PRINCE2™ For Dummies®, 2nd Edition
Table of Contents
Part I: How PRINCE2 Can Help You
Part II: Working Through Your Project
Part III: Help with PRINCE2 Project Management
Part I: How PRINCE2 Can Help You
Chapter 1: So What’s a Project Method and Why Do I Need to Use One?
Getting the Low-Down on PRINCE2
Giving You Some Facts about Projects
Fact 1: A lot of projects go wrong
Fact 2: We know why projects go wrong
Fact 3: We know good ways of preventing a lot of those things
Fact 4: PRINCE2 is free to use
Making Your Life Easier with PRINCE2
Clearing Up Some Misunderstandings about PRINCE2
Chapter 2: Outlining the Structure of PRINCE2
Getting to Know the Process Model
Shutting down: Closing a Project
Working in Line with the Principles
Appreciating the Six Control Variables
The environment of a PRINCE2 project
Chapter 3: Getting Real Power from PRINCE2
Remembering that PRINCE2 Is a Tool
Adjusting the degree to which you do activities
Altering the sequence of activities within a PRINCE2 process
Shifting activities between processes
Using PRINCE2 in a hurry – parallel initiation
Running the project without a project plan, just stage plans
Fitting PRINCE2 to the Project
Taking It Seriously: Being Professional
Part II: Working Through Your Project
Chapter 4: Checking the Idea Before You Start
Understanding ‘Starting Up a Project’
Seeing Why You Really Need Start Up
Starting Up Start Up – a Mandate
Appointing the first two key people
Appointing more Project Board roles
Deciding on the remaining roles
Learning Lessons from the Past
Checking the Project’s Viability
Writing the Outline Business Case
Checking the Approach and Writing the Project Brief
Thinking through the Project Approach
Getting it together with the brief
Planning the Planning: Initiation
Deciding to Plan in Detail – or Not
Chapter 5: Planning the Whole Project: Initiation
Getting to Grips with Initiating a Project
Understanding Why You Need Plans
Thinking about risk management
Thinking about quality management
Thinking about Configuration Management
Breaking the project into blocks
Building the full Business Case
Planning the measurement of benefits
Preparing for the First Delivery Stage
Fitting PRINCE2 to the Project
Writing the Extra Bits of the PID
Looking at How You Use the PID
Asking the Project Board to commit to the whole project
Chapter 6: Preparing for a Stage in the Project
Understanding the Process of ‘Managing a Stage Boundary’
Providing Key Information at End Stage
Stage planning in Start Up and Initiation
More about exceptions and stages
Using product planning in more detail
Preparing the Product Checklist
Updating the Project Management Team
Updating Project Documents and Plans
Asking for Sign-Off and Authority to Proceed with the Next Stage
Chapter 7: Controlling a Stage
Understanding the Process Controlling a Stage
Controlling the Flow of Work to Teams
Monitoring and Progress Reporting
Correcting a Stage or Reporting an Exception
Chapter 8: Building the Deliverables
Understanding the Process Managing Product Delivery
Building the Work Package Products
Chapter 9: Finishing the Project
Making sure that you’ve done everything
Checking for sign-offs and acceptances
Handing Over the Final Product(s)
Checking the working environment
Reviewing How the Project Went
Recording the follow-on actions
Writing the End Project Report
Closing down the logs and registers
Chapter 10: Running Effective Project Boards
Introducing the Process Directing a Project
Understanding Five Key Responsibilities for the Project Board
Taking ownership of the project
Taking Individual Responsibility
Business viewpoint – the Executive
User viewpoint – the Senior User(s)
Supplier viewpoint – the Senior Supplier(s)
Making decisions without stepping over the line
Listening to the Project Manager
Setting Project Manager authority levels
Deciding on the management stages
Fixing the level of risk acceptance
Determining highlight reporting
Sorting out project and quality assurance
Getting Involved at Specific Points
Getting involved during a delivery stage
Part III: Help with PRINCE2 Project Management
Chapter 11: Producing and Updating the Business Case
Understanding Two Key Documents
Knowing Who’s Responsible for the Business Case
Keeping It Current: A ‘Living Document’
Getting Help When It Gets Complicated
Dealing with Organisational Finance
Setting down best case and worst case
Checking If a Benefit Really Is a Benefit
Being Sure That You Can Deliver
Not claiming benefits that don’t exist
Avoiding benefits contamination
Actually Measuring Benefits Delivery
Measuring during the project, at the end of the project and after the project
Understanding the responsibilities
Chapter 12: Deciding Roles and Responsibilities
Getting the Right People Involved
Understanding PRINCE2 Management
Sticking to small Project Boards
Seeing the project from three viewpoints
Viewing the Project Board as central
Keeping the Project Organisation stable
Structuring the Organisation of PRINCE2
The PRINCE2 Project Management Team
Understanding the three Project Board roles
Knowing that Project Assurance isn’t optional
Deciding how to do Project Assurance
Working with, and not against, the Project Manager
Understanding Organisational Assurance
Changing Things – Board Authority
Getting to Know the Project Manager
Knowing How Project Support Helps
Chapter 13: Managing Project Quality
Product Planning with Quality Built In
Taking Quality Seriously, Very Seriously
Delivering appropriate quality
Specifying Criteria for Project Acceptance
Writing a Quality Management Strategy
Planning Stage- (and Team-) Level Quality
Controlling and Auditing Quality
Auditing and the Quality Register
Checking Products with Quality Review
Finding, not correcting, errors
Signing off – the three options
Chapter 14: Planning the Project, Stages and Work Packages
Considering organisational requirements
Looking at the planning problem
Focusing first on what you must produce
Identifying products in the project
Using the Product Flow Diagram
Giving the product list some structure
Moving On to Activity Planning
Activity networking and precedence networks
Activities and resource levelling
Adding explanations for those who read the plan
Chapter 15: Managing Project Risk
Starting with the Basics: What Is Risk?
Deciding your strategy for handling risk
Understanding the sections of the strategy
Managing Risk with the Risk Procedure
Making the ‘before or after’ decision
Planning how to deal with a risk
Implementing the Risk Responses
Actually taking the planned action
Communicating Information About Risk
Registering a Risk . . . or Not
Safely Leaving Out Risk Management
Chapter 16: Controlling Change and Versions
Allowing Change, but Not Scope Creep
General Issue or ‘Problem/concern’
Step 5 – implementing any work
Understanding Authority Levels
Controlling Versions – Configuration Management
Writing the Configuration Management Strategy
Keeping CM Information on Products
Seeing that CM Is a Different Control
Chapter 17: Monitoring Progress and Setting Up Effective Controls
Controlling at Different Levels
Reporting: Time-Driven Controls
Using the Event-Driven Controls
Controlling the project with stages
Making decisions at four key points
Ordering Project Closure at Any Time
Specifying the Limits: Tolerances
Guarding against wishful thinking – tolerance lines
Outlining the six types of tolerance
Reporting Projections Outside of Tolerance: Exception
Using Tolerance at Different Levels
Monitoring Progress and Controlling Projects
Controlling teams with Work Packages
Measuring progress with the Product Checklist
Avoiding ‘percentage complete’
Looking for Financial Controls
Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Make PRINCE2 Work Well
Staying Flexible – Using PRINCE2 Differently
Keeping the Documentation Down
Implementing Project Assurance
Actually Doing the Benefit Reviews
Chapter 19: Ten Tips for a Good Business Case
Measuring Benefits – Wherever You Can
Understanding that Some Projects Don’t Have Benefits
Reviewing the Business Case Regularly
Aligning the Business Case with Corporate Requirements
Updating the Business Case During Stages
Thinking ‘Business Case’ in Issue Handling
Chapter 20: Ten Things for Successful Project Assurance
Being Flexible about Assurance
Separating Assurance and Support
Being Careful When Using Other Project Managers
Getting Project Board Ownership
Being Clear on What You’re Assuring