Appreciating the Two Product ‘Flavours’

In the previous point, I said to forget all about the PRINCE2 project management stuff for the time being. Well, now it’s time to remember it again, because PRINCE2 recognises two categories of product. The products being built by the teams are known as specialist products. You need to get familiar with the PRINCE2 language for the exams, but if you’re struggling to get your head around the idea of products, it may help at first to think of specialist products as deliverables, if you’re more familiar with that term.

What the teams are building is extremely important, but for the project to be successful you’re also going to need some things for planning and control. You’ll require things such as a Risk Register, a Project Plan and a Daily Log. These things are also products, but ones that are being used for project management. For that reason they’re known as management products. Knowing whether something is a management product is dead easy, because all the management products are covered in Appendix A of the manual. So, brick walls, computer programs, new office designs and installed machines are all specialist products – things being produced by the teams – while the Project Initiation Documentation (PID), End Project Report, Issue Log and Business Case are all management products.