Deck 8: Project Quality Management

Question 1

Project managers are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects.

Answer 1

True
It is important for all project stakeholders to work together to balance the quality, scope, time,
and cost dimensions of the project. Project managers, however, are ultimately responsible for quality management on their projects.

Question 2

DeMarco and Lister's study on organizations and productivity found direct correlations between productivity and programming language, years of experience, and salary.

Answer 2

False
DeMarco and Lister also found no correlation between productivity and programming language, years of experience, or salary. Furthermore, the study showed that providing a dedicated workspace and a quiet work environment were key factors in improving productivity.

Question 3

In TQC, product quality is more important than production rates, and workers are allowed to stop production whenever a quality problem occurs.

Answer 3

True
In Total Quality Control, product quality is more important than production rates, and workers are allowed to stop production whenever a quality problem occurs.

Question 4

The term sigma means median.

Question 5

Process improvement plan, quality metrics, and quality checklists are the outputs of the _____ process of project quality management.

A) controlling quality
B) planning quality management
C) quality certification
D) performing quality assurance

Question 6

Gantt charts cannot be used to aid project quality management.

Question 7

A run chart is a bar graph that depicts data points and their order of occurrence.

Question 8

Only in-house auditors can perform quality audits.

Question 9

The Six Sigma approach works best for a project where a quality problem is identified between the current and desired performance.

Question 10

Testing as a stage is important only at the end of an information technology product development.

Question 11

Customer requirements are an important aspect of the quality planning process.

Question 12

The quality assurance process involves taking responsibility for quality throughout the project's life cycle.

Question 13

Using Six Sigma principles is an organization-wide commitment and all employees must embrace its principles.

Question 14

Products that are accepted by project stakeholders are considered to be validated deliverables.

Question 15

Validated changes and validated deliverables are the outputs of the quality assurance process.

Question 16

Integration testing involves testing of each individual component to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible.

Question 17

_____ means the project's processes and products meet written specifications.

A) Conformance to requirements
B) Fitness for use
C) Project feasibility
D) Benchmarking

Question 18

The design of experiments technique cannot be applied to project management issues such as cost and schedule trade-offs.

Question 19

_____ means that a product can be used as it was intended.

A) Conformance to requirements
B) Fitness for use
C) Critical chain scheduling
D) Free slack

Question 20

Reliability is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under deviant conditions.

Question 21

Projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follow a five-phase improvement process called _____.

A) DMAIC
B) weighted scoring model
C) configuration management
D) use case modeling

Question 22

_____ refers to action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations.

A) A process adjustment
B) Rework
C) An acceptance decision
D) Validation

Question 23

_____ are the system's special characteristics that appeal to users.

A) Features
B) Outputs
C) Yields
D) Metrics

Question 24

Performing quality assurance is a subprocess of the _____ process of project quality management.

A) initiating
B) closing
C) monitoring and controlling
D) executing

Question 25

A _____ is a standard of measurement in quality management.

A) milestone
B) metric
C) merge
D) matrix

Question 26

A _____ is a graphic display of data that illustrates the results of a process over time.

A) statistical sampling chart
B) Pareto chart
C) Six Sigma chart
D) control chart

Question 27

_____ is a technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process.

A) Design of experiments
B) Backward pass
C) Activity-on-arrow
D) Crashing

Question 28

_____ generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization.

A) Prototyping
B) Systems thinking
C) Mind mapping
D) Benchmarking

Question 29

_____ is the degree to which a system performs its intended function.

A) Reliability
B) Validity
C) Maintainability
D) Functionality

Question 30

Six Sigma's target for perfection is the achievement of no more than _____ defects, errors, or mistakes per million opportunities.

A) 1.34
B) 3.4
C) 34
D) 13.4

Question 31

_____ correct(s) or prevent(s) further quality problems based on quality control measurements.

A) Process adjustments
B) Rework
C) Acceptance decisions
D) Decomposition

Question 32

The _____ process is often associated with the technical tools and techniques of quality management, such as Pareto charts, quality control charts, and statistical sampling.

A) quality planning
B) quality certification
C) quality assurance
D) quality control

Question 33

An important tool used in the _____ phase of the DMAIC process is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram.

A) define
B) measure
C) analyze
D) improve

Question 34

_____ involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.

A) Statistical sampling
B) Conformance
C) System testing
D) Fitness for use

Question 35

Important tools used in the _____ phase of the DMAIC process include a project charter, a description of customer requirements, process maps, and Voice of the Customer (VOC) data.

A) define
B) measure
C) analyze
D) improve

Question 36

Validated changes and validated deliverables are the outputs of the _____ subprocess of project quality management.

A) initiating
B) closing
C) monitoring and controlling
D) executing

Question 37

_____ addresses how well a product or service performs the customer's intended use.

A) Reliability
B) Performance
C) Maintainability
D) Functionality

Question 38

_____ is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions.

A) Reliability
B) Performance
C) Maintainability
D) Functionality

Question 39

_____ help users to identify the vital few contributors that account for most quality problems in a system.

A) Gantt charts
B) Pareto charts
C) Control charts
D) Tracking Gantt charts

Question 40

_____ addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product.

A) Reliability
B) Performance
C) Maintainability
D) Functionality

Question 41

Which of the following is one of Deming's 14 Points for Management?

A) An organization should increase dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
B) Award business based on price tag alone rather than on other considerations.
C) Minimize total cost by working with multiple suppliers rather than a single supplier.
D) Eliminate the annual rating
Or merit system.

Question 42

Performing _____ involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards while identifying ways to improve overall quality.

Question 43

A(n) _____ is done to test each individual component (often a program) to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible.

A) integration test
B) unit test
C) user acceptance test
D) system test

Question 44

A ____ is a bell-shaped curve that is symmetrical regarding the average value of the population (the data being analyzed).

A) skewed distribution
B) normal distribution
C) bimodal distribution
D) degenerate distribution

Question 45

_____ helps integrate traditionally separate organizational functions, set process improvement goals and priorities, provide guidance for quality processes, and provide a point of reference for appraising current processes.

A) SQFD
B) MTBI
C) OPM3
D) CMMI

Question 46

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines _____ as "the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs."

Question 47

_____, a quality system standard is a three-part, continuous cycle of planning, controlling, and documenting quality in an organization.

A) Seven run rule
B) ISO 9000
C) Six Sigma
D) ASQ

Question 48

_____ is the cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure that a project is error-free or within an acceptable error range.

A) Prevention cost
B) Appraisal cost
C) Internal failure cost
D) External failure cost

Question 49

_____ is a cost that relates to all errors not detected and not corrected before delivery to the customer.

A) Prevention cost
B) Appraisal cost
C) Internal failure cost
D) External failure cost

Question 50

A(n) _____ is any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements.

A) defect
B) yield
C) deliverable
D) variance

Question 51

The term _____ means a product can be used as it was intended.

Question 52

_____ is the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions.

Question 53

The purpose of _____ is to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

Question 54

_____ is a quality planning technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process.

Question 55

_____ wrote Quality Is Free in 1979 and is best known for suggesting that organizations strive for zero defects.

A) Juran
B) Ishikawa
C) Crosby
D) Deming

Question 56

One of Juran's ten steps to quality improvement states that:

A) an organization should minimize top management involvement in the achievement of individual employee goals.
B) an organization should entrust improvement to individual employees rather than appointing teams or facilitators.
C) an organization should build awareness of the need and opportunity for improvement.
D) an organization should avoid "keeping score" in order to achieve an overall atmosphere of quality improvement.

Question 57

Performing _____ involves periodically evaluating overall project performance to ensure that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

Question 58

The _____ is a measure of quality control equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities problems.

A) ISO 9000
B) six 9s of quality rule
C) seven run rule
D) Six Sigma rule

Question 59

_____ are the screens and reports the system generates.

Question 60

____ is an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system.

A) Integration testing
B) Unit testing
C) User acceptance testing
D) System testing

Question 61

The _____ represents the number of units handled correctly through the process steps.

Question 62

_____ diagrams trace complaints about quality problems back to the responsible production operations.

Question 63

The _____ means taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations.

Question 64

Watts S. Humphrey defines a(n) _____ as anything that must be changed before delivery of the program.

Question 65

_____ involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection.

Question 66

Describe the relationship between Six Sigma and Statistics. What statistical concepts are involved in the Six Sigma philosophy?

Question 67

What are the three main outcomes of quality control? Briefly describe each.

Question 68

_____ measures how much variation exists in a distribution of data.

Question 69

_____ correct or prevent further quality problems based on quality control measurements.

Question 70

A(n)_____ is a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects.

Question 71

List and briefly describe the three project quality management processes.

Question 72

_____ are groups of non-supervisors and work leaders in a single company department who volunteer to conduct group studies on how to improve the effectiveness of work in their department.

Question 73

The _____ model focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects.

Question 74

Complete the formula: sample size = 0.25 * ( _____ /acceptable error)²

Question 75

Genichi Taguchi's _____ methods focus on eliminating defects by substituting scientific inquiry for trial-and-error methods.

Question 76

_____ is a measure of quality control equal to 1 fault in 1 million opportunities.

Question 77

What are the five phases in the DMAIC process? Briefly describe each one.

Question 78

In the DMAIC process, the letter "C" stands for _____.

Question 79

What are the five major cost categories related to quality? Briefly describe each category.

Question 80

In a _____, the closer data points are to a diagonal line, the more closely the two variables are related.