Tips for Multi-Project Success
Managing multiple projects within a programme can feel like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle.
Fortunately, PRINCE2 7th Edition is here to help you keep those torches in the air. With its updated focus on flexibility, sustainability, and integration, PRINCE2 7th Edition is perfect for navigating the complexities of programme management.
Let’s dive into how it fits into multi-project environments, complements frameworks like MSP (Managing Successful Programmes), and share practical tips for keeping your projects on track.
PRINCE2 7th Edition in the Programme Context
In a programme—a temporary structure coordinating multiple projects to deliver strategic outcomes—PRINCE2 7th Edition provides a robust framework for managing individual projects while ensuring they align with the programme’s goals.
Unlike standalone projects that report to a business unit, programme-embedded projects leverage shared governance and resources. The business remains responsible for realizing benefits post-project, tying the program’s vision to tangible value.
PRINCE2 7th Edition emphasizes adaptability and integration, making it a natural fit for programmes. As part of PeopleCert’s suite of methodologies, it works seamlessly with MSP, which focuses on programme-level outcomes.
The 7th Edition’s updated principles, like ensuring continued business justification and embedding sustainability, ensure projects contribute to strategic objectives while addressing modern priorities like environmental impact.
Aligning Programme Roles for Cohesion
PRINCE2 7th Edition refines its approach to roles, emphasizing clear responsibilities and flexibility in programme contexts. The project sponsor, often the project executive (or their appointee), drives alignment with the programme’s objectives. In a program, roles often overlap to boost efficiency. For example, MSP’s business change manager (BCM) might serve as a project’s senior user or executive, ensuring project deliverables support programme outcomes.
The programme management office (PMO) can take on project support tasks, such as providing templates or managing shared resources. PRINCE2 7th Edition encourages tailoring roles to fit the programme’s needs, while MSP ensures clear accountability.
Early agreements on who handles what—decision-making, change approvals, or reporting—prevent duplication. For instance, a single programme board might oversee multiple projects, aligning stage boundaries with program milestones for streamlined reviews.
Crafting a Sustainable Programme Business Case
In PRINCE2 7th Edition, the business case is a living document, with sustainability now a core consideration. Within a programme, the project’s business case is often a streamlined version of the programme’s overarching case, as defined by MSP.
It focuses on scope, budget, timelines, benefits, and sustainability targets, ensuring alignment with the programme’s strategic goals. This reduces redundancy and keeps everyone focused on value delivery.
Benefits management is tightly integrated with MSP’s benefits realization plan. PRINCE2 7th Edition’s focus on sustainability means projects must define environmental and social impacts alongside traditional benefits, ensuring they contribute to the programme’s long-term success. For example, a project might include carbon reduction targets as part of its business case, aligned with the programme’s sustainability strategy.
Planning with Precision
PRINCE2 7th Edition’s planning approach—covering project, stage, and team plans—remains structured yet flexible. Project plans provide the big picture, while stage plans dive into specifics.
In a programme, MSP’s programme plan sets the overarching timeline, and PRINCE2 projects align their stages with programme milestones, like tranche endings, to manage dependencies effectively.
A key tip: tap into the programme’s planning resources.
MSP often provides dedicated planners who offer PRINCE2-compatible templates, ensuring project plans align with the program’s delivery schedule. If one project’s output feeds another, PRINCE2 7th Edition’s emphasis on integrated planning ensures these dependencies are clearly mapped and managed.
Managing Quality, Risks, and Issues within a Programme
Quality management in PRINCE2 7th Edition is tailored to the organization or programme’s standards, with sustainability as a key focus. MSP often defines the programme’s quality framework, and projects document specific approaches to align with it. When multiple organizations are involved, each may bring its own quality system, so PRINCE2 7th Edition stresses clear role definitions to avoid overlap.
For risks and issues, PRINCE2 7th Edition retains its five-step risk management technique (identify, assess, plan, implement, communicate) and five-step issue management process (capture, assess, propose, decide, implement).
Programmes using MSP may have a unified risk or issue management approach, which projects can adopt if documented in the project initiation documentation. Shared risks, like resource constraints across projects, are often escalated to the program level for resolution.
Tracking Programme Progress and Handling Exceptions
PRINCE2 7th Edition’s progress theme emphasizes tailored controls, and in a programme, MSP defines shared tolerances and timelines. Experienced teams might need lighter reporting, while newer teams benefit from frequent check-ins. Aligning project stage reviews with program milestones streamlines reporting and keeps stakeholders informed.
When deviations occur, PRINCE2 7th Edition’s six-step exception management process helps you get back on track. Programs may use MSP’s exception framework, which you can adopt for consistency. Data-driven tools—like project logs or digital twins in construction—enhance progress tracking, and programs often provide centralized systems to support this.
Starting Strong and Prioritizing Sustainability
PRINCE2 7th Edition’s “Starting Up a Project” process is streamlined in programmes, as MSP often provides the project brief and appoints key roles. As a project manager, validate these inputs and tailor them to your project’s context. The 7th Edition’s sustainability focus means projects must align with environmental and social goals, often defined by the programme’s benefits plan. Audits, supported by the program’s quality assurance team, ensure compliance with regulations.
Planning the initiation stage is critical, and PRINCE2 7th Edition emphasizes aligning timelines with the programme’s plans. This ensures resources are used efficiently and sets the project up for success.
Tips for Managing Multiple Projects with PRINCE2 7th Edition
Tailor with Purpose: Use PRINCE2 7th Edition’s flexibility to adapt roles, processes, and terminology to the programme’s needs.
- Leverage Program Resources: Tap into the PMO’s tools and MSP’s templates to streamline planning and reporting.
- Map Dependencies Early: Identify and manage inter-project dependencies to keep timelines on track.
- Integrate Sustainability: Embed environmental and social targets in your business case and quality plans, aligning with program goals.
- Streamline Governance: Align stage reviews with program milestones to reduce duplication and enhance decision-making.
Moving forward with PRINCE2 Programmes
PRINCE2 7th Edition is your secret weapon for managing projects within programmes. Its focus on sustainability, flexibility, and integration pairs perfectly with MSP’s outcome-driven approach, ensuring your projects deliver value while contributing to the programme’s strategic vision.
By aligning roles, plans, and processes, you can turn the complexity of multi-project management into a well-orchestrated success.
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The PRINCE2 Foundation examination assesses your knowledge and comprehension of the PRINCE2 project management methodology as detailed in the syllabus. The PRINCE2 Practitioner examination, on the other hand, gauges your ability to apply and tailor the PRINCE2 method. Candidates who pass the Practitioner exam should be able to start implementing the method on an actual project with some guidance. However, their effectiveness may differ based on their experience in project management, the complexity of the project, and the level of support they receive in their work environment.
