How to Sell PRINCE2 to Your Organization

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Management Of Risk Certification

Project management has become an invaluable skill, not just for global organizations but also for startups and even non-profits. In trying to bring about major organizational change there will always be a variety of risks, resources, and stakeholder requirements to consider and organize. If you want to ensure that the benefits of a project outweigh the costs, having a clear project management framework in place is absolutely essential.

Rather than relying on manager experience, it is far more economical to invest in a proven methodology. ‘PRojects IN Controlled Environments 2’ (PRINCE2) is one of the world’s most widely used project management frameworks. It provides a common language that is now recognized across a baffling variety of industries and sectors, with tens of thousands of organizations employing PRINCE2 practitioners the world over.

Crucially, PRINCE2 is flexible enough that it can be applied to virtually any organization or project. It provides a solid yet generic framework, with a list of processes to complete and factors to consider which are relevant regardless of a project’s industry, sector, size, or purpose. Practitioners can always enjoy the control, clarity, and autonomy to ensure that their projects are completed on time and within budget.

But when it comes to project management, PRINCE2 is hardly the only game in town. You may be considering alternatives such as Agile or Managing Successful Programmes (MSP). With that in mind, what are the biggest benefits of PRINCE2, and what should you focus on to sell the framework to your organization?

Proven effectiveness

When asked to invest in a framework, an organization will first want to determine whether it works or not. Luckily, there is no shortage of PRINCE2 case studies to attest to its effectiveness. At this point, the framework has been adopted by over 20,000 organizations across more than 150 countries!

Those who already have project management experience may be hesitant to adopt the PRINCE2 methodology at first. However, even seasoned managers have benefitted from PRINCE2, and many practitioners say that it helps them on a daily basis.

Remember, PRINCE2 is more than just a theory for effective project management. Rather, it is a collection of the shared experience and knowledge of professionals from a variety of industries. Before your pitch, it will be a good idea to search for PRINCE2 practitioners in your own industry to demonstrate its effectiveness and applicability. You may even find that your competitors are already using it!

Flexibility and future-proofing

While the guidance provided by the official PRINCE2 method is well-structured and comprehensive, it is also generic. It outlines a number of vital considerations and tasks, such as defining roles and responsibilities within a project management team, focusing on the business justification for a project, and so on. Any organization can benefit from the PRINCE2 methodology, regardless of its industry, geographic location, workplace culture, or anything else.

Because of this flexibility, PRINCE2 can also be used across multiple projects. As practitioners continue to apply PRINCE2 within the same organization, they can even amend it in order to create a version that better suits their own bespoke risks and priorities.

In short, you can be sure that PRINCE2 can be applied to your own projects, not just now but also for the foreseeable future.

Clarity

The sheer complexity of a typical corporate project can often make managers feel like they are stumbling through a fog. Having unclear goals and lines of communication inevitably causes delays, wastage, and a lack of accountability when upset stakeholders start pointing fingers.

Luckily, clarity is a key factor in PRINCE2 projects. Roles and responsibilities are specified from the beginning, ensuring accountability for each individual task. As a result, team members also find it far easier to share knowledge and experience in order to reach common goals.

PRINCE2 also provides clarity of purpose. PRINCE2 projects begin with practitioners establishing the ‘Project Mandate’. This makes clear the reasons for wanting to instigate the project, as well as the benefits that will be realized with its completion. The end goal itself will also be made clear throughout the project, even if it needs to be reassessed or altered by the project management team.

Continuous improvement

As comprehensive as PRINCE2 may be, it cannot predict the future. Practitioners recognize that they may encounter risks and setbacks when managing a project, as well as unexpected opportunities. For example, during a project, practitioners may choose to introduce more efficient management practices or devise a way to avoid potentially expensive pitfalls.

Many of the Themes, Processes and Principles of PRINCE2 support this approach, including learning from experience, quality management, and risk management. Not only does this allow practitioners to achieve higher levels of quality than expected at the start of their projects, but it can also provide valuable experience for future projects.

Common language and methodology

All good project management professionals know the importance of collaborating in order to plan, facilitate and conclude major corporate changes. PRINCE2 aids in this by providing practitioners with a common language and methodology. Regardless of a practitioner’s background, they can understand and communicate with others via the PRINCE2 framework, making it easy to contribute to projects in a PRINCE2 environment.

For this reason, many companies that adopt PRINCE2 will upskill entire teams at once. The newly certified practitioners are then ready to collaborate to carry out PRINCE2 projects, typically with fewer resources and staff than would otherwise be required to do so. Organizations may even upskill a small team to run a PRINCE2 project before choosing whether to make the training more widespread.

Focus on the business case

Before making any kind of investment in a business project, stakeholders must be able to decide whether it will be worthwhile. In a PRINCE2 project, this is judged based on the ‘Business Case’, one of PRINCE2’s Themes.

The Business Case is created at the start of a project in order to ensure that the proposed end goals are worth the required effort and expenditure. It will then be continually reviewed and, if necessary, updated throughout the project. If at any point the costs outweigh the gains, the project can then be confidently terminated.

There are several advantages to this. For one, it helps PRINCE2 practitioners to proceed with confidence and clarity. Knowing what they want to achieve will make it easier for them to create a roadmap toward their goal and predict any potential issues. At the same time, it can also help to keep project management teams on target, preventing anyone from focusing too much on unnecessary or unproductive tasks.

The result will be a well-targeted and highly streamlined project – ideal for realizing the benefits of organizational change without wasting time, effort or resources needlessly.

Greater quality

Quality management is a key part of any project. When trying to bring about significant changes for a business, create a new product or anything else, you want to be able to reach an end result of a certain standard; one that will not only be worth the cost in time and resources but will also contribute towards your organization’s reputation.

PRINCE2 offers the tools and methodology to effectively assess quality throughout a project’s lifecycle. Indeed, the Theme of quality is prevalent in PRINCE2. It links closely with other aspects, such as focusing on the business case and continually learning from experience.

By defining the quality of the end result of a project, practitioners can enjoy far greater clarity in working to achieve it, even if this means adapting to unforeseen difficulties or changing the expectations of stakeholders.

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