Quality is an odd thing. What we mean by it varies by situation, by product, by person. It can be very difficult to know what someone means by quality when they talk about it.

For example, two people could ask for high quality clothes. For one person, this may mean durable work wear, strong enough to cope with use on building sites, to stand up to the punishment of hard manual labour. Another may be asking for highly styled and attractive fashion items, clothes which give them more confidence in social situations, which simply make them happier.

Either of these definitions of high quality clothes is valid, in the eyes of the person buying the clothes. The validity of the choice depends on the person, and most definitely by the situation the clothes will be used in!

In other words, the concept of quality is highly fluid. Yet one thing we can agree on is that project managers are constantly being told to ensure they deliver high quality projects.

The problem is knowing what is actually meant by this. The possibilities are wide. Is a high quality project one that delivers a high quality end result – whatever that means? Or one that delivers high quality management products? Or one that does the job, but at a low cost?

The problem is one of definitions, and of communication. Because our Executive, or project board, or whoever, have one particular way of looking at quality is, it is far too easy for them to assume their view is shared by everyone else. Naturally, this can cause a lot of problems when, somewhere down the line, this assumption is found to be untrue.

The way to avoid this, as with many problems in project management, is communication. Make sure that you have really talked with your Executive, and effectively drilled down to what he or she actually wants.

There’s no high quality substitute for communication.