01 Aug 2009
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PRINCE2 2009 is the eagerly awaited update to one of the UK's most popular project management methods. Vicky Billingham, Training Director at Projectivity Ltd looks at what's changed and how it might affect you.
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Introduction
With the introduction of PRINCE2 2009, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has attempted to make PRINCE2 more accessible for all users, and particularly for senior managers who are involved in directing projects.
This article describes what changes have been made to the PRINCE2 method, how they might affect you, and also describes the changes to the examinations. It is aimed at those who already have at least a Foundation level knowledge of PRINCE2. The changes being introduced are categorised, and although there are many fairly significant changes, the PRINCE2 method has not fundamentally changed. It remains based on structured common sense, and still provides Project Managers with an excellent process for ensuring a project starts sensibly, is controlled throughout and is delivered successfully.
Major Changes
The biggest change is that there are now two manuals for PRINCE2: Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, and Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2. This is a response to the widespread problem of Project Board members not understanding their roles and responsibilities. Providing explicit focus on directing projects in this way should make educating project board members far easier and more successful.
The manuals are smaller and the formatting is much easier on the eye than the previous manual.
Seven new Principles have been added. None of these represent anything new to someone who understands the basics of project management (e.g. Continued Business Justification).
The Components have been replaced by Themes, of which there are seven (the old Controls component has morphed into Progress, and Configuration Management is now part of the Change theme). The word ‘theme’ seems like a sensible one to me, reflecting how these topics run like threads through the method.
The PRINCE2 Processes are still there, although Planning (PL) has been incorporated into the Plans theme, leaving only seven Processes. And there are no sub-processes, just sets of Activities within each Process.
There is more emphasis on tailoring the method – it is one of the seven new Principles and also has a chapter of its own which relates tailoring to the Themes and Processes, with plenty of examples.
There are no Techniques chapters, as Quality Review has been incorporated into the Quality Theme, Change Control into the Change Theme and Product-Based Planning has an Appendix which goes through the example from the old manual.
So, overall, although PRINCE2 looks and feels quite different, fundamentally nothing has changed drastically. But I think the changes are pragmatic and helpful; they have removed the old inconsistencies in the manual, and also areas of repetition which appeared throughout, removed some bureaucracy and descriptions which encouraged ‘robotic project management’, and focused more on projects achieving benefits rather than just the management of the Business Case product.