When Spell Check Isn’t Enough: Quality Control at General Public

QC vs. QA

We’re an agency of perfectionists, so it makes sense that we are passionate about Quality Assurance and Quality Control (yes they’re different, but more on that later). Regardless of the project scope, every single deliverable that leaves our office passes through multiple channels to ensure that we are telling each brand’s story concisely and thoughtfully.
Each new project presents unique features that need to pass through our Quality Control process; a print piece has vastly different requirements compared to a digital deliverable. With so much variation in what we do, we start off with a reliable Quality Assurance process that we can tweak and build off of as the project progresses. What exactly is the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control? It’s actually pretty simple:

• Quality Assurance is setting processes in place before a project begins.
• Quality Control is what occurs during a project to ensure a quality finished result.

QC At General Public

Over the course of the past year, we have meticulously tracked the time each project takes so we can better account for time over the lifespan of the project. We use a project management system to map out every step that needs to be taken by each team member to get the project across the finish line. As the scope of the project increases so does the number of tasks, which in turn, increases the number of projected billable and non billable hours and helps us determine a target delivery date.

The more complex the project, the more tasks, hours, and time we plan for at the start of a project in our project management system. Projects can range from as little as 5 tasks to as many as 66 tasks, depending on how many team members are involved.

Staying Agile

Once we have a scheduled plan in place for production, we get to work — fast. Our stance on Quality Control has always been focused on agility: turn out initial ideas quickly and focus on perfection later. Over the course of a project, we work with our clients to iterate through copy, wireframes, and design until we start to hone in on a final product. The closer we get to the end of a project, the more meticulous we get about perfecting details. Knowing that we have our Quality Assurance process behind us, we feel comfortable moving quickly (even possibly with a few typos in a wireframe).

Before we put our final stamp of approval on a project, we go through one last three-round session of Quality Control:

Round One:

The first round is done by the main contributor of a project because they are the most familiar with the project as a whole. For example, a brochure design would be the responsibility of a Designer to QC where a website would be the responsibility of a Developer.

Round Two:

A second round is completed by other members of our team. Working together, we try to get as many fresh eyes and unique perspectives on a project to help catch anything that may have fallen through the cracks.

Round Three:

We’re passionate about QC, but we’re not always perfect. Our final stamp of approval needs to come from the most essential party: our client.  We work tirelessly to get the green light to launch a website or send a brochure to print, but we’ll only do so when it meets the expectations of our clients.

Getting to The Finish Line

Our favorite part about QC and QA processes? They’re fluid. We are continually tweaking our processes to make them more efficient and effective. No matter how we get to the end of a project’s lifespan, however, the goal is always the same: a high-quality, well-made product that we can stand behind as a team and that our clients absolutely love.