Purpose & Context For Combining Prince2 & Agile

Question 1

Why does tailoring Prince2 need to be done carefully?

Answer 1

• It can be over-tailored for P2
- Lose some of the 7 Principles, 7 Processes & 7 Themes

Question 2

Under what process does the PB approve/disapprove management stages

Answer 2

• Under “Directing a Project” not directly under a Stage Boundary

Question 3

How does Prince2 Agile view “Agile”?

Answer 3

A ‘family of behaviours, concepts, frameworks and techniques

Question 4

What are the overall strengths of Prince2 vs Agile?

Answer 4

Prince2: Project Direction & Project Management

Agile: Product Delivery

Question 5

What does Prince2 Agile comprise of?

Answer 5

• Agile Behaviours
• Agile Focus Areas
• Agile Techniques
• Agile Concepts
• Agile Frameworks

Question 6

What are the 8 Guidance Points of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 6

1. Prince2 is enabled for Agile
2. P2 suitable for all projects, contrasted to Agile
3. P2 Agile is for all projects
4. IT only frameworks/techniques mentioned in P2 Agile
5. More to Agile than Scrum
6. Scrum & Kanban commonly used. But not suitable for managing a project in isolation.
7. Agile refers to a family of behaviours, concepts, frameworks and techniques
8. Using Agile is not a yes or no. But how much

Question 7

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point: “1. Prince2 is already enabled for use with Agile

Answer 7

• All P2 references refer to the Edition “2017 Managing Successful Projects with Prince2”
• Only needs tailoring
- Where to put emphasis
- Where to add further levels of detailed guidance
• Nothing needs removing or significantly changing

Question 8

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “2. Prince2 is suitable for any style of project and is not a traditional pm approach as is typically contrasted to Agile”

Answer 8

• P2 can involve many working styles even informal, trusting and collaborative ones
• Not a traditional approach

Question 9

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “3. Prince2 is for all projects not just IT ones”

Answer 9

• Most of Agile comes from IT development
• Can be used in IT but not just

Question 10

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “4. IT only frameworks and techniques are mentioned in P2 but not extensively.

Answer 10

• Most Agile approaches are for IT only eg. Xtreme Programming (XP) or Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)

Question 11

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “5. There is much more to Agile than Scrum framework. Agile is not Scrum”

Answer 11

• Most well known is Scrum
• Scrum can viewed as being Agile, but Agile is not just Scrum

Question 12

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “6. The most commonly used Agile approaches are Scrum and Kanban, but are nor suitable for managing a project in isolation. But can be used in a project context.”

Answer 12

• Scrum and Kanban most commonly used by practitioners
• In the P2 Agile manual “agile” mostly refers to Scrum and Kanban
• Scrum/Kanban can only be used as an approach to delivering products in a wider PM framework

Question 13

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “7. Agile refers to a family of behaviours, concepts, frameworks and techniques “

Answer 13

• Those terms also encapsulate others like methods, principles, values, mindsets and approaches

Question 14

Summarise the P2 Agile Guidance Point “8. Using Agile on a project is not a question of Yes/No but how much.

Answer 14

• Agile not binary
• A question of how much to the given situation
• P2 Agile written with the view that Agile behaviours, concepts, frameworks and techniques can be applied to any project

Question 15

If the all the requirements of a project cannot be completed within the set timeboxes/sprints how can P2 Agile solve this?

Answer 15

• Timeboxes/sprints cannot be extended
• Time/cost are fixed project level tolerances

● Use of prioritisation to drop features
● Benefits, risk and scope maybe altered

Question 16

In regards to “keeping teams stable” in the 5 Targets. How can detrimental effect of changing team members be minimised?

Answer 16

If a part-time member is essential:
• Enforce an attendance schedule to avoid bad perceptions of full-time members. Times and days a week

• Otherwise team dynamics may go backwards from “Norming” to “Storming”

Question 17

In regards to “Accept that the customer doesn’t need everything” within the 5 targets, how is best to approach this?

Answer 17

• Manage the expectations with the customer early:
- Descoping maybe necessary to ensure meeting of deadlines and good quality.

Question 18

What holistic view should be understood with the customer prior to Project in regards to scoping?

Answer 18

• A balance of Prince2 and Agile
• The balance is judged on a case by case basis

■ Does the customer want most of what they asked for at the right level of quality?
Or
■ Everything but something be missed, missing or poor quality (not tested effectively)

Question 19

What term in Prince2 Agile is the equivalent of Quality Criteria in Prince2?

Answer 19

Acceptance Criteria

Question 20

Explain the term “Trading” (swapping)

Answer 20

• Can be used by the project delivery team by replacing one or more requirements/features/user stories with others of the same size/effort
• Can be used in conjuction with Prioritisation.

Question 21

Can new team members be added to the project delivery team if the project falls behind?

Answer 21

• Only if the work is straightforward
• Otherwise it can have detrimental effects. See the 5 Targets: Keep teams stable