PRINCE2 Practitioner Agile

Question 1

What is a project and what are the five characteristics of a project?

Answer 1

A project is a temporary, flexible organisation that introduces change. It can be independent or within a larger programme of work. A business has to balance new projects with BAU operations. A project has five characteristics:

1. Temporary
2. Handles uncertainty
3. Implements change
4. Cross-functional
5. Unique

Question 2

What are the integrated elements of PRINCE2 and how do they relate to one another?

Answer 2

Environment, process, themes, principles.

Principles guide best practice. The themes are the areas the principles can be practised. The processes are a stepwise flow of actions, and the environment is the context in which the project exists in.

Question 3

What are the four management levels in a PRINCE2 project and the roles of each?

Answer 3

Corporate / Programme Management - provide Project Mandate, responsible for project finances and have final say on all decisions

Project Board (Project Executive, Senior User, Senior Supplier) - consists of the primary stakeholders from each respective party. Responsible for Project Assurance, progressing at state boundaries, delivering the project on time, within spec, and at the agreed cost and quality, change management. They are NOT responsible for day-tp-day running of the project.

Project Manager - responsible for day-to-day running of the project, change management (within tolerances set by the PB), and managing the Team Manager.

Team Manager - Optional role. PM delegates delivery of a smaller work package to the TM. Also responsible;e for quality checks and reporting and handling risks (within tolerances).

Question 4

What should a good PB have?

Answer 4

Authority, credibility, capacity, ability to delegate

Question 5

What are the three PM support roles and what are their responsibilities?

Answer 5

Project Assurance - role appointed by the PB (who are responsible for PA) and sits outside of the PM team. Responsible fo ensuring processes are implemented properly, quality f product, and each role is performed properly. Reports directly back to the PB.

Change Authority - Individual(s) appointed b the PB to authorisae changes to the timeline and scope of the project (they are the delegated authority). CA responsibility can be absorbed by any PM team role including the PM.

Project Support - administrative support for the PM team

Question 6

What is a PM framework?

Answer 6

A project management framework is a structured approach that provides the foundational guidelines, principles, and practices for managing a project. It outlines the phases, processes, and tools that can be applied to a project but does not dictate how to execute the project in detail.

Question 7

What is a PM methodology?

Answer 7

A project management methodology is a specific, prescriptive approach to managing a project that includes defined steps, processes, and practices within a framework. It details how to accomplish the work within the framework, often with specific roles, responsibilities, and deliverables.

Question 8

What is the overall goal of the DP process and what principle does it support?

Answer 8

The Directing a Project (DP) process enables the PB to remain responsible for the project, ensure continued business justification and exercise overall control, whilst delegating day-to-day managing and non-critical decisions to less senior employees (manage by exception).

Question 9

What are the four objectives of the DP process?

Answer 9

The four objectives of the DP stage are:

1. Ensure there is proper authority to initiate, lead and close a project
2. Deliver the project products
3. Ensure project direction and controls are managed
4. Review post-project benefits of product

Question 10

When does the Directing a Project (DP) process start?

Answer 10

The Directing a Project (DP) process starts when the PB approves the Project Brief at the end of SU and continues until project closure.

Question 11

What are the four points DP interacts with the project?

Answer 11

1. Authorising Project Initiation (at the stage boundary of the SU and IP processes)
2. Authorising a Stage Boundary or Exception Plan
3. Authorising Project Closure (APC)
4. Ad Hoc Guidance

Question 12

When does “Authorising Project Initiation” occur?

Answer 12

At the stage boundary of the SU and IP processes

Question 13

When does “Authorising a Stage Boundary or Exception Plan” occur?

Answer 13

A project can only move from one stage to the next with approval from the PB. At the end of each stage, the PB reviews the performance of the project against the BC, assesses CBJ and plans the next stage before making their decision.

During a stage, if the project deviates outside of the tolerances set by the PB, the PM must submit an Exception Report to the PB. This triggers the Stage Boundary process.

Question 14

When does “Authorising Project Closure (APC)” occur?

Answer 14

Normally occurs at the end of a project, but can occur sooner if approved by the PB.

APC is the last activity undertaken by the PB. It may require endorsement from C/P.

Question 15

When does “Ad-hoc Direction” occur and what are the five formats?

Answer 15

The PB may give informal advice to the PM team at any time, particularly during IP and at SB’s, in many formats:

• Informal request - seek advice from the C /P and assist the PM
• Escalated Issue Report - make decisions that fall within tolerances, but escalate to C/P if needed
• Exception Report - Change to a key area of the project. Seek advice from C/P if necessary. Approve or decline the change, or terminate the project
• Highlight report - Review project to ensure it is within specification and on-time, and report back to the C/P
• General advice - Keep the PM informed of any relevant changes that may impact the project

The PM is responsible for deciding whether to escalate information to the PB.

Question 16

What are the differences between PRINCE2 Agile and pure PRINCE2 related to the DP process?

Answer 16

1. In PRINCE2, the PB receive information from the PM via reports. In PRINCE2 Agile, there is less reporting and the PB is encouraged to check the information themselves via Information Radiators (e.g. Jira boards, joining daily stand-ups).
2. One can still have standard documentation and some PRINCE2 documentation is still needed, but one principle of the Agile manifesto “working software” and “customer collaboration” over “documentation”.
3. Agile very much leans into the PRINCE2 principle of “Manage by Exception”. Teams and leadership with low Agile experience need to understand that features can be dropped to stick to time and cost.

Question 17

What is an important consideration for PRINCE2 Agile related to the DP process?

Answer 17

It is important to set expectations on product delivery at the start.

Question 18

What is a timebox?

Answer 18

Finite period of time with a hard deadline, in wich the team works towards a set goal. Time should not be changed the the work contained within should be prioritised and pushed to keep to the time restraint,

Question 19

What are the use cases for PRINCE2 and Agile

Answer 19

PRINCE2 is exclusively for projects and must be managed by a PM.

Agile is to manage BAU.

A lot of Agile principles and concepts can be brought into PRINCE2.

Question 20

What are the four points of the Agile Manifesto?

Answer 20

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

Question 21

What is Agile?

Answer 21

Agile is a set of related frameworks, concepts, techniques, and behaviours. It was a presented as an alternative to Waterfakll which was documentation heavy and not good at handling change.

Agile can be an iterative and timeboxed approach to delivery, a group of management products and check-ins (ways of working), or a set methodology (Scrum, Kanban, XP)

Question 22

What is a release?

Answer 22

A set of features, fixes, or improvements that are built, managed, tested, and released to the production environment together.

The term “Deployment” can also be used interchangeably, but not in PRINCE” Agile.

Question 23

What is flow-based working?

Answer 23

Way of working that does not rely on putting work into timeboxes, but instead pulling from the backlog when needed

Question 24

Describe the Agile DevOps way of working.

Answer 24

Collaborative approach that brings Development and Operations as close together as possible, ideally in the same team.

Question 25

Describe the Agile Kanban way of working.

Answer 25

A methodology that allows backlog and sprint visualisation and active management and limitation of WIP via the use of columns.

Question 26

Describe the Agile Scrum way of working.

Answer 26

Iterative, timeboxed methodology of product delivery.

Question 27

Describe the Agile Lean way of working.

Answer 27

An approach that focuses on efficiency, reducing waste, and maximising value through process streamlining.

Question 28

Describe the Agile Lean Start-Up way of working.

Answer 28

Agile-based approach to setting up a team or a company.

Question 29

Describe the SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) framework

Answer 29

Large-scale application of Agile across an organisation, or within a large or complex project.

Question 30

Why can’t DSDM or Agile PM be used inside of PRINCE2?

Answer 30

Because DSDM / AgilePM is already a framework.

Question 31

What are the Agile behaviours?

What is another name for “behaviours”?

Answer 31

Being collaborative, self-organising, customer-focused, empowered, trusting and not blaming.

Principles, values, mindset

Question 32

What are the Agile concepts?

What is another name for “behaviours”?

Answer 32

Prioritising what is being delivered, working iteratively and incredementally, not delivering everything at the expense of time, time-focused, “inspect and adapt”, Kaizen, liming work in progress

Fundamentals

Question 33

What are the Agile techniques?

What is another name for “behaviours”?

Answer 33

Burn charts, user stories, retrospectives, timeboxing, measuring flow

Question 34

What is Agile agnostic and how does this support project delivery?

Answer 34

Agile agnostic refers to the concept that Agile or PRINCE2 Agile does not favour particular concepts, behaviours, or techniques. Those selected should b=e unique to each project and support the particular requirements and demands of the project.

Question 35

How do PRINCE2 and Agile complement each other?

Answer 35

PRINCE2 provides a framework to run the project and details good project documentation, but does not speciify how to deliver the project on a day-to-day basis.

Agile does not have the wider perspective of the entire project, but does guide best practise and day-to-day delivery of the project.

It is a blending rather than the two systems working in parallel.

Every working on a PRINCE2 Agile project must embrace Agile behaviours, concepts and techniques, and also stick to PRINCE2’s principles and processes

Question 36

What are the five considerations one needs to make in a PRINCE2 Agile project?

Answer 36

1. PRINCE2 7 is built to be compatible with Agile. Tailoring a PRINCE2 Agile project should not involve removing or adding core elements from the framework and methodology, but emphasising and de-emphasising certain aspects.
2. PRINCE2 has a reputation for being bureaucratic and documentation-heavy. This reputation should not influence of PRINCE2 Agile as being able to handle levels of informality and fast-moving projects.
3. PRINCE2 and Agile methodologies / approaches were developed in an IT setting, but it can be used in any industry
4. Scrum and Kanban are the most widely-used Agile methodologies. They do not specify the role of a PM and are insufficient to manage the whole project (just day-to-day delivery). They need to be employed within a PRINCE2 (or similar) framework.
5. The degree of Agile integration into a team or project is a variable scale and not an all-or-nothing status