The Key Principles of PRINCE2 Project Management

More than once have we heard people say,  “Projects just aren’t successful anymore. You only get one go at it.  People are just too busy to do them.”  Well, that’s true, they’re just too busy doing the day-to-day things that lead to projects. As on a PRINCE2 Certification edinburgh course.

Having just completed the Performance Measure Blueprint cycle,  we heard this a lot and decided to re-evaluate how we go about projects today.  In this article I’m going to cover some of the key principles of project management to get back on track, especially with the term project management and its definition.

The key assumption out there is that a project is an effort to create a deliverable out of nothing.  But, the right way of defining project management is, to manage process that drives a team or group through a series of user facilitated actions to create an outcome while managing portfolios of projects, proposals, or processes. The fundamental characteristic of a project is that it needs a defined purpose.  That purpose can be an event, or a product or service but what it is and what it’s destination are different, which we’ll cover in a variety of ways over the next few articles.

I have been delivering, writing and delivering project management live since early 1990s.  Through the years as I’ve worked through the basics of project management, I’ve come to realize something about my own project management,  that, at the minimum, I must ensure that all people working on projects have a very clear and objective feel as to where their projects fit into the agenda of the organization.  What I mean by this is that I want them to know where their projects fit in when it comes to organizational priorities.  To be effective on these projects, that means that from the very onset of the project, the people involved need to know the organizational need to have a particular outcome (or desired outcome) as well as an objective understanding of what they’re supposed to do to accomplish the corporate objective.  Because if they don’t, and/or don’t understand where their projects fit in, they’re going to be attempting to do something, anything just to get access to a resource, or access to funds, or to meet the other project deadline (all of which lead to more projects, more justifications/ similarities and more time lost).  And, that at the end of the day, ends up costing you a lot of money, and they end up not delivering as the objective was intended.

“So, what do I do then?”  Ask yourself this question any time you establish a problem, department or individual.  There are a variety of techniques that can be utilized in your organization in order to ensure correct Drives.  I’ll provide a very simple implementation that works all the time.

When you start the project, as a team leader, leader or a member you have to have all people define the destination or goals that are being driven by the project.  Through some variation the description of what must be completed annually, quarterly, monthly or all of the above based upon the annual/quarterly/monthly amounts quoted in the objectives.  The L-shaped role play where someone (the Captain) is pushing a button will quickly assist to root out the required outcomes, define the action steps, and identify the resources or team members who must deliver each step of the project.

Then add a neat set of roles.  The Navigator is the person responsible for deciding, deciding, deciding who, what and how.  The Captain is directing the strategies and leadership to meet the objectives.  The change agent is acting as the intermediary(s) and making sure that the consensus has been obtained.  The assembler is collecting the data and creating the report.  And, ultimately, the tender Berliner is providing a more detailed description that’s connected to the second set of roles,  the Captain.

Be as crisp and clear as possible in your descriptions,  so that the team members have as good as 30 seconds to fill in their roles.  And make sure you consider things like time, needs, costs, and roles.  Hence when you come from the captain all generations of team building sessions can benefit, and if your team is over 10 people, have at least one break while they do the exercise.  The more assists make sure you see how the process starts with the Captain.

The remainder of the process is the lifecycle of the project plan.  You may be crisp all through the beginning, but as you go through the steps, you as the Captain, a change agent have to be very clear as “on bigger decisions,” so your team really starts the project knowing what needs to be done.  If in fact, the project, is for you these start it and lay it well.