Directing Projects with PRINCE2

• Introduction
• Overview of PRINCE2
  • Key definitions
  • Structure of PRINCE2
  • The role of senior management in PRINCE2
  • Overview of PRINCE2
• Project Board duties and behaviours
  • Overview
  • Be accountable for the project
  • Provide unified direction
  • Delegate effectively
  • Facilitate cross functional integration
  • Commit resources
  • Ensure effective decision making
  • Support the Project Manager
  • Ensure effective communication
• Starting up a Project
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm the understanding of the project mandate
  • Appoint the Executive and Project Manager
  • Capture previous lessons
  • Design and appoint the project management team
  • Prepare the outline Business Case
  • Prepare the Project Brief
  • Prepare the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Summary
• Authorize initiation
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Approve the Project Brief
  • Approve the Initiation Stage Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize the project
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Context part 3
  • Communication
  • Review the End Stage Report for initiation
  • Approve the Project Initiation Documentation
  • Approve the next Stage Plan
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan
  • Purpose
  • Context part 1
  • Context part 2
  • Review End Stage Reports
  • Approve Stage or Exception Plans
  • Assess project viability
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Give ad hoc direction
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Respond to requests
  • Respond to reports
  • Respond to external influences
  • Focus of individual board members
  • Communication
  • Summary
• Authorize project closure
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Confirm handover and acceptance
  • Approve the End Project Report
  • Approve the Benefits Review Plan
  • Communication
  • Suggested Project Board agenda
  • Summary
• Reviewing benefits
  • Purpose
  • Context
  • Hold benefits reviews
  • Close the Business Case
  • Communication
  • Suggested agenda for benefit reviews
  • Summary
• Tailoring PRINCE2
  • Purpose
  • Introduction
  • Environmental factors
  • Project related factors
  • What does tailoring involve?Adapting the themes

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Project Board duties and behaviours

Facilitate cross-functional integration

© Crown copyright 2005 Reproduced under licence from OGC

The project management team is a temporary, almost always cross-functional, structure set up with specific responsibility for the project.
Project Board members must ensure that this is recognized and respected in the functional or line management organization(s), and that the Project Board’s authority is not undermined.

The organizational structures within which projects are undertaken can vary on a continuum between the strictly functional type at the one extreme and the ‘projectized’ at the other.
Most fall somewhere in between the two extremes and employ various styles of ‘matrix management’.

Projects are typically cross-functional.
That is, they cross internal line function boundaries in organizations or involve entirely separate business entities.
If this characteristic does not apply, i.e. the business, user and supplier interests all come from the same organization and the same line function, the work involved is not really a project - it can be managed more simply as a line ‘task’.

The diagram illustrates a relatively common supplier project.
None of the line functions in this supplier organization see the whole picture - they each contribute differently to the solution for the customer.
For the project to succeed, a customer-facing matrix organization needs to be set up to integrate the efforts of the various contributing line functions and engage with the customer - this is the PRINCE2® project management team.

In effect, the supplier’s line functions are supplying services to the project in the form of specialist quality capabilities, people and/or products.

Services supplied to a project may take two forms:

• Resources: e.g. the design function supplies a designer to the project. This arrangement is sometimes termed a ‘strong project matrix’ because the work is directly managed by the project
• Products: e.g. the design function supplies the completed design. This is termed a ‘weak project matrix’ because the line function manages the work on behalf of the project.

The two types of matrix each have advantages and disadvantages - and projects frequently consist of a mixture of the two.
Strong matrixes, with dedicated resources, tend to be able to respond faster when changes or problems occur but can be wasteful of resources.
Weak matrixes are often implemented to optimize resourcing but at the expense of flexibility and project response.

Difficulties arise when the engagement between the project and the line functions is ineffective.
For example:

• A resource is not available when required
• A product is not delivered on time
• Products from different line functions do not ‘fit together’ properly

These common types of problem may be caused by poor project planning (e.g. providing inadequate notice of requirements) or by conflicting line management priorities, by shortages of resources or by poor communication between the project and/or line functions.
It is the Project Manager’s job to try to establish plans and agreements that anticipate and, where possible, eliminate these obstacles.
Ultimately, though, Project Board members carry much more authority than Project Managers - and it is crucial that they use this influence within the business to ensure that matrix arrangements work effectively for the project (the Senior Supplier would have this responsibility in the example in the diagram).

If the roles of project and line management relative to one another are not clear and efficient, there will be continual stress in the delivery process - with inevitable consequences on performance.
The extent to which problems like this can be avoided usually depends on the extent to which PRINCE2, or the ‘project culture’, is embedded in the overall organization.
Some organizations are much more project-oriented than others.
This means that the temporary project management teams are recognized and accorded a degree of authority similar to (or even higher than) the permanent line functions within the business.
The PRINCE2 Maturity Model (P2MM) provides valuable additional guidance on embedding a project culture and improving overall project performance within organizations.

All references above are in Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 unless stated otherwise.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.