PRINCE2 7 Starting Up a Project – Part 1
Starting Up a Project
The purpose of the process of starting up a project is to ensure that the prerequisites for initiating a
project is established by answering the question, ‘do we have a viable and worthwhile project?’
The decision to start the project must be explicit, as the activities within the process of starting up a
project happen before this decision.
Nothing should be done until fundamental information needed to make rational decisions about the commissioning of the project is defined, key roles and responsibilities are resourced and allocated, and a foundation for detailed planning is available.
The purpose of the process of starting up a project is as much about preventing poorly conceived
ideas from ever being initiated as it is about progressing viable projects for approval.
As such, starting up a project is a lighter process compared to the more detailed and thorough process of initiating a project. The aim is to do the minimum necessary to decide whether it is worthwhile to
even initiate the project.
If startup or to give it the full process title, starting up a project, is fairly straightforward provided that you have a clear idea of what it’s all about. Many people misunderstand start up and think that it is some lengthy part of PRINCE2 that delays the start of the project!
Start up is not lengthy at all and in fact should happen quickly. Its purpose is to sketch out the idea for a project and ensure that it is worth proceeding to full planning via the initiation stage.
The project brief, are produced in startup, should indeed be brief as if you get the sketch of an idea into your head, you should then find the process much easier to understand.
Start up is very much a high level view of the project idea, so does not have for example, contained fine detail such as plans, specific costings and detail of star free sourcing.
The key word that may help you lock on to the nature of the process is “roughly”. Roughly, what will the project cost if it goes ahead? Roughly, what are the benefits likely to be? Roughly how long is it all likely to take?
A key phrase from the PRINCE2 Manual which is a focus for testing your understanding of start up in the exams is, “do we have a viable and worthwhile project?”
Understanding the PRINCE2 process model
It is very easy to get confused by the process model. As starting up a project is the first process and you are likely to be revising it first, it is worth checking that you understand how the models work.
The process models, each with its activity boxes, are simply sets of steps. Now the concept of having steps in each process is generally unpopular, because many people assume that you have to complete every step or use the steps in a strict order.
In fact, using the process model he’s not like that at all, and the activities act as a helpful checklist, not a sequence to follow slavishly. You can leave things out if they are needed in a particular project.
When you come to consider what you need to think through and prepare before starting a project, then the whole of the startup process with its checklist of activities and a suggested sequence for them comes across as fairly sensible and logical.
Starting up a project – overview
It is easy to get lost in the detail when studying the different parts of PRINCE2.
Here is an overview on the main purpose of the starting up a project process:
- It happens before the project, and happens quickly
- It sketches out the proposed project
- It checks that the proposed project looks justified
- It filters out the bad project idea early, rather than rushing into full planning during the initiation stage right away, only to discover later on that it was a bad idea and the planning work was all a waste of Time and Resources
- It appoints people to project management team roles to make the decision on whether to initiate the project, them decide who will control the project if it does go forward
Speedy use of the starting up process
Startup should happen rapidly. You may not even to all of the startup process for a particular project. The whole thrust of the process is to check that the project looks worthwhile, on the sketchy information currently available, and that it is worth investing in the much more detailed work of the initiation where the full planning takes place.
Two specific phrases in the PRINCE2 Manual spell out this sketchy nature of startup and the main purpose of the process.
The first is that the process prevent poorly conceived projects from ever being initiated. That, perhaps, is wishful thinking, but it certainly helps to reinforce the idea of checking out the potential project before diving into the detailed and more expensive work of the initiation.
The second phrase that significant in the Manual is the startup is about doing the “minimum necessary” to decide whether to go forward to initiation. The in other words, you don’t have to do everything in the process on every project.
… to be continued …
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