PRINCE2 Small Projects
The major drawback with PRINCE2 over the years has been its application to small projects. The PRINCE2 2009 literature includes a section on tailoring for the PRINCE2 Environment which is a substantial step forward but still doesn’t address all the issues.
The problem is that project managers and team members are always trained on the full PRINCE2 method but in most cases the projects they then work on do not justify the full weight of the method (and its documentation) being applied.
This leaves the new project manager with a problem....the first thing they are faced with doing on a new project is to tailor or scale the method to match their particular project environment. As these project managers lack experience in PRINCE2 it should hardly be a surprise that most of them either cut too much resulting in PINO (PRINCE2 In Name Only) or apply too much and get DBP (Death By PRINCE2).
The PRINCE2 2009 version is definitely better in this regard providing some useful recommendations about how particular PRINCE2 environments can be addressed but it is still left to the project manager to propose an approach. Of course with every PM in the organisation doing their own tailoring of the methodology very soon the organisation are not all running PRINCE2 but are running a wide range of tailored PRINCE2 methods.
This isn’t too much of an issue for each project manager, but for team members working on multiple projects each of which will have been tailored differently this is very confusing.
PRINCE2 prescaled
With PROJECT in a box there is an excellent solution to this which is the definition of prescaled PRINCE2 method templates to match typical project environments.
Of course as you would expect PROJECT in a box comes with several prescaled methods provided as standard (shown below) and you can use these, tailor them further or create as many of your own as you wish.
This gives your Project Managers a consistent starting point allowing them to pick a starting point close to their needs and then undertake more localised tailoring for their specific environment. In this way new PMs are protected and team members are provided with a more consistent environment.
Perhaps most importantly the PMO or Project Management lead for the organisation can own these prescaled methods ensuring that the organisations requirements and lessons learned are managed in the processes provided to users.
PRINCE2©
Small Projects
Community Edition provides the full PRINCE2 2009 and PRINCE2 2005 methods with official templates, navigation structure and guidance tips. Free software to use as long as you want. Download here.
All PROJECT in a box commercial packages provide extended versions of the free methods above; the very popular pre scaled PRINCE2 methods which are suitable for smaller less complex projects. With these packages you can also personalise/customise your methods.
Product Focus (click icon for full info)
PRINCE2 Resources
The following links allow you to explore some of the PRINCE2 areas:
Or why not find out more about other project and programme methodologies:
Managing Successful Programmes
ITIL
PMI/PMBok
