PRINCE2 Governance: Who is Accountable for the Project Plan?

Some Executives have the perception that a project plan is something they order from the Project Manager. The Project Manager is then challenged to tune the project plan to shorter timelines and lower cost. The result is an unrealistic plan, and the Project Manager is held accountable to deliver on it. No wonder many project managers are stressed and burned out.


If this scenario sounds familiar, you should read on, because the PRINCE2 Organization and Planning Themes are really a great help in these situations – especially if you understand how to utilize them. The key trick is to get the Senior Supplier to take ownership of the realism of the plan – and this is how you do it:

Avoid the “Risk Management by Reporting” Syndrome

A risk is an uncertain event that, should it occur, will have an effect on the achievement of the project’s objectives. A threat is a risk that could have a negative impact on objectives.

In some project environments, the main identified threats are realized more as a rule than an exception. This can happen despite diligent use of Risk Registers and appropriate risk reporting. At a glance, such a project might appear to use PRINCE2 risk processes, but when reviewed in more detail, a typical risk management syndrome will appear:

A Couple of PRINCE2 Business Case Traps

First, the Business Case is more than a Net Present Value (NPV) or Payback calculation. Some think a Business Case is a calculated number, but that is only a minor piece of the definition.

The PRINCE2 Business Case captures the reasoning for initiating a project. The Business Cases is created to help decision-makers ensure that the proposed initiative will have value and relative priority compared to alternative initiatives based on the objectives and expected benefits laid out in the business case.

There is a couple of business case traps you should avoid:

The PRINCE2 Project Manager – King or Facilitator

There seems to be two types of project philosophies:

1. You build a project kingdom where the project manager is the King.
2. You build a project and line organization matrix where the project manager is the facilitator.

So which one of these philosophies is a PRINE2 match? Which philosophy will fit your organization? Where do you want decisions to be made and who is accountable? Some management consultants will argue that “The Project Manager needs to be King”, but is this really true? Here is PRINCE2’s answer:

 

PRINCE2 Project Board - Can I have Two Senior Users?

- and what about multiple Senior Suppliers?

PRINCE2 recommends for completeness the Project Board should include representation from each of the business, user and supplier interests at all times. The Executive is looking after the business interests and is the single point of accountability. By definition, there should be one, and only one, Executive as you cannot have multiple single points of accountability.

In a PRINCE2 project, the Executive appoints the rest of the board and needs to evaluate completeness and balance of user and supplier interests. The members appointed should be senior enough to make strategic decisions, with the authority to make those decisions and with sufficient control of resources to provide the solutions. According to PRINCE2, can and should the Executive appoint more than one Senior User if multiple user groups need to be represented? And should the Executive appoint more than one Senior Supplier if groups of specialists in the project come from different parts of the organization (or from different organizations)?

Combining PRINCE2 Roles? Watch Out!!

One of the PRINCE2 strengths is the clarity of the roles. One of the seven PRINCE2 principles is to make sure you have defined and agreed roles and responsibilities.

In some PRINCE2 projects, it is tempting to have one single person covering more than one role. This can make sense if the project is of limited size or a certain individual has a unique combination of skills you want to get the most out of. But be aware, there are some traps:

Why the PRINCE2 Naysayers are Wrong

As a PRINCE2 project manager, the head of a Project Management Office implementing PRINCE2 or just a PRINCE2 supporter and stakeholder, you will for sure be challenged by “the Dark Side” – the PRINCE2 Naysayers. Here are some of the most common naysayer phrases:   

Argument 1: There is so much document overhead involved in a PRINCE2 project.

Argument 2: There are too many processes, sub-processes, themes and roles. You drown the organization in process.

Argument 3: Why fool ourselves? We cannot control the environment.

Argument 4: PRINCE2 does not embrace change.

Argument 5: PRINCE2 does not address requirement management.

Argument 6: The PRINCE2 Project Board dilutes accountability. We don’t need more boards and committees, we need clarify of responsibilities.

Heard any of these? Well, here is why they are wrong:

Agile, PRINCE2 and Scrum

Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for managing product development.  Like other agile development methods, it embraces an adaptive and iterative approach. Scrum embraces change and has an empirical approach – accepting that not everything can be defined up front.

Many make the assumption that the attributes of Scrum are incompatible with PRINCE2. Those who are not deep into PRINCE2 can be lead to believe that PRINCE2 requires a waterfall approach and that PRINCE2 is a method resisting change to scope. This is not correct. PRINCE2 and Scrum are fully compatible, and this is why:

The Most Important Project Success Factor

The CHAOS Manifesto from StandishGroup is summarizing research findings based on a database of 50 000 projects. Not surprisingly, the research shows that small projects are more likely to succeed than large projects, and maybe a bit less obvious, that more projects have overrun on time versus overrun on cost.

One of the most interesting sections of the CHAOS Manifesto is the rating of success factors for projects. The result is not surprising as it is in line with other research done on success of projects:

What is a PRINCE2 product?

Understanding the concept of a PRINCE2 product can be one of the early challenges if you are quite new to PRINCE2. Comprehending what a PRINCE2 product truly is, is a necessity if you aspire to master the PRINCE2 project management method.

A PRINCE2 product can be anything produced in a project. A product is the same as a deliverable, and it includes everything made by the project manager and specialists throughout the project. Is someone writing a requirement document? That document is a PRINCE2 product. Is someone making a list of users to be training to use whatever you are building? Well, that list is a product.

What is PRINCE2 - really?

Are all definitions of the PRINCE2 Project Management method almost impossible to understand? At first products, processes and themes can be very confusing, but this tribal language can be learned.

To put is simple, PRINCE2 is guiding you on how to govern and manage a project. There are no project templates and not really any tools and tactical techniques in PRINCE2, so why bother? You do need your project templates, tools and techniques, but your project will not succeed unless you can execute it is a smart way.

To the Point PRINCE2 Highlight Reporting.

PRINCE2 Highlight Reporting is one of the easiest and most useful PRINCE2 concepts to implement early. If your organization is not running PRINCE2 yet, highlight reporting is something you can introduce without even mentioning PRINCE2.

The PRINCE2 Highlight reports lose some of their objective value without having Project Briefs, PIDs and Stage Plans to report against, but getting a standardized report in place for all projects has a value regardless. So what does a good PRINE2 Project Highlight Report look like?