The Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle
One of the most common ways to implement quality management in any industry is the PDCA or Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. It is universal, and works for any product or service. Having a set cycle makes things more regulated. There is a method and a channel for everything, so team members have a pattern to stick to. The repetition means team members learn the process in a cycle or two, and continue to use it for the duration of a project.
Planning allows a team to know what to anticipate. From the creation process to the expected outcome, everyone on a team is on board. “Do” refers to the actual process. In software development, it is the creation phase. With “check,” a team observes the product. Does it match the criteria they had set for it. “Act” can go one of two ways. If the check phase went well, the team can continue moving forward in their current direction. If there were problems in the check phase, the team can determine a new direction. At the end of a cycle, the team starts over with planning again.
The PDCA cycle works hand in hand with Agile development. Since a single Scrum consists of several sprints, applying a cycle makes sense. For each sprint, the Scrum team can go through planning, doing, checking, and acting on a software. This gradually refines the software and process into a solid final product. Instead of reaching the end and seeing a product that is way off course, there can be a few minor adjustments and everything is great.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios