2 : Principles

Question 1

What does the following statement mean: “PRINCE2 is principle based”?

Answer 1

This means that each PRINCE2 project should include the 7 principles and even if just one of the principles is missing, it can still be a project but it cannot be considered a PRINCE2 Project.

Question 2

What are the Prince2 Principles?

Answer 2

The 7 principles are:

1. Continue business justification – business case must exist throughout the project.
2. Learn from experience – learn from lessons.
3. Defined roles and responsibilities – everyone knows what is expected from them.
4. Manage by stages – break projects into stages – easier to manage.
5. Manage by exception – Allows the level below to get on with their work and inform above level if work will go out of tolerance.
6. Focus on products – be clear and specific from the beginning of the project of what the project will deliver – so all stakeholders know what to expect from the project.
7. Tailor to suit the project environment – don’t overload your projects with unnecessary administration.

Question 3

Which principle deals with the business reasons behind the project?

Answer 3

This principle is Continued Business Justification.

Question 4

What does Continued Business Justification mean?

Answer 4

Continued business justification is a project principle.

• Justifies the reason for starting the project
• Reason is documented (in the business case)
• Justification is reviewed throughout the project
• Justification could be a business plan in the early stages
• The documented justification ensures the project continues to deliver outputs

The business justification drives the decision making process.

Even in cases where the justification is legislated (and required) the busines case ensures Value for Money.

Question 5

Where is the Business Justification for a project documented?

Answer 5

In the Business Case document, this document is created in the Initiation Stage and it becomes part of the Project Initiation Documentation.

Question 6

What is a Premature Close?

Answer 6

When the Project Board instructs the Project Manager to close this project because the business justification is no longer valid.

Question 7

What does the principle Continued Business Justification prevent at the start of a project?

Answer 7

This principle prevents projects that have few real benefits for the company from starting.

Question 8

When does the Project Manager check for Business Justification in the project?

Answer 8

The business justification is checked throughout the lifetime of the project. This is done first at the start of the project to make sure the project is worth doing and then at the end of every stage. The end of every stage is a good time as the Project Manager provides the End Stage Report, overview of Risk and information that affects the business case to the Project Board.

Question 9

What is the name of the principle that deals with Lessons Learned?

Answer 9

Learn from Experience. So learn from previous projects and other information that is available.

Question 10

What is Learn from Experience?

Answer 10

Learn from experience is a project principle.

Even though projects are unique, lessons can be learnt from participants prior experiences, or from similar projects. This learning should happen throughout the project.

Lessons are recorded in the lessons log.

What is a lesson? “do this…” or “don’t do this”.

Question 11

Who should learn from experience?

Answer 11

PRINCE2 says that all stakeholders should take the initiative to seek lessons learned. This will help to decrease the unknowns and provide more information on risks. So it is not just up to the Project Manager but all the stakeholders.

Question 12

Who has the responsibility to seek lessons learned?

Answer 12

PRINCE2 states that seeking lessons learned is a responsibility for everybody involved in the project.

Question 13

How can you learn from experience if there were no similar projects within their organization?

Answer 13

They should then look for outside help, e.g.: consulting, reports, trade information, visit other companies that may have done similar projects, etc…

Question 14

What are the three phases of lessons learnt (and what happens in each?)

Answer 14

Lesson Learned covers the complete lifecycle of the Project. There are 3 phases for lessons:

1. Starting Up a Project, Looking outside for useful Lessons Learned and the Project Manager adds them to the Lessons Log
2. During the Project: identify new lessons learned to the Lesson Log
3. At Project Close: you can pass on lessons to the next project in the Lesson Report

Question 15

What is the name of the principle that deals with Roles & Responsibilities?

Answer 15

The principle name is “Defined Roles & Responsibilities”.

Question 16

What are Defined roles and responsibilities?

Answer 16

Defined roles and responsibilities is a project principle.

It answers the question “What is expected from me” or “What is expected from everybody in the project”. Everyone connected to the project should know their role and this should be decided at the start of the project.

Question 17

Who are stakeholders?

Answer 17

Those who have an interest in the project, are affected by it, or can affect the project.

Question 18

Who are the three primary stakeholders?

Answer 18

1. Business Sponsors
2. Users
3. Suppliers

These stakeholders should be represented in the Project Board.

Question 19

Who are Business Sponsors (and what do they do)?

Answer 19

The Business Sponsors are a project stakeholder. They:

1. Endorse the objectives
2. Ensure the project provides return on investment.

Question 20

Who are Users (and what do they do)?

Answer 20

Users are those who will use the products once created, so they receive the benefits or they represent the people who will use the products.

Throughout the project, their main concern is “Can the product be delivered as expected and will it usable?”

Question 21

Who are suppliers (and what do they do)?

Answer 21

Suppliers provide the resources and expertise to the project and produce the products. Their main concern throughout the project is “Can it be done as expected?”

Question 22

What three interests should be represented in the Project Board?

Answer 22

The business, user and supplier interests must be represented in the Project Board. The business interests are represented by the Executive; the Senior User represents the users’ interests and the Senior Suppler represents the supplier interests.

Question 23

What is a project structure?

Answer 23

All stakeholders and interests should be represented in the project structure which explains how the parties work together.

Question 24

What is the name of the principle that deals with Milestones?

Answer 24

Manage by Stages” Stages allow the project to be broken up into different parts which can be managed separately.

Question 25

Why are stages referred to as Management Stages?

Answer 25

They are referred to as Management Stages as they are separated by management decision points. At the end of the each stage, the Project Board reviews the previous stage and must give permission for the next stage to begin.

Question 26

What is manage by stages?

Answer 26

Manage by stages is a project principle.

On a Prince2 project work is broken down in the chunks called “Management stages”.

Do a little work, then review, do a little more work, then review…

Question 27

A PRINCE2 Project is planned, monitored and controlled on a…?

Answer 27

A PRINCE2 Project is planned, monitored and controlled on a stage-by-stage basis.

Question 28

What is a management stage?

Answer 28

The section of a project the project manager is managing on behalf of the project board at any one time.

Question 29

How many stages should a Prince2 project have?

Answer 29

At mininum: Initiation, and the rest of the project.

The number of stages depend on: Risk, Orgaanisaational standards & polices, required decision points.

More stages = more control, but more effort by the project board.

Question 30

What is the minimum number of stages in a Prince2 project?

Answer 30

There is a minimum of 2 management stages in a project; the Initiation Stage and one further management stage. You may ask, “What about the Closing a Project Process?” The Closing a Project Process is last part of the last stage.

Question 31

What does the Project Board does at the end of each management stage?

Answer 31

At the end of each stage, the Project Board assess the performance of the last stage, assess business case, assess the project plan for next stage and decides whether to proceed with the next stage.

Question 32

What are the 5 benefits to managing a project in stages?

Answer 32

1. Making sure the project is properly intiated before work starts
2. Given the project board the opportunity to assess the project’s viability at defined intervals
3. Making sure key decisions are made before the work starts
4. Clarifying the impact of external influences on the project before the go-ahead is given
5. Delegating authority to the project manager on a stage by stage basis (enables management by exception

Question 33

Does PRINCE2 advise to have a detailed Project Plan and a detailed Stage plan for the current stage?

Answer 33

PRINCE2 advises to have a high level Project Plan for the whole project and then a very detailed plan for the current stage.

Question 34

What is Manage by Exception?

Answer 34

Manage by exception is a project principle.

It means that authority to work within specified limits is delgated through the project team structure.

These limits are known as tolerances.

The Project Manager has some tolerance when it comes to the project variables such as time, cost and scope before they have to advise the project board that there is or will be a problem. So if a small problem arises they can deal with it and they don’t have to bother the project board for every minor issue.
The Project Manager will only have to bother the management layer above (which is the project board), if an issue goes outside their tolerance level for time, cost, scope, etc. This out of tolerance is called an exception. Hence the term Manage by Exception, as the layer above manage the layer below by exception.

Question 35

What performance aspects can have tolerances set for on a Prince2 project?

Answer 35

The 6 tolerances that can be set are:

1. Time—e.g. +/- one month
2. Cost—e.g. +/- $50k
3. Quality—e.g. +/- 10 defects per 1000 units
4. Scope—e.g. mandatory vs desirable outputs
5. Benefit—e.g. +/- 3 mins gained per service
6. Risk.—e.g. +/- $50k on projected benefit

Also know as the project variables.

Question 36

What principle in PRINCE2 provides the above management layer with a system to manage and control and don’t need to be annoy by each small issue.

Answer 36

Manage By Exception.

Question 37

What principle in PRINCE2 relates to the definition of the project product?

Answer 37

Focus on products.

Question 38

What does a project deliver?

Answer 38

A project delivers products.

Also known as outputs or deliverables.

Question 39

What is the benefit of focusing on products?

Answer 39

• Ensures that the project only undertakes work that directly contributes to the delivery of a product
• Helps manage uncontrolled change by ensuring that all changes are reviewed before being accepted
• Reduces the risk of user complaints and disputes by establishing the deliverbes at the start of the project

Question 40

What is a product?

Answer 40

A product is an input or output, whether tangible or intangible, that can be descrbed in advance, created, and tested.

Prince2 uses product descriptions to clearly define the product.

Question 41

What types of products are there?

Answer 41

1. Management products—the documents required and created to manage the project
2. Specialist products—the things created by the project to satisfy the business need

Question 42

What would happen if there is a poor product description of the product?

Answer 42

There are many things can happen such as all stakeholders can have different ideas of what the product should be. This can cause many unnecessary meetings, time delays, unnecessary new requirements, additional costs and even an unusable end product being produced.

Question 43

What advantages do good Product Descriptions have?

Answer 43

Product descriptions affect the whole project, from planning, as you can better identify the requirements, dependencies and activities, to all other processes and themes. Product descriptions are beacons, or reference points for the whole project. They can be used by all stakeholders when discussing the products during the project.

Question 44

What does “Tailor to suit Project Environment” mean?

Answer 44

To get the most of the PRINCE2, you should only use parts of the PRINCE2 necessary to support your project.

The purpose of tailoring is to ensure the PM methods are appropriate to the size of the project, and the project controls are appropriate to the project’s complexity, importance, team capacity, and risk.

Different projects require different amounts of management effort.

Question 45

Can PRINCE2 be applied to any type and size of project?

Answer 45

Yes. A comment I hear often is the following, “Our projects are small and don’t need a Project Management method.” Many people say this as they believe that there is a need to do a mountain of admin paperwork for a 1 to 2 month project, which of course is incorrect.

Question 46

In which document should it be described how the PRINCE2 method is tailored for that particular project?

Answer 46

The Project Initiation documentation. In fact, this is one of the points that the Project Board should check at the start of the project.

Question 47

Who is responsible for tailoring?

Answer 47

The Project manager is responsible for identifying the level of tailoring (decide which aspects of Prince2 are most appropriate). The PM documents the tailoring approach in the PID (Product Initiation Document).

The project board approves the PID (and the level of tailoring).

The project management and the project board may be advised by Project assurance.

Question 48

What happens if Prince2 isn’t tailored well?

Answer 48

Failure to tailor Prince2 appropriately can result it:

• Mechanistic Project management (where everything is too beaurcratic)
• Heroic Project management (where everything is too uncontrolled

Question 49

Why should you tailor Prince2?

Answer 49

To provide the appropriate levels of control and governance without it becoming overly bureaucratic and time consuming.

Prince2 should help not hinder the project management team.

Question 50

How do you tailor Prince2?

Answer 50

• Consider each element and decide to use as is, adapt, or not use at all
• Consider the implications of the proposed tailoring

Question 51

What can be tailored in Prince2? (and how?)

Answer 51

• Processes—combining, addding, or removing activities
• Themes—adapt to match sector / environment
• Roles—combined or split (as long as lines of accountability are maintained)
• Product descriptions—combined, split, or formal or informal
• Terminology—use your own terms

Question 52

What does effective tailoring require?

Answer 52

Experience, skill and judgement.

Question 53

Who supportings the tailoring?

Answer 53

• May recieve advice from Project Assurance
• Project Support functions (PMOs) may offer advice
• Team managers may propose tailoring actions.