Short answer
Quality management defines acceptable outcomes, monitors results, and addresses the causes of recurring defects. This catalog progresses from applying checks, to owning quality for a team, to improving quality systems across connected work.
About Quality management
Sets quality standards, monitors results, and addresses causes of recurring defects. Effective quality management makes acceptance criteria visible, detects departures from them, and improves the conditions that shape reliable outcomes.
Use this competency for
- Roles that define, check, investigate, or improve the quality of recurring outputs.
- Work where defects must be detected and their recurring causes addressed.
Do not use this competency for
- Roles that receive quality requirements but are not expected to perform checks or improve the quality system.
Important distinctions
Process design
Process design defines the workflow and its ownership. Quality management defines acceptable outputs and learns from defects.
Operational risk
Operational risk addresses uncertain events that can disrupt objectives. Quality management focuses on whether recurring outputs meet defined standards.
Expectations by level
IC1
Applies quality checks
Applies defined quality standards to their own work with guidance. Records results, handles known defects through established paths, and flags repeated issues.
Observable behaviors
- Checks an output against stated acceptance criteria.
- Records defects with enough context for correction.
- Uses the defined path to contain or escalate a failed check.
Examples
- Finds that an output does not meet an acceptance criterion and returns it with the failed check identified.
- Notices the same defect in several items and raises the pattern instead of treating each one in isolation.
IC2
Owns team quality
Independently manages quality standards and monitoring for a team or workflow. Investigates recurring defects, improves controls, and verifies whether corrective action changes the result.
Observable behaviors
- Translates an expected outcome into clear acceptance criteria.
- Reviews defect patterns rather than relying on isolated cases.
- Investigates likely causes with evidence from the work.
- Tests whether a corrective action prevents recurrence.
Examples
- Finds that unclear intake data drives repeated errors and adds a validation at the source.
- Revises an acceptance criterion after reviewers interpret it differently and checks the revised standard on new work.
IC3
Improves quality systems
Leads quality management across connected teams or workflows with competing requirements. Aligns standards, addresses systemic causes, and establishes monitoring and learning practices others use.
Observable behaviors
- Aligns acceptance criteria across teams that produce and receive the same output.
- Separates local defects from causes embedded in the wider system.
- Prioritizes corrective action by consequence and recurrence.
- Creates reusable review practices for quality evidence and corrective action.
Examples
- Resolves conflicting quality definitions between two teams and introduces one shared acceptance record.
- Traces recurring defects across several handoffs and changes the upstream control that creates them.