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PMP lesson · Quality · Quality · lesson 1 of 3 · about 7 minutes

Planning quality and the cost of quality

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Goal: After this lesson you can explain why prevention beats inspection, sort costs into the four cost-of-quality categories, and tell quality from grade.

1The situation

“Just inspect it at the end”

To save money, the sponsor proposes cancelling the design reviews and supplier checks for the robot cell. “Final inspection will catch anything important.”

Your data from previous projects says otherwise: a defect found in design costs about $1 to fix; found at the customer's site, about $100; found by the customer in production, $500 or more, plus the reputation damage.

Quality is not added by inspection at the end. It is planned and built in.

2Quality vs grade

Two words the exam loves to mix up:

Quality
Meets requirements
The degree to which the product fulfils its requirements. Low quality is always a problem.
Grade
Category of features
Low-cost steel vs stainless steel. Low grade can be acceptable if it fits the need.
A temporary platform in standard steel (low grade) must still have perfect welds (high quality).

3The four costs of quality

Cost of conformance (spend to get it right)

Prevention: training, design reviews, supplier qualification, poka-yoke.

Appraisal: inspection, testing, audits, calibration.

Cost of non-conformance (paid when it goes wrong)

Internal failure (found before delivery): rework, scrap, re-testing.

External failure (found by the customer): warranty, field repairs, lost reputation, liability.

Spending on prevention and appraisal reduces the much bigger cost of failures.

4How it looks on the exam

Exam-style question 1. To reduce costs, the sponsor proposes removing design reviews and supplier qualification, relying on final inspection. Historical data show that defects found at final inspection cost six times more to fix than defects prevented in design. What should the project manager do?
A. Accept the proposal, since final inspection will protect the customer
B. Present a cost-of-quality analysis showing the likely increase in failure costs, so the sponsor can make an informed decision
C. Keep the activities without telling the sponsor
D. Double the final inspection effort
Show the answer and the decode
Answer: B.
In simple English
The sponsor wants to cut prevention to save money.
What is the question really asking?
The right response.
Key words / trigger
“relying on final inspection … six times more”
PMP logic
The cost of quality shows that prevention is cheaper than failure; the sponsor decides with transparent data.
Why the wrong answer looks attractive
More inspection seems like a compromise, but inspection does not prevent defects.

5Remember this

Your memory card

  • Quality = meeting requirements · Grade = category (low grade OK, low quality never)
  • Cost of quality: prevention, appraisal (conformance) · internal, external failure (non-conformance)
  • Prevention is cheaper than inspection; inspection is cheaper than failure
  • Quality is planned and built in, not inspected in
The full lesson in the PMCLEAR app also has:
  • the rest of the lesson (The cost of quality, Planning quality)
  • a worked example
  • the common traps (wrong vs right)
  • 2 exam-style questions with the decode
  • a 3-question quick check
Open the full lesson → Create a free account
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