July 24 2025 at 08:40AM
Voices of Our Partners: Implementing PMI in Infrastructure (& Construction) Sector in The Netherlands | Part II - Quality
In the previous article, from the 3 main resources of Time, Quality and Money, Time was discussed, in this article we will discuss Quality which might need a few short follow ups prior to delve into Money part of the cause.
Although the concept of quality is prone to many interpretations, here we intentionally keep it as general as possible and yet detailed enough to delineate the cause of upraising complexity and unambiguity only. By definition quality is the degree to which a project's outcomes meet the needs and expectations of its stakeholders (not getting further into value management).
The two words “Needs” and “Expectations” are the main source of complexity and unambiguity. The needs can and will change over time as large scale projects will face political, technological, financial and scarcity periods more than you might imagine. Expectations, on the other hand, are easier to depict but still prone to many direct and indirect changes.
Quality is not limited to the end product - it spans multiple dimensions, including documentation, processes, people, and more. What means often depends on your role and what you’re ultimately delivering. For instance, if you’re a process manager, your deliverable may not be a physical structure like a bridge, but rather a complete and consistent set of documentation, verification, and validation records.
When we break this down into smaller components, it becomes clear that the principles of quality management remain consistent. What changes is not the definition of quality, but the scope and context in which it’s applied. Discrepancies often arise when my definition of “blue” differs from yours - even though we both agree it’s blue. This illustrates how subjective interpretation can impact alignment.
In the infrastructure and construction industry, a strong approach to resolving such misalignments is provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Their framework emphasizes the importance of clearly defining, executing, and continuously monitoring and controlling stakeholder needs and expectations throughout the project lifecycle.
In the following articles more on the quality from a project management perspective will be
discussed.
