PRINCE2 Product Planning Masterclass
PRINCE2 does assume that you will use conventional planning steps and techniques such as Gantt charts and resource leveling, but the PRINCE2 product-based planning technique does not expect you to start at that point.
With PRINCE2, you will use the techniques in this article first.
The PRINCE2 solution to the planning problem
It is worth remembering that deliverables within PRINCE2 are called products (if you prefer, these are what the project ‘produces’).
These products may be physical products (those that you can touch or hold, for example), or they may consist of a soft product or outcome. Such products can range from software to a changed company perception or image.
Another area for clarification is the difference between products and tasks.
If I decide to clean the windows in my office, the activity or task is ‘clean office windows,’ whereas the Product associated with that is, in this case, ‘cleaned office windows’ is the outcome.
An easy way to think about it is that a verb and a noun generally describe an activity, whereas a product definition is either a noun or an outcome.
If you tried to represent the clean office windows activity on a Gantt chart, what is the duration of that Gantt bar?
Bringing me to the primary PRINCE2 product-based planning purpose is defining what you mean by the product ‘cleaned office windows.’
If your office is on the second floor of your building, then you may need to erect a scaffold or hire specialist equipment and trained individuals to carry out such a task.
By first understanding exactly what the task entails, you will then be able to define the activities, the work effort needed, and the required resources.
Therefore it makes logical sense to think about the ‘product’ before thinking about the activity needed to make it.
The PRINCE2 Approach to planning first defines the products required (in what is known as the product breakdown structure); next, you would create a product description for each Product and then think about the sequence in which the products need to be made (this is known as the product flow diagram).
It is common for those last two steps to be performed in parallel, with the whole product-based planning technique carried out in a planning workshop.
Performing in parallel will ensure a complete picture of all required products and that the experience and knowledge can make realistic estimates of those present at the workshop.
Introducing the PRINCE2 Product-based Planning technique
One of the most asked questions when product planning is how to get the right level of detail.
This will depend upon the nature of the project and the environment within which it is to be run, as complex and risky projects will require more details and control.
PRINCE2 helps here by encouraging you to start with product planning, identifying the products and outcomes before attempting to identify the activities needed to create them.
It is essential to realize that while you are product planning (typically tangible), some products will be outcomes such as a change in culture, but they are still products.
Once product planning is completed, the project manager will focus on identifying the activities required to create the products, and this ‘reverse engineering’ is a potent technique.
A product is generally described as a noun or outcome, whereas an activity is characterized by a noun and a verb.
Imagine the problem if you started planning by creating tasks or activities –a task such as ‘create document’ begs the question; what is the purpose of the document, and what format should it take?
Such ambiguity can lead to problems later.
Starting with the product planning technique will resolve the above problem, mainly by creating a product description for each Product. But all you have is the sequence of activities, and you still need to be clear about what they are, and how can you expect them in a logical sequence?
This is why product planning must have happened first, and only then should you consider activity planning.
This will give birth to a much more structured and logical plan (which ultimately will be some form of document).
Now the first step in product planning is to create a Product Breakdown Structure, and this, in and of itself, will help you and your team to brainstorm all the products that are needed. However, I want to focus on the next step – creating the Product Flow Diagram.
Typically, the products will be deliverables such as ‘designed sales page as an example, but what about external products?
These are products that either already exist or will be created by resources external to the project (but they are still needed to complete the project).
Product Planning – the PRINCE2 Product Flow Diagram
Let us imagine that you need to update your company’s change control procedure to make it more flexible for conventional plan-driven projects and iterative and incremental projects (based on Agile).
You get the team in a room and start to draw up (say on a whiteboard) the products and their dependencies. Your first draft might look something like this:
I would normally brainstorm products using Post-it notes and first consider in product planning which products must be created one after the other and which products can be created in parallel.
Performing a visual quality check, I would ask:
- Are the dependencies and consequences for each Product correct?
- Has each Product been shown at its earliest point of creation?
- Does each Product have the correct predecessors?
- Have I included external products if required?
Performing PRINCE2′ backward pass’ checks
Because I usually read from left to right, the team and I typically plan the products from left to right.
However, some folks prefer to start the end product and work backward.
There is nothing wrong with this, but assuming that you have started left to right, performing a backward pass next is a powerful technique in product planning.
The first step is to start at the end product and work backward.
Here is a suggested sequence of questions you need to ask to improve and correct your first-pass product flow diagram:
- Starting with your end product, are the arrows coming into that Product emanating from a correct product, or could the end product be created without them?
- For the end product, do you need any other products to be created besides those with arrows leading into it? If so, this may be a product that needs to be included. Ask yourself, “Is there anything else?”
- You may discover that links need to be added or that links need to be more varied
- Ask yourself if any external products need to be created, are they included, and is the best way to outsource them, or should/could they be made in-house?
Having resolved the end product, I would work backward, starting at the products that feed into the end product and asking myself the same questions until I arrived back at the first Product
As you can see, I found another five missing products from my first attempt, and I had to re-draw the diagram with a better layout.
But it is normal and another good reason you should create these diagrams on either the Whiteboard or by using Post-it notes on a flip chart.
Let us use the above diagram to explain some of my thinking and how it helped me to create a more complete and logical product flow diagram.
I realized that the new change control procedure needed two extra products, first to design the structure and then the ‘look and feel,’ so I added an extra product and re-linked it into a logical sequence.
I then realized that I needed trained staff before the new process was distributed, and the training could only start once I had the structure in place, so I added that dependency.
I also needed a training outline to explain the changes and show staff the new change control forms.
I removed the now redundant link from the new form designs product to the New change control procedure product.
Now that I had separated the change control design from its structure, I realized another external product was needed – the graphics within the new change procedure was being done by a local design company.
I also realized the local design company needed an order to define the quantities and billing information.
There were two other products that needed to be included, the existing form designs, to act as a baseline for the new ones and to gather existing information on the current change control process problems and any requirements.
Okay, you have got the drift; the above explanations are just examples of how doing a forward and then the backward pass will unearth any missing or illogical aspects of your Product Flow Diagram.
PRINCE2 product-based planning technique and recommendations
I recommend using Post-it notes to create the product-based planning diagram as these can be moved or edited easily. Use long strips of Sellotape to fix the post-it notes, flip chart paper, or take a picture with your smartphone as a permanent record.
Remember, the following steps will be to generate Gantt charts and the like, so it is vital to have a permanent record of the planning meeting. Also, the picture can be easily distributed to all concerned via an email attachment or a company’s intranet website.
Some teams prefer to parallel develop the product breakdown structure and flow diagrams, as each will help build the other.
Specialist Products and Management Products
In my example above, your real-world diagrams will likely be more complicated and complete.
The PRINCE2 Method provides two different types of products. These are specialist products and management products.
Specialist products are those that the team builds during the project, which will vary greatly depending on the nature of the project. For example, if this is an IT project, the specialist products might consist of software, hardware, network elements, display units, etc.
Whereas management products are those used for the project management products, such as the project plan, the business case, the project initiation document, and the risk register. Management products are used to manage the production of the specialist products.
You are expected to only represent the specialist products in the above diagrams.
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