Quality assurance is used in project management to help companies avoid making

mistakes and to minimize potential risks. With quality assurance in mind, project

managers can start planning for the quality of their deliverables from the very beginning

of their project plans.

Doing so will highlight areas where they can improve their work, increase efficiency, and

hold their team accountable. Not only does this strengthen a brand’s reputation, but it

also cuts down on the potential exponential costs associated with fixing QA issues down

the line.

Quality assurance can be completed at any stage of the project process. It can begin

with establishing a quality framework for the hiring process so that only the best, most

compatible talent is brought on. After that, teams can perform self-checks to ensure that

your work is conducted according to predefined standards.

Regular QA monitoring can be built into project plans with other departments, or

third-party entities can easily be looped in to give approvals. After a product has gone to

market, teams can further track its quality by receiving customer feedback and

implementing changes as needed.

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All of these quality assurance tasks can be organized and executed through proper

product management. In fact, without a proper project management tool and strategy in

place, companies are even more vulnerable to QA issues. For quality assurance issue
prevention and resolution, having a clear understanding of what’s going on at all times

is essential.

What are the three types of quality assurance methods?

There are three types of quality assurance methods that project teams commonly use.

These methods can vary depending on the requirements of the company; however, you

can count on using at least one of the following during the process:

● Statistical process control

● Failure testing

● Total quality management

Statistical Process Control

Statistical process control (SPC) is most often used for developing products with

technology and/or chemistry involved. This can include everything from consumables to

cleaning supplies to software. The SPC method monitors ongoing progress through

charts and strives for continuous improvement.

The steps involved in this quality assurance method include discovery, investigation,

prioritization, further analysis, and charting. This can be done internally using project

data, team input, and studies conducted by QA and operations teams. Decisions are

based on facts and figures and will likely follow the scientific method approach.

Failure Testing

Failure testing is commonly used to test physical or virtual products.

For physical products, that means whether the product will break down under pressure

or in various usability scenarios. For example, crash testing a vehicle’s safety airbags

would be considered failure testing.

For virtual products, failure testing focuses on a program’s resiliency against a number

of possible high-stress scenarios. Issues such as cybersecurity and transaction capacity

are all evaluated.

Overall, failure testing aims to assess a prototype or finished product and decide if it’s

ready to go to market.

Total Quality Management

The total quality management (TQM) method aims to continuously improve products by

using quantitative methods. Practically speaking, it helps build a process that is

consistent and predictable. It does so using a variety of modules that help manage the

various phases of a project.

TQM also supports teams by relying on data and analysis to plan and implement future

updates. It’s most popular for improving assembly-line efficiency.

Regardless of which quality assurance method you use, having an execution plan is

very important. It will help you keep track of all of the steps involved in the QA process

as they happen. Teams can also track improvements over time and study trends as they

progress.