1. a.) Why do people say “lies, damn lies and statistics”? 

b.) What does it take to avoid lying with statistics? 

c.) Find two examples from newspapers or websites where statistics are used in a way that is deceptive. 

d.) What additional information is needed to convey a truer picture when provided statistics by the examples in question c.)?

2. a.) If quality comes from people, and systems cannot guarantee quality, then why do we need quality systems? 

b.) Give two examples where quality problems occur even though there is an excellent quality system in place. 

c.) Give two examples where even though the people care a lot about quality, if there is no quality system at all in place, then it becomes hard for them to produce quality results.  (Hint: think of some specific situation, such as a fast food chain).

3. a.) List two advantages and two disadvantages of a quality system that is highly procedures-oriented, such as ISO9000. 

b.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a “quality culture” orientation, such as TQM? 

c.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of an assessment orientation, such as Malcolm-Baldrige? 

d.) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a goal-driven practices and self-improvement orientation such as the CMM? 

e.) What does all this tell us about what quality system is ideal for an organization?

4. Quality systems are aimed at reducing process variation. 

a.)What does this concept mean when applied to software development? 

b.) Why is this considered a desirable goal? 

c.) Discuss the limitations of “reducing process variation” as a quality goal for software organizations.

5. a.) Give two examples each of nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales (preferably different from the ones in the lecture slides!). 

b.) Should you always use the highest possible scale for every measurement? 

c.) Give two examples of appropriate and two inappropriate measurement scales for measuring something.

6. Take an everyday context, such as coursework or commuting to school.

a.) Identify one or more quality objectives you would like to achieve, such as "reduce commute time" or "improve grades".

b.) Use the GQM framework to design two metrics that relate to the objective.

c.) Identify the measurements that you need to compute the metric.

d.) What are the reliability and validity limitations of the metrics you have identified?

e.) How can you use the various quality tools to track and enable continuous improvement?  (Note:  “quality tools” refers to the Seven Basic Quality Tools, plus a few.)

7. a.) Create a fishbone chart that explores why sometimes team meetings run longer than needed or become ineffective. 

b.) Take measurements from your team members (based on past experience) to assess the relative importance of the various factors.  Use this data to create a Pareto chart of the causes and identify the most important factors that need to addressed in order to have more effective meetings. 

c.) Create checklists that can be used during meetings to improve their effectiveness. 

d.) Think of at least one way to use a control chart to help you in improving meeting effectiveness.