PRINCE stands for Projects IN Controlled Environments. Originally released in 1989 to enhance best practice in project management in the UK, it was replaced by PRINCE2® in 1996 and had a major update in 2005; however, the transformation into the 2009 version is a much greater change in line with its role as a more global standard.
The intent is twofold.
- To simplify the guidance by making the language more accessible and less wordy, resulting in the manual being reduced from 457 to 327 pages.
- To bring the guidance more in line with the latest project and programme management practices, particularly as found in the Office of Government Commerce’s (OGC) Managing Successful Programmes (MSP™) and Management of Risk (MoR®) guidelines.
Previously PRINCE2® was based on the number eight! We had eight processes and eight components. Each process outlined the management activities to be carried out during the project and the components covered the major concepts to be applied.
Now the magic number is seven!
- Seven principles that underpin any PRINCE2® project.
- Seven themes which closely map to the former PRINCE2® components, except than configuration management is incorporated into the Change theme.
- Seven processes, which map to the former eight processes, with the planning process being covered in the Plans theme.
The final main section of the manual gathers together the tailoring aspects of PRINCE2®, which used to be split up throughout the manual, into a chapter in its own right.
The seven principles are summarised as:
- Continued business justification
- Learn from experience
- Defined roles and responsibilities
- Manage by stages
- Manage by exception
- Focus on products
- Tailor to suit the project environment
Is our project being run under PRINCE2®? Rather than assessing which documents and processes are being used, review how well these principles are being applied.
Learn from experience emphasises the need to learn at the beginning of a project as reflected in the new activity in Starting up a Project, ‘Capture previous lessons’.
Themes – aspects of project management that need to be addressed continuously throughout the project – replace the previous Components.
Much of the guidance is immediately recognisable from the previous version, but is generally clearer and briefer.
- Organisation clarifies the separate Business, User, and Supplier Project Assurance requirements, along with the clearer role of the Change Authority. It also provides better guidance in stakeholder engagement and working with the corporate organisation.
- Risk has been brought much more in line with the OGC’s Management of Risk (MoR®) principles.
Processes: PRINCE2® has done away with sub-processes! Strictly speaking, it has done away with the term sub-process and renamed them activities. They are not numbered any more, and have a diagram representing inputs and outputs rather than an ‘information needs’ table, along with clarification of responsibility for production, reviewing and approving each product.
The appendices have been modified with Risk Categories and Document Management being replaced by ones on Governance and a Product-based planning example.
To conclude: the 2009 version of PRINCE2® still adheres to the same fundamental concepts, but aims at being easier to understand and less proscriptive in its approach.
Derek Bell is a Project Management Consultant and Trainer for ESI. For more about ESI, click here.
For more PRINCE2: 2009 information, go to How to Manage a Camel to read Friday’s exclusive PRINCE2: 2009 Twitter hour for a brief overview of the refresh with Andy Murray, lead author of the refresh.
This article first applied in our monthly newsletter, Project Management Tipoffs
