What is Prince2™ and should I be using it?

These are two separate questions, of course.

What is Prince2&#153?


Prince2 (Projects in Controlled Environments) was developed as a project management tool in UK government IT applications. It was then rolled out as a generic approach to project implementation, and has been taken up by many public bodies in the local government and HE sectors, as well as in business.
Prince2&#153 website

Essentially Prince2&#153 provides a structure and terminology to manage a project from initial identification through to completion with clearly defined stages and targets. There is an emphasis on explicit terms of reference and governance through Project Boards, intended to ensure that mission creep is prevented. As such it formalises good practice. Unfortunately its terminology is precise and counter-intuitive: a clear distinction is made, for example, between a task and a process. As a result, Prince2&#153-speak may be unintelligible to outsiders, although some phrases have gained wider currency, including:

management by exception focus on the things that are going wrong

lessons learned log this is where Prince2 projects report their mistakes

PID Project Initiation Document

Prince2&#153 practitioners can gain accredited qualifications; this process is fairly longwinded and expensive. Partly as a result, there has developed a distinct field of practice called PINO (Prince In Name Only) projects, where the broad terminology and structure is adopted but day-to-day implementation is less formalised.

It has also been argued that much of the process is excessively timeconsuming and the key issue leading to past project failure is in fact lack of clarity and purpose from the client group.




Should I be using it?

The short answer is no, not least because the adoption of Prince2&#153 as a method has to be a decision taken at a corporate level. To implement elements of its process within an individual project is pointless and will almost certainly result in duplication of effort.

Whetehr organisations should be adopting it is less clear. If they are to do so, they must commit themselves to getting their staff accredited and following through on the paperwork that will results.

In practice, Prince2&#153 works best in organisations whose projects are:

partnerships between different bodies with equal power

long-term (2 years +)

delivered by a third party contractor

subject to frequent change of approach

closely defined at the planning stage

which suggests that archaeology is not its most fertile ground.


However, it is worth picking out the key Prince2&#153 principles for what makes a project work:

define a management structure with clear terms of reference

define the level of autonomy you are giving the project manager

have a reporting schedule and distribution list for progress reports

record changes in plan, with reasons

record your mistakes and learn from them

This is part of the training theme: start here.