PRINCE2 - but not as we know it

The Office of Government Commerce's PRINCE2 refresh will not offer a shortcut to improved project delivery, says Tim Phillips of Moorhouse (PRINCE2 Practitioner), but that was never its intention.

Over the last year, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has been undertaking a refresh of its well-known project management methodology PRINCE2. In fact, work is almost complete on the revamp and the new version is expected to be on the shelves of The Stationary Office (TSO) in late 2008/early 2009. But will the new look PRINCE2 be a much-needed catalyst for improved project delivery particularly in the public sector?

The answer is – no, not on its own. In the past some organisations saw training their people in PRINCE2 as a panacea to improved project delivery performance. But let's be clear, whilst PRINCE2 is a vital framework for how to get things done, and the refresh will be a great improvement on its predecessor – it must be recognised that it is just one component of a whole raft of things that need to be in place.

Let's start at the beginning. The OGC never designed PRINCE2 as a tool to instruct project professionals on 'how to be a great project manager and get results'. It is, and always was, a framework signposting how you might control and run a project environment efficiently. As a practitioner using its processes with clients on a day-to-day basis, whilst I have found PRINCE2 material both stimulating and thought provoking, the course and certification process has arguably been of greater use as a visible demonstration of competence, rather than as a learning experience on how to deliver projects. So, the problem isn't with PRINCE2 per se, it's the common misinterpretation of the purpose of PRINCE2 that can get in the way of improved project delivery.

PRINCE2 has been the project methodology of choice in the majority of the UK's public and private sector for the last ten years. In Moorhouse's experience, programme and project management (PPM) delivery across both sectors is still very much a mixed bag. There are pockets of excellence and many organisations have realised that success is not achieved by simply following a detailed recipe but by also making sensible decisions based on their experience and what is appropriate for their environment. In other words, using the academic theory behind PRINCE2 as a guiding light - but not a constraining scaffold. Good progress is being made, but more can and should be done.

Putting a project manager through PRINCE2 on their own, and expecting them to deliver excellence is like teaching someone the mathematical formulae which governs the motion of a Formula 1 racing car and asking them to win a Grand Prix. The description is technically correct and eminently logical but on its own will never create a F1 champion.

What is missing from PRINCE2, and the above example, is a number of other crucial factors, many of which revolve around the human element. If you seriously wanted to achieve a Grand Prix win, you'd expect your driver to have phenomenal talent, have a great and committed team of experts behind him, as well as an awesome game plan and set of robust processes and pit stops to guarantee success. So, in the project environment:

• How good a project professional are you?
• How passionate and committed are you?
• Do you make timely decisions and have the authority to do so?
• Does your team have the correct blend of capabilities and the right attitude for the job?
• Is there governance in place to ensure that you have the right support, processes and resource to enable things to happen when you need them to?

Only when you have developed and perfected this combination of features, using the principles of PRINCE2 as a foundation, will your project deliver success.

Make no mistake; PRINCE2 should be applauded for getting so many industries this far with PPM. The successful tailored application of PRINCE2 as a standard methodology within an organisation almost completely satisfies any project governance and process methodology success factor, and there is much to be said for following a set of consistent, repeatable and measurable principles. Plus, to its credit, the new version demonstrates that the OGC has listened to its customers and crafted a shorter, less bureaucratic tome that rightly focuses more on principles than detailed processes and on practical application. This is a major step forward in its own right.

The other changes to the new PRINCE2 include:

• the introduction of seven principles and seven themes
• the retention of seven of the existing processes (planning has been dropped), and
• the elimination of the sub process altogether (always problematic because it encouraged practitioners to linger far too long on the 'what ifs' than practically necessary)

In line with this, the training and examination has become more practical, focusing on hands-on application rather than knowledge of the principles. This will encourage a more practical approach to delivering projects. Figure 1 summarises the proposed changes in the refresh:

Figure 1 Proposed Refresh Changes

Recognising that PRINCE2 is not, on its own, the answer to successful project delivery, the OGC has another complementary, more comprehensive set of models to offer as its next step and these are often overlooked - the PRINCE2 Maturity Model (P2MM) and the Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3). These describe the different stages on the journey to project management maturity. These models are elegantly crafted but describe reality through a rather functional and mechanistic lens which disaggregates the task, obscuring the complexity of project delivery in a working environment with real people and real problems.

A more holistic approach to improving project delivery performance would be preferable. An approach where a series of critical success factors such as governance, people and leadership act in concert to deliver results, see Figure 2. This approach requires hard work, dedication and resource placed in these areas but the result is real change, maturing organisational capability and individual development and significantly improved delivery success. There are no short cuts.

Figure 2 Holistic Approach to Project Delivery

Like the Grand Prix winner, if you want the big prize, then all the elements need to be in place and play their part. And if you come last, the fact that your driver followed the supposed winning formula, counts for nothing.

© 2011 Moorhouse.