributes of quality as well, and combinations of factors, such as those embodied in familiar ...