PRINCE2 Project Management Concepts

Project Definition and Characteristics

• A project is a temporary organization created to deliver one or more business products. This aligns with an agreed business case
• Projects introduce change within organizations
• Projects have a defined temporary nature

Five Project characteristics

• Change introduction distinguishes projects from business as usual
• Cross-functional teams collaborate temporarily to introduce impactful changes
• Each project is unique, differing in some way even within familiar patterns
• Uncertainty introduces threats and opportunities beyond typical business operations
• Risks are more pronounced in projects than in regular organizational activities

Seven Aspects of Project Performance Management

• These aspects are managed to ensure project success as measured against performance targets.
• Costs: Managing funds to prevent overspending or missed savings opportunities.
• Timescales: Keeping the project on schedule to avoid delays and associated costs.
• Scope: Defining project deliverables to prevent under or over-delivery.
• Quality: Ensuring the final product is fit for purpose and aligns with customer expectations.
• Risk: Identifying and controlling risks to maintain project trajectory and maximize benefits.
• Environmental Impact: Setting sustainability targets for project activities and deliverables.
• Benefits: Ensuring the project’s intended outcomes are achieved and benefits realized.
• The project management team must clearly understand project purpose to justify investment
• Cost management involves understanding and addressing factors affecting the cost/budget
• Timely delivery of key products determines project success
• Delivering a project result within budget is insufficient if it doesn't meet specifications.
• Project must deliver its intended function
• Scope must be managed to determine degree of under or over-delivery
• All projects impact the environment
• Teams must consider sustainability performance targets
• Project risk is limited based on the plan’s aggregated risks

PRINCE2 Integrated Elements

• Principles are guiding obligations determining whether a project is genuinely managed by PRINCE2
• Continued business justification must be ensured for projects to be considered PRINCE2 projects
• Lessons must be learned from experience in order to ensure that a project can be considered a PRINCE2 ones
• Defined roles, responsibilities and relationships in order to be a considered a PRINCE2 project
• Must be managed by stages
• Must manage by exception
• Focus on the products
• Tailor to suit the project
• Understanding needs, capabilities, and motivations of involved people is crucial
• These are the centre of the PRINCE2 method
• PRINCE2 practices ensure a project is being managed appropriately
• These are applied consistently throughout the project lifecycle
• The five integrated elements consist of Principles, People, Practices, Processes, and the Project Context
• PRINCE2 can be tailored to all projects regardless of size, environment, complexity, importance, capability or risk

PRINCE2 Processes

• There are seven processes that provide the activities required to direct, manage, and deliver a project successfully:
• Starting up a project
• Directing a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing product delivery
• Managing a stage boundary
• Closing a project

Guiding a project

• Sufficient info determines if detailed project planning is justified.
• Involves setting up if there is justification to precede with the project
• This develops a business case and commits resources
• Day-to-day management involves monitoring and control activities
• The project manager ensures each stage stays on course
• The project board is provided with critical decision points to decide whether to continue or close the project

PRINCE2 Benefits

• Flexible and based on proven principles so organizations substantially improve organizational capability
• Used as a standard can improve maturity across multiple business activity areas
• The method and qualification are used internationally
• Established and proven practice of governance for project management
• Can be applied to any project/scale alongside industry-specific models/development lifecycles
• Tailored to meet organization needs
• Widely recognized
• Provides common vocabulary for all participant
• Encourages consistency
• Reuses project assets, facilitates mobility, and reduced impact of personnel changes
• Project team remains focused on the viability of the project rather than meeting the end date
• Stakeholders are represented in planning and decision making
• Learning from project experiences promotes ongoing improvement
• Designed to guides from PeopleCert such as with programme management and risk management

PRINCE2 Organizational Context

• The method does not assume any specific organizational context.
• There may be users who specify the desired outputs, suppliers will provide the resources and expertise, and business decision-makers ensure the project investment is justified.

PRINCE2 Principles

• Principles underpin the PRINCE2 Method
• A PRINCE2 project has business justification sufficient to warrant investment and ongoing investment through to successful completion, stopping if this is not the case.
• A PRINCE2 project team seeks records implementing improvements.
• Relevant lessons are applied in future and shared with others
• A PRINCE2 project has defined and agreed roles and responsibilities with the organization.
• Engages all levels, and initiates relationships at all levels
• A PRINCE2 project is planned, monitored, and controlled on a stage-by-stage basis
• A PRINCE2 project establishes limits of delegated authority by defining tolerances against plans
• A PRINCE2 project focuses on the definition and delivery of products
• User quality expectations/requirements
• A PRINCE2 project applies the PRINCE2 method to suit the project environment
• It considers size/complexity/importance/delivery method/team capability/level of risk

People in PRINCE2

• People are central to the PRINCE2 method
• The implementation needs to be successful with the team supporting change
• Projects deliver change related to business as usual activities (routines/responsibilities)
• ‘People' includes working teams, relationships, impacted parties

Effective Change Management

• Change management guides org transitions
• Effective leadership guides changes
• PRINCE2 creates a change-management approach
• All projects require change management regarding how people and orgs operate
• Identify impacted areas, describe delivered project change, then creating and maintaining a project change management approach.
• Projects need stakeholder buy to move forward with the project

PRINE2 Practices

Business case practice

• The purpose of the business case practice is to establish mechanisms to judge whether the project is (and remains) desirable, viable, and achievable to support

Questions on PRINCE2 methodologies including project targets, uncertainty management, sustainability, benefits definition, and product-based planning. Covers key stages, objectives, and the role of product breakdown structures. Evaluates understanding of PRINCE2 practices.