Cost of Quality

Correct Answer: Invest in additional training for the development team to improve their skills and reduce defects in future work.

Investing in additional training for the development team is the most effective approach to address the issue of increasing cost of quality due to defects discovered during the testing phase. This proactive measure will help improve the team's skills, reduce defects in future work, and ultimately minimize the impact on the project timeline and budget. Continuing with the current testing and defect resolution process is not the best approach, as it does not address the root cause of the issue and may lead to further delays and increased costs. Reducing the scope of testing to save time and costs is a risky approach that may result in deploying a system with unresolved defects, leading to customer dissatisfaction and potential additional costs in the long run. Outsourcing the testing and defect resolution process to a third-party company may help leverage their expertise, but it does not directly address the skills gap within the development team and may not be a sustainable long-term solution.

Correct Answer: Incorporate a more robust defect prevention plan.

The best solution to minimize the cost of quality during a software development project is to 'Incorporate a more robust defect prevention plan'. This helps identifying potential defects early in the development process, thus reducing the cost of fixing them later. The notion of 'Ship the software despite the defects and fix them in the next version.' is typically not acceptable as it can impact users negatively and harm the reputation of the company. 'Add more members to the testing team' might increase cost and doesn't necessarily bring down the number of defects. The 'Shorten the testing phase to speed up delivery time.' answer might lead to missed defects and potentially a lower quality product.

Correct Answer: prevention

The correct answer is 'prevention'.

The cost of prevention includes expenses related to activities and measures taken to prevent quality issues from occurring in the first place. These costs typically include:

1. Training: Educating employees on quality standards and best practices.
2. Quality planning: Developing strategies and processes to ensure high-quality outcomes.
3. Process improvements: Implementing changes to enhance efficiency and reduce errors.

Prevention costs are proactive investments made to minimize the likelihood of defects or issues arising during the project or product lifecycle.

The other options are incorrect for the following reasons:

'Appraisal' costs relate to expenses incurred in measuring, evaluating, or auditing products or services to ensure they conform to quality standards. This occurs after the work is done, not before.

'Internal failure' costs are associated with defects found before the delivery of a product or service to the customer. These are costs incurred to fix problems that were not prevented.

'External failure' costs occur after the delivery of a product or service to the customer, such as warranty claims, repairs, and customer support for defective products. These are also costs incurred due to quality issues that were not prevented.