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Failure Modes and Effect Analysis

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Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a systematic approach for identifying potential failures in a design or process. In Agile project management, this method helps teams anticipate possible challenges and devise suitable responses in advance. In FMEA, every potential failure mode is identified, the effects are ranked according to their severity, the potential causes are discussed, and the necessary preventive actions are researched and implemented. Using this structured and proactive approach, project teams can improve quality and performance, and respond effectively to potential issues.

Guide on Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

Failure Modes and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a procedure in product development and operations management for identifying potential failure modes, determining their effect on the operation of the product, and identifying actions to mitigate the failures.

Importance: FMEA is essential because it systematically reduces potential failure modes in a system. It is a proactive strategy to identify problems before they happen, thus helping with risk mitigation. It assists in optimizing resources by prioritizing the main issues and working on them as per their rank of severity.

What is FMEA: FMEA is a step-by-step approach for identifying all possible ways in a process, product, or service that can fail (failure modes), and evaluating the effect of those failures. The goal of FMEA is to quantify and prioritize failure modes in order to take action to eliminate or reduce the likelihood of potential failures.

How it works: FMEA involves several steps: Identify failure modes, determine the effect of the failures, assign severity, occurrence, and detection ratings and compute the Risk Priority Number (RPN), decide on corrective actions and follow up on their completion.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Failure Modes and Effect Analysis: Understand key terms related to FMEA like Risk Priority Number (RPN) and failure modes. When analyzing a failure mode, start by describing what would happen when this failure occurs. Use real-world examples wherever possible to make your answers more coherent. Remember, the main focus of your answer should be on the identification and mitigation of the risk. Always check, if the question is on FMEA, the answer should invariably speak to risk mitigation.

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Question 1

You've identified a potential failure due to outdated technology in a software update project using FMEA. However, a lack of expertise in the team is causing difficulties in addressing it. How should you proceed?

Correct Answer: Seek external help or arrange for the team's training in the latest technology

In this situation, the most successful course of action would be to 'Seek external help or arrange for the team's training in the latest technology'. This method ensures that the problem of outdated technology is addressed while also enhancing the skill set of the team, which can be beneficial for future projects. The idea of 'Abandoning the project because of outdated technology' is not good practice because it avoids the problem rather than addressing it. Meanwhile, asking the team to 'Learn the latest technology overnight' is impractical and unrealistic, it might prove to be very stressful for the team. Holding a 'Party to boost team morale' may boost the team's morale temporarily but it won't address the main issue here - the outdated technology and its effect on the software update project. It can be said as a step that may help but it's not the best answer in this situation.

Question 2

You are working on FMEA for a website development project. Your team identifies overloading of website causing crash as a potential failure mode. However, the team is unsure about the severity, occurrence and detection parameters. What is the best approach in this situation?

Correct Answer: Conduct a workshop to analyze and validate the severity, occurrence and detection parameters

The best approach when your team is unsure about the severity, occurrence, and detection parameters in FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) is to 'Conduct a workshop to analyze and validate the severity, occurrence and detection parameters'. This approach is a proactive problem-solving method that allows teams to identify potential risks, gauge their impact, and formulate effective countermeasures. On the other hand, 'Ignoring the parameters and continuing the project' is not an appropriate course of action because without understanding these parameters, the team cannot estimate the risk accurately or devise appropriate mitigation strategies. 'Asking the team to guess the parameters' is also not a good approach because guessing can lead to inaccuracies that could potentially escalate the risks rather than mitigating them. Lastly, 'Informing clients about the risk and asking them to determine these parameters' is not a suitable approach either, as it is the responsibility of the project team, not the clients, to determine these parameters as a part of risk analysis.

Question 3

You are a project manager utilizing FMEA in a software development project. A developer informs you of a possible failure mode related to data security breach. What should you do next?

Correct Answer: Assign a risk priority number (RPN) to identify the priority of the identified failure mode

In the context of a project, when a failure mode is identified, especially one that could lead to a data security breach, the correct course of action is to follow the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) process by assigning a Risk Priority Number (RPN) to the identified failure mode. This helps in prioritizing the risks based on their severity, occurrence, and detection rating. An RPN allows the team to focus on the highest-risk items first. Hence, the best action is to assign a risk priority number (RPN) to identify the priority of the identified failure mode. Ignoring the developer's concern is not good practice as it can lead to major problems down the track which could have been avoided. Informing the client about the possible failure mode without first assessing the risk could lead to unnecessary panic and may not be a practical solution. Asking the developer to solve the identified issue themselves is also not the suitable approach as resolving the issue may require collective decision-making and could involve other aspects outside of the developer's job role.

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