PRINCE2® is a undertaking administration technique. It’s structured, and experience-based, created from the lived expertise of 1000’s of undertaking managers and profitable tasks.
PRINCE2® stands for Projects IN a Controlled Environment (Version 2). And it’s not spelled PRINCE TWO!
It’s a customizable means of managing and controlling the work. It’s tailorable and appropriate for tasks of all sizes, massive and small.
I took my first Practitioner course in 2004.
Who is PRINCE2® for?
PRINCE2® works in an enormous variety of industries and domains. As a undertaking supervisor, I’ve used it in monetary companies, and to a lesser diploma, a modified model in a healthcare setting. It’s a predictive methodology, though PRINCE2
Because PRINCE2® is a broad-brush strategy, it doesn’t cowl technical processes or particular methods, however it can match alongside them.
The History of PRINCE2®
PRINCE2® is a part of the perfect apply steering that got here out of the UK Office of Government Commerce.
It began life because the PROMPT methodology, created in a personal UK firm again within the Seventies. A British authorities company, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, licensed it to be used in authorities IT tasks again in 1979.
It was renamed PRINCE.
PRINCE2® was launched in 1996 and had main updates in 2009 and 2017. The most up-to-date main replace got here in 2023.
I used to be requested to be one of many reviewers of the PRINCE2 7 handbook, so I’m very accustomed to the content material and adjustments because the final version.
The PRINCE2 technique is one thing that was used primarily in public sector UK tasks, however rapidly acquired picked up by the personal sector and unfold all through Europe and the remainder of the world. Because it really works. Today, it’s utilized by 1000’s of practitioners in lots of of nations.
PRINCE2
The 5 parts of PRINCE2
There are 5 built-in parts of PRINCE2. These are:
- People (new for the seventh version, there’s a entire new chapter which is lengthy overdue for my part)
- Principles
- Processes
- Practices (this part was known as Themes, in case you are accustomed to the sixth version)
- Project context (which is the place we discuss in regards to the enterprise surroundings and tailoring).
PRINCE2 core rules
The 7 core rules in PRINCE2® undertaking administration are the ‘guiding obligations’ to make sure that essential areas for fulfillment are continually entrance of thoughts. They are:
- Ensure continued enterprise justification
- Learn from expertise
- Define roles, duties and relationships
- Manage by exception
- Manage by levels
- Focus on merchandise
- Tailor to swimsuit the undertaking.
Let’s have a fast take a look at these finest practices.
1. Ensure continued enterprise justification
A PRINCE2® undertaking wants a enterprise case. There ought to be some extent to doing any new undertaking: there ought to be some enterprise driver to doing the work.
And that enterprise justification must final all through the undertaking. You ought to preserve checking in, for instance on the finish of every stage of the undertaking, to ensure that the work continues to be viable. Ideally, you’ll be capable to obtain the advantages however typically issues occur to make that troublesome. In these instances, you would possibly wish to advocate the undertaking is stopped.
2. Learn from expertise
There is a spotlight in PRINCE2® on studying from expertise. You ought to take a look at what occurred on previous tasks as a result of that helps mitigate threat in your present undertaking.
Lessons discovered isn’t one thing you do as soon as. PRINCE2® encourages you to dig into classes discovered all by the undertaking life cycle that will help you make higher decisions. Document classes discovered for future tasks.
3. Define roles, duties and relationships
There are outlined roles and duties in PRINCE2® tasks. There are 3 important stakeholders:
- Sponsor: the enterprise sponsor who make certain the undertaking delivers the correct factor
- Users: individuals who use the top end result and/or obtain the profit
- Suppliers: individuals or corporations that present the assets to get the undertaking performed.
The default roles are:
- The undertaking board, made up of the manager (sponsor), senior consumer (consumer rep) and senior provider (provider rep)
- Project supervisor
- Project assist
- Project assurance
- Change authority
- Team supervisor
That’s it. All the workforce members match into a type of roles, though it’s attainable to tailor the construction to fit your surroundings.
The relationships a part of this precept’s title is all in regards to the undertaking ecosystem and the way mushy energy and networks affect the way in which work will get performed.
4. Manage by exception
I really like this precept. It means you could have boundaries and tolerances set in your function because the PRINCE2® undertaking supervisor, and you may function inside these boundaries. If you exit of these, there may be an exception, and also you escalate or get administration enter as crucial.
Management by exception works at each degree and depends on the undertaking workforce being trusted to do their job. When that occurs, the sponsor and undertaking board solely want a daily report on the prescribed occasions.
This avoids micromanaging and builds belief within the workforce.
5. Manage by levels
PRINCE2® delivers the work in levels. The undertaking supervisor and workforce break down the work into chunks known as administration levels.
There’s a course of to information work by the levels so there may be ample management at each level.
At the top of a stage, the undertaking board decides whether or not the undertaking continues to be viable and whether or not it ought to transfer on.
6. Focus on merchandise
The technique has a give attention to merchandise, which implies you create a product description so that everybody is aware of what the undertaking is creating. It’s a means to make sure expectations are managed and all stakeholders are on the identical web page.
Products will be outlined in work packages. There’s usually some documentation that lists out what the merchandise are so everybody understands what’s being delivered.
7. Tailor to swimsuit the undertaking
The last precept is that PRINCE2® ought to be tailor-made to the surroundings. You can tailor to suit the undertaking’s:
- Size
- Importance
- Environment
- Team tradition
- Risk
- Complexity.
Tweak undertaking controls to make the entire thing work in your scenario.
What’s lacking from PRINCE2® (fortunately) is the detailed steering on ‘how’. For instance, it talks about making a schedule, however doesn’t mandate how to do this. You can use essential path scheduling, a Gantt chart, full on earned worth administration for schedule management, or some sticky notes on the wall. PRINCE2® gained’t beat you up for choosing the proper scheduling strategy in your surroundings.
PRINCE2® practices
There are 7 practices in PRINCE2®. Let’s take a look at these.
1. Business case
The enterprise case exhibits up within the rules as nicely – that’s the way it necessary it’s. It’s in all probability a very powerful one of many administration merchandise (that’s my view anyway: within the handbook, all of them have the identical significance).
The enterprise case ensures that the undertaking is worth it and aligns to enterprise objectives. It additionally hyperlinks again to efficiency targets. There is a brand new efficiency goal of sustainability within the 2023 seventh version, which requires having a sustainability administration strategy in place for the undertaking.
Finally, the enterprise case empowers the undertaking supervisor to advocate the undertaking is stopped if the enterprise advantages gained’t be realized.
2. Organizing
This pertains to the undertaking group: roles and duties, the workforce, and the administration arrange for the undertaking.
It’s the apply that permits the undertaking management, efficient communication, and workforce empowerment. It additionally covers organizational design and growth.
3. Plans
PRINCE2® guides you in direction of creating plans that reply the questions stakeholders wish to know: What are we doing?
- How are we doing it?
- How a lot will it value?
- When will or not it’s prepared?
The plans concerned in PRINCE2® are:
- The undertaking plan
- The stage plan
- The exception plan
- The workforce plan.
4. Quality
PRINCE2® talks quite a bit about high quality. It units out the best way to outline product high quality, the best way to measure it and the method for controlling it. This part additionally covers the concept of getting a product register to trace what’s being created.
When I did my PRINCE2® course, this part was actually beneficial as a result of high quality is theoretically understood, however not at all times acted on at work. This apply helped me perceive the best way to create a high quality focus that wasn’t all about merely writing a high quality plan.
5. Risk
Risk administration is a core apply throughout many undertaking administration strategies, and PRINCE2® offers you a sensible strategy to placing it entrance and heart.
PRINCE2® matches in with the Management of Risk® steering, additionally from Axelos. The threat technique attracts on that so the entire household of strategies work collectively. It supplies an strategy to do threat evaluation after which plan administration actions to make sure the danger is satisfactorily addressed. You’ll file your dangers is a threat log.
6. Issues
This was the theme of Change, however PRINCE2 makes use of the terminology of ‘issue’ to imply something that impacts the undertaking, and that may very well be an issue (i.e. a difficulty), an ‘off-specification’ defect or a change. Often points result in adjustments anyway and there’s a comparable means of analyzing and decision-making that we comply with for each.
That stated,
There’s an entire course of to comply with that permits adjustments to be proposed, analyzed and acted on as crucial. And in fact we’ve got to push points by a course of that permits the undertaking workforce to deal with them as nicely.
7. Progress
What’s the purpose of a undertaking if to not make progress in direction of delivering the answer? You handle the undertaking’s progress actively to make sure every part goes to plan.
The progress apply helps you management the undertaking. This apply talks about having first rate undertaking reporting, monitoring and monitoring efficiency, tolerances, points, adjustments and dangers, realizing when to escalate and with the ability to take care of deviations.
PRINCE2® Processes
People have a tendency to consider PRINCE2® as fairly a process-heavy technique, and once I first did my examination, I felt the identical. However, there may be a whole lot of emphasis on tailoring, and the newest model may be very versatile.
The processes are actually not that difficult to know or to do, and they’re merely about having sufficient governance to verify the undertaking is correctly below management. You will discover them very intuitive when you get going and perceive the
The core processes in PRINCE2® cowl the entire life cycle and are:
- Starting up a undertaking
- Directing a undertaking
- Initiating a undertaking
- Controlling a stage
- Managing product supply
- Managing a stage boundary
- Closing a undertaking.
Starting up a undertaking
This course of seems at whether or not the undertaking is worth it and viable. The undertaking temporary will get created and the undertaking board determine whether or not to go forward.
Directing a undertaking
Directing a undertaking had an entire separate PRINCE2® e-book within the sixth version, and I wonder if there shall be a brand new information for undertaking sponsors launched in the end. Directing will get a means of its personal. It’s the method that the sponsor and undertaking board undergo to make choices and supply that governance layer.
It’s the actions that present the parallel administration and steering degree that run alongside the work the undertaking supervisor is main.
Initiating a undertaking
Once the undertaking passes by the Start up section, you progress into initiating. This is the place you dig into the work that must be performed and also you begin planning.
There’s various documentation that PRINCE2® suggests you create throughout this stage as a result of the plan is created and also you determine the best way to do threat administration, communications, undertaking controls, change management, high quality and extra.
Controlling a stage
This course of helps you monitor and management the work all through the stage. It’s the day-to-day efficient undertaking administration that falls into this course of.
You evaluation progress, monitor that in opposition to the baseline you set and proper any deviations.
Managing product supply
This course of is what you utilize when you find yourself prepared to finish a product supply. As you may think about, these processes usually overlap and occur in parallel, so PRINCE2® doesn’t precisely give you a start-to-finish step-by-step strategy. It’s way more versatile than that.
You would possibly use this course of a number of occasions all through the life cycle as you want to get stakeholders to just accept merchandise as you go.
Managing a stage boundary
Stage boundaries are the factors at which you progress the undertaking on. This is the method you utilize shifting between undertaking levels. It’s mainly the approval for shifting on to the subsequent chunk of the work.
The undertaking board evaluation progress to this point, take a look at the enterprise justification and make the decision as as to whether the work continues.
Closing a undertaking
Finally, there’s a course of round closing a undertaking. It covers the best way to wrap up the work and make sure the unfastened ends are tidied away, ensuring the merchandise are delivered to the required customary and handed over successfully to the customers.
It covers verification of the product, ensuring the required assist is in place and guaranteeing open actions and points are addressed. You’ll additionally evaluation the undertaking’s efficiency and assess the advantages.
Becoming PRINCE2® licensed
There are two ranges of PRINCE2® certification: Foundation and Practitioner.
There is the ‘ordinary’ taste of PRINCE2® after which there may be additionally
You’ll want to decide on a coaching course and examine with an accredited supplier. I like to recommend learning with a PRINCE2® examination simulator as a result of taking apply questions are key to not flaking out within the examination. I did a great deal of previous papers once I took it, and so they actually helped. Once you re prepared, take the examination(s).
Typically, the total Foundation/Practitioner certification course is 5 days, together with each exams. There aren’t any conditions for enrolling for the Foundation course. You can even take the course on-line with loads of totally different format choices.
However, I might say that some undertaking administration expertise will make it simpler so that you can do the coaching and get by the examination, as a result of it’s intensive.
The course I took (and the format most in-person programs take) is to do the knowledge-led content material over 2.5 days after which take the Foundation certificates examination on the Wednesday afternoon. Then spend Thursday and Friday morning on Practitioner content material and examination prep, with the Practitioner examination on the Friday afternoon.
In different phrases, you may get PRINCE2® licensed in every week with no conditions, which makes it an excellent choice for individuals who don’t have years of expertise.
You might want to keep your certificates with a subscription service or take the examination once more when it expires.
Ready to get licensed? Check out the AXELOS-accredited PRINCE2® Practitioner course led by Frank Turley supplied by Management Plaza.
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Summary
PRINCE2® is without doubt one of the undertaking administration methodologies open to you. It’s a versatile, efficient technique for main a complete undertaking. Where will PRINCE2® take you?
