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All Access Product Based Planning PBP
This is referenced within the Plans Practice and the product-based planning technique is used whenever a real Plan is needed these are
- Project Plan
- Stage Plan
- Optional Team Plan
- Exception Plan if required
Remember that within product based planning a product is something that the specialist team builds they are usually physical anything that you can hold or kick!
So during product based planning examples may be
- software
- hardware
- a building
- a document
- a process
- a service
- a trained individual
You don’t make the person of course but you deliver training in some way so that the product is an individual with new or enhanced knowledge skills and experience
- a diagram
- a procedure
- a refurbishment
- etc
Activity based planning
You are probably more familiar with bar charts or Gantt Charts as the starting point in planning These contain the activities in a plan still vital and used within a PRINCE2 Plan, but they are NOT what must be identified first NOR are they part of PRINCE2 product-based planning as we shall see
The power of product-based planning is that by starting with the product and not just thinking about its activities PRINCE2 forces you to think through precisely what the product is plus other characteristics such as quality criteria
Imagine that you will create a document help guide for using a new facility If you start thinking about the activities involved how do you know how long they will take and the resources and work involved
You don’t know that because you have yet to first think through what exactly we mean by a Help Guide This is where PRINCE2 product-based planning comes into its own
PRINCE2 product-based planning there are four steps
Create the Project Product Description for the End Product this step is only needed when creating the Project Plan but it starts its life within the Project Brief
Create the Product Breakdown Structure PBS
Create Product Descriptions if needed for lower-level products
Create the Product Flow Diagram PFD
I will not cover the creation of the Project Product Description here even though it is the first step within product-based planning as I have described in other articles.
Instead, I will remind you that:
- It is a document
- It is created only once for the project
- it contains the customers quality expectations and acceptance criteria
- it is updated at the end of every stage
The project is deemed finished once the acceptance criteria have been accepted
Again, the Product descriptions are dealt with in detail in other articles, but I shall summarize them here
- they are a document
- they are written in consultation with the users
- they contain the product quality criteria
- they are used to create quality check and authorize the completion of the product
One will be written for each specialist product in your project
The PBS is a hierarchical diagram used within product- based planning and does not show the product creation sequence
It breaks the End Product down into lower levels of products as part of product-based planning If you visualize a bottle of water that would be the end product and at lower tiers you would have the plastic container the cap the label and the water content itself
The PBS does NOT show the sequence of creation of the products it is a hierarchy showing how each product level breaks down There can be no one-to-one connections only one product underneath another it must always break down into two or more products underneath
A NOUN or OUTCOME describes a product Brick Wall New Brick Wall or example
Tasks are NEVER shown on PBS or PFD
A task would have a NOUN and VERB dig hole write a report design the widget etc
The Product Breakdown Structure
The product at the top of the PBS is the End Product the final product shown in the PFD
Products shown without other products underneath them are called SIMPLE Products in product-based planning
THEREFORE, all remaining products in the middle of the PBS are called INTERMEDIATE Products
There are TWO types of Intermediate products
COLLECTIVE These can be drawn as a rhomboid squashed rectangle These are not actual products and help the planner to include and brainstorm all the authentic products underneath
So use the words Group or Grouping to describe them.
Think of a collective within product-based planning as representing a theme where the products underneath have some common trait such as Food Group Hardware Group Document Group etc
An example above is the Food Group
INTEGRATION Products
These are genuine products and the products underneath them are combined in some way to become an Integration product The shape of an Integration product can be the same as a simple or end product, a rectangle
A simple example might be Prepared Chicken Curry underneath this sit the food products that are combined to make the curry chicken breast herbs spices garlic tomatoes etc An example above is Prepared fruit Punch
EXTERNAL Products
These are shown within product-based planning as an ELLIPSE An external product is needed by the project but must pass one of the following tests
It already exists, for example a catalogue price list, a tool or piece of equipment an existing product a current document etc
The Product Flow Diagram
The PFD shows the sequence of creation of the products within product-based planning and is drawn with arrows showing sequence and dependencies Refer to the diagram below as an example
That concludes the aspects of product-based planning within a PRINCE2 plan but for completeness here are the typical remaining steps to complete the plan document
- identify the activities needed to create each product
- estimate each activity duration resources cost and work
- create the schedule of activities their sequence and dependencies
- Assign resources to each activity
- include risk response and communication activities
- perform resource levelling if needed
- include controls
- add the text such as introduction constraints scope etc
PRINCE2 7 Product-based planning from structure to flow
The PRINCE2 method details the approach made to planning as an initial three steps create the project product description create the product breakdown structure and then create the product flow diagram
I have covered this information elsewhere in a previous article, so I am giving you some guidance beyond the official Manual
When you initially create your first attempt at a product breakdown structure your ideas may only be random if you know the project area well Just like writing a report its best to leave it overnight and revisit it the next day as this will give you a fresh insight and allow you to spot omissions or improvements more quickly
The product breakdown structure PBS is a simple hierarchical diagram with the categories and subcategories of products with the actual products being described at the lowest all bottom level
The Product Breakdown Structure
You would then want to take those bottom-level products and use them to create the product flow diagram
Take an example product breakdown structure this shows the product list at its lowest level the visual check is to spot each box with nothing underneath it
These are the lowest level products that will be taken next to form the product flow diagram
The product at the top is the end product that the project product description would have been written around Therefore this represents the whole project when the product flow diagram is created this would be the final product in the sequence
PRINCE2 Intermediate Products
But between the top and bottom products there are intermediate products These usually describe a particular category or grouping For example the prepared fruit punch product is authentic consisting of juiced oranges juiced lemons and blended wine
Whereas the intermediate product called food group is not genuine just a temporary title was given to all the authentic products below it I have called it a group to make it evident to the reader that it is an intermediate product
Still I could have given it a different and agreed shape for intermediate products such as a rhomboid
Some products may already exist or have been created earlier in this project or another project These products should be included as they are needed to complete this project An ellipse may be suggested to differentiate between an external product and an internal product
Be clear however that this current project will not create external products but that they are needed to complete this current project
To summarise the only products taken to the product flow diagram are the end-product genuine intermediate products external products and the lowest-level products
Structuring the structure
One man’s meat is another man’s poison quotes the old saying, and the same is valid when creating the product breakdown structure
Suppose two separate and independent groups produce the product breakdown structure for the same project In that case there will likely be some differences even though both would deliver the correct result
To use a rather trite example if you are producing the product breakdown structure of a family car you may group the categories in terms of the body shell chassis engine brakes and so on
Another team may produce the product breakdown structure for third-party parts standard parts furnishings and fittings mechanical parts electrical parts etc Both systems could have a complete car even though the structure diagrams may look completely different
Before I leave the example of a family car its worth mentioning again the intermediate products
Remember that I said only the integration type of products would be transferred to the product flow diagram In contrast the categories or groupings are merely invented devices to help create the product breakdown structure or will not be shared
These integration intermediate type products would need to be transferred to the product flow diagram An example might be the gearbox consisting of various gears splines sprockets brackets and mouldings
Therefore, regarding the product flow diagram sequence all of the above lower-level products such as gears would need to be shown the first within the sequence ultimately flowing into the gearbox as the final subproducts within the car
In terms of the depth of the structure I want this to be evenly balanced with the same level of detail throughout
An example of a mobile thought through a product breakdown structure could be the body shell product of the car being at the same level as say the disc brake pads
This would signify an unbalanced structure whose main crime would be making the diagram harder to read and interpret
In extreme circumstances for example if little is known about the project or the business area getting an initial team together and simply brainstorming the product flow diagram is a great place to start
The products that have been identified will undoubtedly be some of them Still the initial product flow diagram can be used to extract ideas and thoughts and talk to many other people possibly over several days to add products to this initial product flow diagram
Carrying out this exercise very early in the project can be a neat way of defining the project scope
Fairly obviously the product flow diagram will show the sequence in which you planned to produce them which is why the end product mentioned above is the final product to be shown in the product flow diagram
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