PRINCE2® Methodology

The extensive PRINCE2® manual, Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 2017 Edition, consists of principles, themes, and processes, that have the intention of providing a wealth of authoritative guidance to Project Managers.

The 7 Principles of PRINCE2

The PRINCE2® method is centred around seven principles, including:

1. Business Justification - can you justify the value of the project at each stage of the lifecycle?

2. Learn from Experience - Project Managers should utilise their knowledge gained from prior experiences in order to improve upon their practice

3. Roles and Responsibilities - clear roles should be established with clear delegation, ownership, and accountability

4. Manage by Stages - after the completion of each stage, an appraisal should be completed to clarify the project’s objectives and resource optimisation

5. Manage by Exception - tolerances are defined to ensure and establish an absolute limit of authority

6. Focus on Products - quality of product delivery should be paramount and a central focus of the project

7. Tailor to Suit the Environment - the PRINCE2® framework can be tailored to the project’s requirements, regardless of size, complexity, and scope

The Seven Themes of PRINCE2

There are 7 PRINCE2® themes that a Project Manager must consider throughout the project, including:

1. Business Case - Can you justify the value of the project’s intentions and objectives for the organisation?

2. Organisation - how to establish distinguished project roles and responsibilities

3. Quality - What measures of quality will determine a project’s success?

4. Plans - PRINCE2® offers planning techniques rather than a stringent planning process

5. Risk - how will project uncertainty and adversity be prepared for?

6. Change - how the Project Manager will respond to unforeseen project or objective alterations

7. Progress - Performance appraisals throughout the project will determine whether a project should progress or cease to exist

PRINCE2 Processes

The PRINCE2® processes crucially differ from the aforementioned principles - processes allow you to follow the PRINCE2® methodology throughout a project’s lifecycle, from planning to delivering the final product, including:

1. Starting up a Project - assessing the project’s feasibility to justify value and viability

2. Initiating a Project - the planning phase completed by the Project Manager to clarify the project’s strategies, and monitoring methods

3. Controlling a Stage - monitoring the day-to-day functioning of the project to assess whether the delivery is within the pre-agreed tolerances

4. Managing Product Delivery - enables the delivery of a specialist and high-quality product that meets the customer’s/stakeholder’s requirements

5. Managing Stage Boundaries - the reviewing phase that occurs after each stage to assess the project’s developing success

6. Closing a Project - the Project Manager concludes the project and transfers the final product to the customer/stakeholder, in addition to assessing the project’s overall success

The Knowledge Academy delivers high-quality PRINCE2 Courses so that you can learn these methodologies. If you are interested, please contact us for more information.