Explore key PRINCE2 7th edition project management updates, including new people focus, sustainability, digital tools, and improved flexibility in methods.
PRINCE2 7th Edition Exam Emphasis
The content and structure of the official Guide/Manual has changed, but also the syllabus and exam marking scheme has a change in emphasis.
PRINCE2 7th Edition Managing successful projects Introduction
PRINCE2 was first launched in 1996, and has had six editions, the last update being in 2017.
PRINCE2 7 seeks to respond to a number of changes that have taken place in our world and in the discipline of project management since then.
What’s New?
Integration of People
People are central to successful projects and now they are integrated into the PRINCE2 method.
Project performance
Sustainability has been added as a seventh aspect of project performance to reflect modern organisational needs.
What’s Improved?
Digital and data
To meet the evolving needs of project management professionals the addition of a digital and data management approach.
Improved flexibility
Rules have been reduced and chapters streamlined while maintaining core elements of PRINCE2, showcasing the true value of the method to all projects across all sectors.
Simplifications in language and content throughout the official book to widen the addressable market.
Fully tailorable enabling agility
Tailoring is addressed throughout the whole method demonstrated using scenarios, allowing PMs to move quickly and easily in response to change or challenge.
Evolving to changes in the PM space
Meeting new needs and requirements for ever changing profession.
Why make PRINCE2 changes?
The digital revolution, the speed of change, the rise of Agile ways of working, and the increased volatility and uncertainty of all aspects of life mean that project management must evolve to meet these demands.
When updating guidance there can be a tendency to simply add new material to the existing content, resulting in more rather than better guidance.
Instead, the decision was taken to go back to basics and challenge every aspect of PRINCE2 to ensure that its inclusion was required and contributed to the guidance being fit for purpose now and for some years to come.
Furthermore, it was clear from the research carried out by Axelos that there was a clear requirement to add new content to the method, and so this had to be done in a way that would protect the integrity and usefulness of the guidance.
The research and consultation undertaken gave a clear message: that the core PRINCE2 method was still valid and relevant. However, there was clear evidence that PRINCE2 7 could be improved to better express this core method.
So, the task was to transform the way that PRINCE2 is explained, while retaining all that was good and also adding relevant new content. This is so that it can contribute to the way in which organizations invest in response to their changing circumstances and enable them to successfully manage their investments in projects.
What has NOT changed
The essence of what a project has remained the same – it is temporary, it is product-focused, and there should always be an ongoing business justification.
The overall structure of PRINCE2 is clearly recognizable, as the new PRINCE2 7 has principles, practices (what were previously called themes), and a set of processes that make up the lifecycle of a project in the way that the previous version also did.
However, within and alongside those principles, practices and processes there has been a number of changes, additions and deletions.
Diagrams have been updated, and four project scenarios added to illustrate how PRINCE2 can be used in practice for different types of projects.
PRINCE2 7 broad design changes
PRINCE2 7 has been designed with these broad principles in mind:
- To ensure that PRINCE2 remains adaptable and flexible and can be used in a wide range of organizations and environments.
To do this PRINCE2 must provide a ‘common Universal language’ so that there is a common understanding of why a project is being undertaken, what it is trying to achieve, and what it is aiming to deliver.
- To provide guidance that retains and strengthens all the aspects of PRINCE2 that remain valid, while adding new complementary content in a way that maintains and builds on the integrity of the integrated framework.
- To not ‘replicate’ guidance that is provided in other methods such as Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) and Management of Risk (M_o_R 4), but instead to offer additional value to anyone involved in a project.
- To emphasise how PRINCE2 is designed to be applied and tailored appropriately according to the project environment and the project requirements.
- To enable project teams to recognise the many ways that outputs can be delivered, including iterative (Agile), linear and hybrid approaches
Addressing the main elements in PRINCE2 7
The core concepts of the previous edition still form the overall structure of the guidance, as follows:
Principles – PRINCE2 remains a principle-centered method and the previous seven principles still apply, albeit with some changes to the way they are described and minor changes to the titles.
Themes – the seven themes from the previous edition are still addressed and are renamed Practices.
There are some changes to these chapters to improve the consistency of how they are explained, together with improved cross-referencing to other parts of the method.
Processes – PRINCE2 has a tried and tested process model, and this remains. As before, it consists of the seven processes that support the three layers of management in a PRINCE2 project. The description of each process and its cross reference to the rest of the method has also been improved.
Appendices – have been simplified and reduced in number so as not to distract the reader from the main aspects of the PRINCE2 method.
However, the way that these main elements are addressed has changed, and an explanation of how and why this has happened is included below.
New material has also been added, in particular:
The introduction of a new chapter to highlight the importance of ‘people’ in successful projects.
The addition of a seventh variable/performance target – sustainability.
Information on the importance of managing project data.
Chapter Changes
The two opening chapters in the previous edition have been amalgamated into one chapter to give a strong focus to the start of the manual and set the scene for a real understanding of project management using PRINCE2.
By limiting this chapter to:
Introduction
Purpose
Structure: the five integrated elements of people, principles, practice, processes, and project context
What is a project/project management
Project context: introducing how PRINCE2 can be applied and tailored
Features and benefits of PRINCE2
The scenarios there is a clear story to lead people into the rest of the method.
Chapter Changes
The well-established principles of PRINCE2 have been maintained from the previous edition’s set, with some minor, but important, changes to the titles.
The description of each principle has been developed to include examples of each principle being applied.
The principles are described as “the guiding obligations”, to ensure effective application and tailoring of PRINCE2.
The importance of the principles is stressed, so they have been overhauled to ensure that they are valid in today’s environment.
The principles all express what it means to be leading a project using PRINCE2 and reinforce the most critical areas for project success.
Chapter 3 People
The new people chapter is the largest single addition to PRINCE2. The core message of the chapter is that “people are central to the method”.
Successful projects need people, and the chapter explores three people-focused activities:
Leading successful changes
Leading successful teams
Communication
The chapter explains how people factors permeate the seven PRINCE2 principles, as well as showing how people factors are important in the practices and processes of PRINCE2.
As well as a general introduction to the seven practices, this short chapter explains that there is guidance in each practice chapter on how to apply and tailor PRINCE2.
In this way, tailoring is addressed throughout the whole method, rather than in a single chapter.
Each practice chapter then follows a common format to enable easier referencing of material. The format is:
Purpose
Key relationships with principles
Guidance for effective use
Techniques (one main PRINCE2 technique for each practice, plus other supporting techniques
Applying the practice
Management products to support the practice
Focus of key roles for the practice
Chapter 5 Business Case
Key change here is the introduction of the sustainability management approach to support the new performance target of sustainability.
Chapter 6 Organizing
The slight change to the title of this practice reflects the increasing general use of the word ‘organizing’. There are some links with the people chapter, and the introduction of the technique for organizational design and development.
Chapter 7 Plans
All the tried and tested plans elements of PRINCE2 are still here – stages, product-based planning, levels of plan – with the planning procedure having a few changes in detail.
Chapter 8 Quality
A product register has been included in this chapter, as a way of identifying all the products to be delivered.
Chapter 9 Risk
This practice reflects the latest edition of ‘Management of Risk (M_o_R 4)’. It is consistent with M_o_R 4 (but does not duplicate it) and also with previous editions of PRINCE2.
Chapter 10 Issues
A renamed practice that reflects the use of the word ‘issue’ within PRINCE2 (any relevant event is an issue, which can then be further described as a request for change, an off-specification, and so on).
Chapter 11 Progress
The progress practice contains the expected content – management levels, tolerances, types of control, reporting and escalating – and it goes on to explain the exception procedure in more detail than previous editions.
Chapter 12 Introduction to processes
The PRINCE2 process model and the ‘PRINCE2 journey’ are explained in this introduction, plus an explanation of the standard format of each of the seven process chapters:
Purpose
Objective
Context
Activities
Responsibilities
Application of the practices within that process
Chapters 13 to 19 All processes
All process chapters retain the same names and relationships between them, with some slight changes to the activity names within the processes
Improved diagrams with better use of colour, and clearer identification of the ‘triggers’ between each process
Descriptions of the activities and their associated actions are more focused
Appendix A
PRINCE2 management products are documented in this appendix, but now with more guidance on how they could be tailored. The management products are also referenced throughout all the practice chapters and the people chapter.
The project log has been introduced as a flexible way of capturing all logs and registers in one place if required, as is the practice in many projects.
Appendix B
Role descriptions of the key PRINCE2 project roles and their associated, and responsibilities are clearer.
Glossary
Key words and terms
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