Quality Management
In Scrum, quality management gives customers early visibility into issues and helps them decide whether the product will meet their needs. It works through three connected practices: planning for quality, controlling quality during delivery, and assuring quality by following agreed standards. Quality planning means clarifying what the Sprint and the overall project must deliver, defining acceptance criteria, selecting development methods, and assigning quality-related responsibilities across the Scrum Team.
Key Points
- Provides early transparency to customers so problems are found and discussed quickly.
- Combines three practices: quality planning, quality control, and quality assurance working together each Sprint.
- Quality planning defines desired outcomes, acceptance criteria, engineering practices to use, and who on the Scrum Team owns which quality duties.
- Ongoing tests, reviews, and inspections control quality; standards and continuous improvement activities assure it.
Example
A Scrum Team building a mobile app agrees on acceptance criteria for each Product Backlog item during Sprint Planning, chooses test-driven development and code reviews as standard methods, and clarifies that developers write unit tests while the tester manages exploratory test sessions. Throughout the Sprint they run automated tests and perform peer reviews (control), and at the Sprint Review customers see a working increment, raising issues early. A retrospective confirms the team will expand their Definition of Done to include performance checks (assurance).
PMP Example Question
In a Scrum project, which activity best represents Quality Planning?
- Documenting acceptance criteria for backlog items and agreeing on development practices for the Sprint
- Executing automated tests and logging defects during the Sprint
- Holding a retrospective to identify process improvements after the Sprint
- Performing a stage-gate review after the release to approve deployment
Correct Answer: A — Documenting acceptance criteria and agreeing on practices
Explanation: Quality planning defines what quality means for the Sprint and how it will be achieved, including acceptance criteria and agreed development methods. Options B and C relate to control and improvement, while D is a governance activity outside Scrum's typical flow.
