Tailoring the PRINCE2 project organization – Part 1
The main objective here is to ensure that the organizational structure of the project team is suitable for the size, style and complexity of the project.
The right people with the right experience need to be in the right roles, in the right numbers and at the right time. Standard role description outlines will need to be tailored to match everyone’s actual capability and authority in the project role context they will be undertaking.
The primary concern for simple projects is to ensure that all PRINCE2 responsibilities are fulfilled by a relatively small set of people.
Project organization points to consider include:
- Scaling the project management team is concerned with consolidating role and function, where roles can be combined but should not be eliminated
- The executive and senior user roles are both from the customer environment, so these can often be combined
- The project manager is likely to be much closer to the project board and so they often in a better position to carry out their own project assurance rather than delegating it
- Team managers may not be necessary for small teams as the project manager could carry out those responsibilities
The converse is true for larger, complex projects. Here, roles to be filled by more than one individual, but care needs to be taken to ensure the individual accountabilities, limits of delegation and authority, and governance are clear.
Project organization in an organizational environment
Some organizations are organized by function, others by matrix, and some organizations are dedicated to running projects. The reporting lines can therefore be different between a traditional functional structure and a project driven organizational structure.
Therefore, the level of overlap between the interests of the business, user and supplier stakeholders will change or call into the type of corporate, programme management or customer organization and the project.
Project organization within a programme
A project which forms part of a programme may be impacted by the program structure and its various reporting requirements.
The programme and project management team structures and roles need to be integrated so that:
- There are clear lines of responsibility from top to bottom
- Reports and reviews are efficient, aligned where project boards meet collectively
The integration of roles may involve the following:
The programme manager may be the executive for one or more of the projects
- Within a programme, there may be multiple project boards, a single body directing several projects, effectively replacing multiple project boards, or a combination of the two
- A business change manager from the programme may fulfil project role of senior user or executive for one or more of the projects
- The programs design authority if used, may fulfill the project role of change authority or project assurance for one or more of the projects. The purpose here is to ensure appropriate alignment and control when changes are being planned and implemented
- A single program office may take project support responsibilities for all projects
The roles of business change manager and design authority
The business change manager is responsible for benefits management from identification through to realization, and for ensuring that the implementation and embedding of the new capabilities are delivered by the projects
The business change manager is a senior role drawn from the area of the business affected by the program
The design authority provides expert advice about, and may have responsibility for, some corporate function, service, standard or strategy that will be affected by the program
The choice of project structure and appointments will depend on the needs, complexity and scale of the program, and it is the programme managers responsibility for this choice and appointments
The project’s communication management approach should be aligned with the program’s stakeholder engagement strategy with communications being controlled and scheduled as part of the programme communications plan.
Stakeholder analysis for the project may be performed by the program, or programme may require the project to take a lead with certain stakeholder groups with which it has good engagement.
