Tailoring Prince 2 Processes

Question 1

List the Prince2 processes to be Tailored Agile

Answer 1

• Agile & Prince 2 Processes
• Directing a project (IP)
• Starting Up a Project (SU)
• Initiating a project (IP)
• Controlling a stage (CS)
• Managing Product Delivery (MPD)
• Managing a Stage Boundary (SB)
• Closing a project (CP)

Question 2

In Prince2 Agile how might “Directing a Project” look

Answer 2

• Pulling information rather than having it delivered: Highlight Reports, Sprint Reviews
• Collaboration: Trusting & absence of blame culture

Question 3

In Agile, the project board should be aware of what style of leadership the delivery Team prefers?

Answer 3

Led and coached rather than managed

Question 4

What can be done if there is Agile immaturity in the Project Board?

Answer 4

• Education and training
• They need to made aware that mistakes made by the Agile team are steps towards the end goal and shouldn’t be shocked

Question 5

In Prince2 Agile, explain Sprint Zero.

Answer 5

• The delivery team is involved within the IP/SU phase
• Via workshops: Planning working methods, taking high level requirements and breaking them down for Sprint 1 through emergence, visioning, chartering.

Question 6

In Scrum who is most likely wanting to communicate with the customer?

Answer 6

• Usually it’s the Product Owner rather than the delivery team

Question 7

What two stages maybe combined in Prince2 Agile?

Answer 7

Initiating and Start-Up Stages

Question 8

Within the Start-Up and Initiating a Project stages what are the actions required in tailoring Prince2 and Agile?

Answer 8

• Assess the level of uncertainty: Cynefin
• Define things at the right level:
- Outputs, outcomes, benefits
- Project Product Description (detail to emerge over time instead)
- High-level requirements

• Define things in the right way
- Enable Agile to work easier (eg. outcome focused)

• Set the project up in an appropriate manner
- Integrating with Agile teams (Role names)
- Impact of frequent releases of products to enable and provide benefits. Make PB aware of prioritisation

Question 9

Explain the 5 Stages of the Cynefin Framework

Answer 9

1. Obvious (BAU, tightly constrained, no freedom, best practice: Sense-categorise-respond) [KNOWN KNOWNS]
2. Complicated (Governing constraints, tightly coupled, good practice: sense-analyse-respond) [KNOWN UNKNOWNS]
3. Complex (Enabling constraints, loosely coupled, emergent practice: probe-sense-respond) [UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS]
4. Chaotic (lacking constraint, de-coupled, novel practice: act-sense-respond) [NO IDEA - MUCH UNCERTAINTY]
5. Disorder

Question 10

How may the SU & IP stages look with Prince2 Agile mix?

Answer 10

• The use of workshops (mingle, new meets, presentation of business case, input from PM & PB, more visual than formal reports)

• More informal control and communication

Question 11

What may we find in “Controlling a Stage” in regards to the Tailoring of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 11

• Stages may not exist as described in Prince2
• Container timeboxes eg. releases
• PM absorbs the TM role, attends daily Scrum instead of checkpoint reports, PM could possibly introduce daily scrum/stand up meeting with PB)
- If project governance still requires a report at delivery level, the PM still needs to create a checkpoint report (Done by PM or delegated to team)
• Scrum of scrums

Question 12

How can daily scrums be managed by the PM when there are multiple Scrum teams?

Answer 12

• Ask the teams to stagger their Scrum meetings
• Scrum of scrums:
- Usually Scrum Masters from each team attend

• Care needs to be taken that the attendee doesn’t begin act like a TM

Question 13

What are the considerations within a Scrum of scrums?

Answer 13

• Team accomplishments since last meeting?
• Problems that had negative team effects?
• Next accomplishments before next meeting?
• Your team outputs in future sprints possibly interfering with other teams?
• Interference from other teams to yours?

Question 14

Within “Controlling a Stage” what are the actions needed for Prince2 and Agile implementation?

Answer 14

• Plan around features
• Create flexible work packages for:
- Easier Management by Exception
- Empower team Self-organisation
- Enable rich communication

• Control focuses on what is being delivered:
- Scope
- Quality Criteria

• Monitor Agile risks
- P2: Risk M Appr 》Risk Register
- Agile: Risks shown more visually and addressed at daily scrum. Showing who needs to be informed.

Question 15

How might “Controlling a Stage” look with the Tailoring of Prince2 and Agile?

Answer 15

• Collaborative
• Visual: Info rads, stand-up meetings, demos/sprint review)
• Empirical
• Inspect and adapt (tests)

Question 16

Summarise the importance of “Frequent Releases”

Answer 16

Important when using Agile:

Advantages:
• Early delivery of benefit
• Allows for feedback
• Reduces risk (wrong product)
• Confidence in project progress
• Fosters stakeholder engagement
• Easier releasing

■ Release may not go into operational environment

Question 17

What are the considerations with Frequent Releases?

Answer 17

• Project/Stage Plans: Show release dates & features

• Release planning to consider different views:
- PB: Establish stage boundaries
- Early benefits may need to fund future project parts
- Enabling a product to fail fast if it has to fail
- Products delivered too quickly

• Releasing into operational use is best, otherwise use of a staging area

Question 18

What do you find in “Managing Product Delivery” in the tailoring of Prince2 and Agile?

Answer 18

• Strong focus in MPD & product delivery practices
• Scrum manages product delivery
• Kanban can also be used

Question 19

How is the choice of Agile within Managing Product Delivery made?

Answer 19

Between the PM and the PB

Question 20

What are the actions required in Managing Product Delivery for the tailoring of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 20

• Vital interface/link to be managed (Enable progress checking by PM/PB)
• Use of work packages appropriately
• Define tolerances of deliverables at work package level
• Ensure product descriptions are defined at the right level
• Agree and/or give guidance or areas like quality, releases and risk

Question 21

How might the tailoring of Prince2 Agile look in terms of Managing Product Delivery?

Answer 21

• Work packages are collaboratively defined (PM to include input from delivery team during Initiation St)
• Reporting arrangements have appropriate level of formality & transparency (Is a long report necessary?)
• The wider project context is understood

Question 22

What may you find in the process of “Managing a Stage Boundary” during the tailoring of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 22

• Stages may not exist as described in P2
• Viability decisions not usually planned in advance
• Similarity between a stage and a release (where a release is a container box)
• How are things progressing
• How are the team and processes working

Question 23

When tailoring Prince2 Agile how might the process “Managing a Stage Boundary” look?

Answer 23

• Many similarities to “Controlling a Stage)
- Visual
- Empirical/experimental
- Inspect and Adapt (PB sees more progress first hand)

• A point of formality carried out with as little ceremony as possible

Question 24

What are the considerations required when “Managing a Stage Boundary” during the tailoring of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 24

• Assess how much is being delivered
• Assess quality of deliverables
• What benefits have been realised?
• Is Agile being used appropriately?
• Do the processes need improvement

Question 25

What’s the general goal of retrospectives?

Answer 25

Continuous development

Question 26

When tailoring Prince2 Agile, what may we find in the process of “Closing a Project”?

Answer 26

• Due to frequent releases there won’t be a grand unveiling at the end
• Defined processes may only exist in mature Agile environments
• Regular handovers resulted in activities becoming second nature

Question 27

When tailoring Prince2 Agile, what are the required actions of “Closing a project”?

Answer 27

• Check against original baseline
• Evaluate use of Agile
• Ensure formality of User Acceptance is appropriate
• Finalise documentation that has been created iteratively and incrementally

Question 28

How might “Closing a project” look during the tailoring of Prince2 Agile?

Answer 28

• Use of a workshop
• Benefits are already being delivered
• Majority of info has already been completed

Question 29

List the Agile artefacts involved within the Prince2 processes.

Answer 29

DP - N/A
SU - Vision & Product Roadmap
IP - Product Backlog
CS/SB - Releases, Release Backlog, Release Retrospective
MPD - Sprint(s), Sprint Backlog, Sprint Review & Sprint Retrospective
CP - Project Retrospective