Wednesday 6 March 2019 presented by Andrew Wright, Frank Curtolo and Baney Young The link to the write up page and resources of this webinar: https://www.apm.org.uk/news/quality-requirements-and-success-webinar/

1. Success, Quality and
Requirements
Value of Systems Thinking
approach
What is quality?
Why does it matter?
How do Quality and Requirements link?
How does Systems Thinking help with Requirements?

2. Panel
Experience

3. FAQs about Success, Quality, Requirements
and Systems Thinking

4. ▪ “Finishing on time and within budget is not much consolation
if the result of the project doesn’t work.”
PRINCE2
1. Why is Quality critical to project success?
London millennium bridge Picture: Urban75.org

5. Definition of Quality
Quality is the fitness for purpose or the degree of conformance of the outputs
of a process or the process itself [to the requirements].
(APM BoK6 definition)
Quality management is a discipline for ensuring the outputs, benefits and
processes by which they are delivered, meet stakeholder requirements and
are fit for purpose.
(APM BoK6 definition)

6. 2. Why should we manage Quality?
▪ Heathrow T5
– On time
– Within budget
– Better than projected safety record

7. However …
▪ BBC April 2008: “Thousands of suitcases are being sent
to Milan by British Airways to try to help clear a backlog
of 19,000 bags at Heathrow's new Terminal 5.”

8. By comparison: Rion-Antirion Bridge
▪ ZERO fatalities
▪ 4 months early
▪ Costs on target
▪ Survived earthquakes as designed

9. The “Iron Triangle” and project issues
Project
TIME
QUALITY
COST< 10% < 10%
>80%

10. 3. What are the benefits of quality?
1. Safety
2. Time
3. Money
4. Reputation

11. What are the benefits of quality?
Saving lives Saving time
Saving money Saving reputation
Colin / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

12. How does good quality save money ?
▪ Delay avoidance
– Maintaining effective supply chain relationships
– Rework avoidance
– Avoiding liability claims
▪ Design cost avoidance
– Fit-for-purpose and no more
– What can be provided off the shelf at a fraction of the cost of
bespoke?

13. Doesn’t quality cost?
▪ Yes, but it costs so much more if project gets it WRONG!
“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”
Benjamin Franklin

14. 4. Where do Quality issues start?
The evolution of quality management
© Wright and Lawlor-Wright, 2018, “Project Success and Quality”, Routledge

15. Where do project quality problems start?
Poorly-understood requirements!
▪ Which give
– Solution fixing part of the problem, the wrong problem, or moving
the problem
– Unforeseen consequences - requirements emerging as late as
acceptance testing
– Poor usability – solution under-performs in practice
– Invalid design assumptions - etc.
▪ If any of the above symptoms are evident, the solution
cannot be fit for purpose i.e. is of poor Quality
▪ Project will likely be seen as unsuccessful

16. 5. How do different perspectives
complicate things?
Requirements are HARD!
1. Customers are weak at imagining – they typically only
relate to the problems they have had, and solutions they
have already seen
– Solving yesterday’s problems tomorrow
2. Human being are primarily visual – most requirements are
captured textually
▪ Customers literally can’t see the big picture
3. Taking the easy option “I want one of those”
▪ It’s easy to see something that already exists – no
imagination is needed

17. When requirements are well understood
▪ Clear scope, well-understood dynamics
2012 London Olympics success

18. Documented requirements
▪ Documented representations of the true requirements are
often referred to as “The Requirements”
▪ Well-documented requirements reflect the true
requirements, and are:
– Correct – have no substantial errors
– Complete – have no substantial omissions
– Coherent – have no internal contradictions
– Solution agnostic – do not specify a possibly inappropriate solution

19. 6. How can Systems Thinking help get
Requirements right?
Systems thinking helps especially with:
1. Understanding the complete scope of the solution’s interaction
with its environment
▪ Avoiding unexpected impacts
2. Understanding the dynamics of the solution in use
▪ Dynamic characteristics can be overlooked - even simple systems can be
chaotic

20. Systems thinking
▪ Focus on effectiveness not efficiency.
Resist the urge to come to quick
conclusions
▪ Understand the Bigger Picture
▪ Recognise that a system's structure
generates its behaviour.

21. Systems approaches (continued)
▪ Make assumptions explicit and test
them
▪ Change perspective to increase
understanding
▪ Appreciate that mental models
define current reality and expected
futures

22. Reductionism Holism
Analysis Synthesis
© Nassar Majothi, WSP 2018
Systems Thinking: solving the whole
problem
© Nassar Majothi, WSP 2018

23. Reductionism Holism
Analysis Synthesis
Solving the whole problem (continued)
© Nassar Majothi, WSP 2018

24. Fishbone Rich picture
Actor maps
25
Systems thinking tools
Passenger
Check-in Clerk
Baggage handler
Check in bag
Transfer bag
to/from flight
Load bag onto
flight
Unload bag from
flight
Return bag to
passenger
Baggage handling system

25. Concept maps Trend maps
Causal loop diagrams
26
Systems thinking tools (continued)
Source: Cooper, K. G. (1993). The rework cycle: benchmarks for the project manager.
Project Management Journal, 24(1), 17–21

26. 7. Does this work in reality?
Case Study: The NHS Direct Website

27. Aim of the project
▪ Reduce unnecessary visits to doctors
▪ Provide quick, digital age alternative

28. Landscape

29. How was success achieved?
▪ Systems approach focused on complete system
– Challenging requirements to achieve control
– Understanding the non-functional requirements e.g. dynamics and
all actors
▪ Built a team spirit across organisational boundaries, working
closely with individuals
– Negotiated for the best people to do each task
▪ Active risk management

30. 8. Iron Triangle or “Iron Pyramid”?
Cost
Timeliness
Requirements & Quality
Wright and Lawlor-Wright, 2018
“The government is prioritising cost over quality when outsourcing public sector
contracts, leading to worse services, a committee of MPs says.” (after Carillion enquiry)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44759910

31. 9. How can we find out more?
Further reading
▪ https://www.routledge.com/Project-Success-and-Quality-Balancing-the-Iron-
Triangle/Wright-Lawlor-Wright/p/book/9780815380399 (https://bit.ly/2I6njT5 )
▪ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Project-Quality-Management-Why-
What/dp/1604271027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539163239&sr=8-
1&keywords=rose+project+quality ( https://amzn.to/2XKWIUe )
APM Systems Thinking Specific Interest Group (APM ST SIG) microsite page
– find out more, and join us
▪ https://www.apm.org.uk/community/systems-thinking-sig/

32. This presentation was delivered
at an APM webinar
To find out more about upcoming
webinars please visit our website
www.apm.org.uk/events