Deck 8: Project Quality Management

Question 1

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

Answer 1

False
Explanation: DeMarco and Lister 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 2

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

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Testing needs to be done during almost every phase of the systems development life cycle, not just before the organization ships or hands over a product to the customer.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

True
Explanation: 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 4

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

Question 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

 Frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems are called Six Sigma charts.

Question 8

 Gantt charts cannot be used to aid project quality management.

Question 9

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

Question 10

 The term sigma means median.

Question 11

 Managing quality includes all of the quality assurance activities plus product design and process improvements.

Question 12

  Change requests and verified deliverables are the outputs of the controlling quality process.

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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

Question 18

 Which term is used for the ability of a product to be used as it was intended?

A) conformance to requirements
B) fitness for use
C) critical chain scheduling
D) free slack

Question 19

 Only in-house auditors can perform quality audits.

Question 20

 Which term is used when the project's processes and products meet written specifications?

A) conformance to requirements
B) fitness for use
C) project feasibility
D) benchmarking

Question 21

 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 22

 Which technique helps identify variables that 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 23

 Which term is used for the degree to which a system performs its intended function?

A) reliability
B) validity
C) maintainability
D) functionality

Question 24

 Which process is an action taken to bring rejected items into compliance with product requirements or specifications or other stakeholder expectations?

A) process adjustment
B) rework
C) acceptance decision
D) validation

Question 25

 Performing quality assurance is a subprocess of which project quality management stage?

A) initiating
B) closing
C) benchmarking
D) managing

Question 26

 What are the system's special characteristics that appeal to users?

A) features
B) outputs
C) yields
D) metrics

Question 27

 Which 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 28

 What process is used to generate 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

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

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

Question 30

 Which process correct(s) or prevent(s) quality problems based on quality control measurements?

A) process adjustments
B) rework
C) acceptance decisions
D) decomposition

Question 31

 Which phase of the DMAIC process includes tools such as 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 32

 Which process involves choosing part of a population of interest for inspection?

A) statistical sampling
B) conformance
C) system testing
D) fitness for use

Question 33

 Which term is used for a standard of measurement in quality management?

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

Question 34

 What term is used for the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions?

A) reliability
B) performance
C) maintainability
D) functionality

Question 35

 Which chart helps users identify the vital few contributors that account for most quality problems in a system?

A) Gantt 
B) Pareto 
C) control 
D) tracking Gantt 

Question 36

 Which addresses the ease of performing maintenance on a product?

A) reliability
B) performance
C) maintainability
D) functionality

Question 37

 The main outputs of which process are a quality management plan, quality metrics, project management plan updates, and project documents updates?

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

Question 38

 Which five-phase improvement process do projects that use Six Sigma principles for quality control normally follow?

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

Question 39

 Which addresses how well a product or service performs the customer's intended use?

A) reliability
B) performance
C) maintainability
D) functionality

Question 40

 Which graphic display of data illustrates the results of a process over time?

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

Question 41

 Which statement 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

 Which is a measure of quality control equal to one fault in one million opportunities problems?

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

Question 43

 The _____ ultimately decides if quality is acceptable.

Question 44

 What term is used for 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

 Which test is done to test each individual component (often a program) to ensure that it is as defect-free as possible?

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

Question 46

 During which phase of the DMAIC process is the fishbone or Ishikawa diagram used?

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

Question 47

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

Question 48

 Which term is used for 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 49

 Which testing involves an independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system?

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

Question 50

 Which process 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 51

 _____ are the screens and reports the system generates.

Question 52

  _____ involves monitoring specific project results to ensure that they are complete, correct, and meet customer expectations.

Question 53

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

Question 54

 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 55

 Who 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

  What term is used for any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements?

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

Question 57

 What cost is the price 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 58

 Which system involves 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 59

 Which statement is one of Juran's ten steps to quality improvement?

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 60

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

Question 61

 List and briefly describe the three project quality management processes.

Question 62

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

Question 63

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

Question 64

 _____ are groups of nonsupervisors 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 65

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

Question 66

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

Question 67

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

Question 68

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

Question 69

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

Question 70

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

Question 71

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

Question 72

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

Question 73

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

Question 74

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

Question 75

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

Question 76

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

Question 77

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

Question 78

 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 79

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

Question 80

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