10 years old!
The ubiquitous project management method, PRINCE2, was 10 years old in October 2006. To celebrate this landmark we are offering discounts on any PRINCE2 Health-checks or PRINCE2 Maturity Assessments booked between October 2006 and September 2007.
A PRINCE2 Health-check is an audit of a single project and covers how well the method is being used on that specific project. It also identifies any weaknesses on the project and will identify corrective actions to improve the ability for the project to meet its objectives. A 20% discount is available off the normal price of £3450 (ex VAT and ex expense).
Our maturity assessments are defined as class A, B and C (Class A is for accreditation assessment, Class B is for a detailed baseline assessment and Class C is for a limited baseline assessment). Class C assessments range from £7,500 to £13,500 depending on the size of the organisation and the scope of the assessment. For October only, a 10% discount is available on these services too.
Please use the contact form on the left to request a call or visit from one of our Registered Consultants.
Three Cheers for PRINCE2!
There are now more than 250,000 PRINCE2 practitioners world-wide, with more than 120 accredited training and consulting organisations providing PRINCE2 support throughout all 7 continents (including Antarctica!). The PRINCE2 manual (on its 4th revision) is available in a number of languages as are the Foundation and Practitioner exams. The network of training companies provides training in 17 languages! There are numerous user groups and internet discussion forums dedicated to PRINCE2. It has become a truly international standard.
While PRINCE2 has many strengths (Focus on Business Case, Staged Approach, Clear Roles, Common terminology) its phenomenal adoption rates are principally due to its accessibility, flexibility, the marketing drive by the APM Group (the accreditation body for PRINCE2), the UK's modernising Government agenda and the increase in the number of PM contractors (for whom a PRINCE2 certificate has become essential in the job market).
Don't Spoil the Party
The PRINCE2 phenomena is dampened by the fact that for every well run project using PRINCE2 there are a number of poorly run projects using PINO (PRINCE In Name Only). Common issues observed with PINO projects are:
- The start-up phase is rushed or missed (the organisation jumps straight to producing a PID)
- Project Boards are not effective (escalations go into a black hole, a resistance to baseline the scope, etc)
- Work Breakdown Structures are preferred to Product Breakdown Structures (but without Product Descriptions, PRINCE2's quality management processes and techniques do not work)
- Tolerances are not set or are limited to time and cost only
- Projects are all single stages (or 'phases' are used to avoid doing an End Stage Review!)
- PIDs are simply a 'cut & paste' from the last project and are therefore not read or followed (shelf-ware)
It is also important to recognise that gaining a PRINCE2 practitioner certificate does not automatically make someone a great project manager. There are numerous soft-skills that good PMs require (such as communication, decision making, problem solving, leadership, facilitation) and there's more to implementing PRINCE2 than sending a waves of people on training courses and producing a few templates.
A Piece of Cake?
The owners of PRINCE2 (The Office of Government Commerce - OGC) have produce a PRINCE2 Maturity Model (P2MM) which describes the infrastructure an organisation should have in order to gain full value from adopting PRINCE2 as a corporate standard. Additionally, the OGC have also produced a Portfolio, Programme and Project Management Maturity Model (P3M3) which describes additional capability required by organisations to ensure that they gained the desired outcomes (benefits) from their project's outputs (deliverables).
If you feel your organisation has PINO projects or is not getting full value from its projects or programmes then try our cost-effective maturity assessments and health-checks to find out how to overcome your inhibitors to better performance. Remember, there's a discount available for all assessments booked in it's 10th year.