Tailoring PRINCE2 For A Simple Project

The program is focused on Starting, Monitoring and Closing a project, as the program is concerned with starting the project and receiving the products from the project when complete. The main process that the program might affect is the Starting Up a Project Process.

In fact, this process may be done entirely by the Program and it can provide the outputs, such as the Project Team, Role Descriptions, Project Brief, Business Case Outline and Review of previous lessons.

The one thing the Project Manager will still have to do is to prepare the Initiation Stage Plan, as this cannot be done by the Program. This is because the Project Manager needs to negotiate with the supplier, Team Managers, and others involved in the project.

The program can make it much easier to prepare the Initiating a Project Process, for example, by providing the four strategy documents, which can be customized by the Project Manager to suit the project.

Tailoring Management Products in a Program Environment

Similar Names

There are many management products that have the same name between a project and a program, such as the strategy documents. So it is a good idea to try to distinguish them from each other by highlighting the word “project” or “program” in the title page and header or by some other means. For example, “The Program Quality Management Strategy Document.”

Shared Log & Register Files

The Log & Register files can be shared between the projects and program, such as the Risk Register & Issue Register. A decision must be taken to keep them separate from the program, or for the project to use the register and log files from the program.

PRINCE2 lessons log

Lessons from the log or lessons report, if one has been created, may be combined with the end stage report

How to share Risk & other Information

Suppose that the Project and Program use different Risk Register files. Then a question arises: How are the Risks promoted from the project to the program and vice versa? Perhaps the Project Manager decides to add the more serious risks to the shared Risk Register used by the Program Environment and all Risks in the local Risk Register used by the project. A similar approach can also be used for the Issue Register.

PRINCE2 Project Scale – Simple Projects

PRINCE2 can be used in any type of project of any scale. Scale is related to a number of factors, such as project complexity, size, risk, importance, product complexity, number of resources and cost.

The PRINCE2 manual states that companies should consider calibrating the scale of their projects. In other words, they should decide what makes a small project, a medium project and a big project. It may not be an easy exercise to create your own project scale. However, the PRINCE2 manual provides a great table of different project characteristics that you can try to match with your project to get an idea of the scale.

This table lists 5 scales of projects:

Level 1: The Lowest level is Tasks. A group of tasks is done by a single person
Level 2: Simple Project with low risk involving a few persons. It has just one delivery stage. There are no Team Managers, as team members report to the Project Manager directly
Level 3: Normal Project with one or more delivery stages. Team Managers are present. It is an important project
Level 4: Daunting Project has multiple organizations with high risk, high cost. It is very important. It has multiple delivery stages and high visibility
Level 5: Program: These contain multiple projects.

What questions should a Project Manager Ask?

What scale is the project?

Which elements on the project can I afford to relax?

Which information can I use from similar or recent projects?

For example, if the project is a similar project to one that was done recently, then it would be somewhat easier to: plan the project team, create roles and responsibilities, list risks, define the quality criteria information, and create product descriptions and plans.

Tailoring for Simple Project: Effect on Themes

The Theme most affected by simple projects is the Organization Theme, as Roles can be combined for small projects.

For example, the Executive and the Senior User can be the same person. And, in a small project, Project Boards are also closer to the project, so they can decide to carry out their own Project Assurance.

Also for smaller projects, the people who create the products can report directly to the Project Manager. Therefore, there is no need for Team Managers. The Project Manager usually combines the role of Project Manager with Project Support and perhaps also works on some of the specialist products.

The Business Case Theme for Simple Projects

This can be straightforward. The Business Case just requires some information to justify the project and the investment with an overview of expected benefits. This can be just a 2-page document.

The Plans theme for Simple Projects

This will start with a Project Product Description and perhaps Product Descriptions for key deliverables and a Gantt chart. The plan can even look like a product checklist. A product checklist is a simple list of the products that will be produced by the project, with information on expected delivery dates, producer and reviewers, and can also include key milestones.

The Quality theme for simple projects

Simple projects need to have an understanding of the quality required in the project, and this should be described in the Project Product Description and other Project Descriptions. This can include the quality criteria, quality tolerance, quality method, and quality responsibilities.

The Risk theme for simple projects

Simple projects need to analyze the Risks facing the project, take actions to respond to the risks, and communicate Risk information regularly to the Project Board via Highlight reports.

The Change theme for simple projects

Simple projects need a simple method to control and manage the configuration of the products. For example, it is possible to use a simpler Configuration Item Record template, but there is a need to define where products should be stored, the naming conventions to be followed, and other such details. Change-management needs to be done to ensure that the project will remain with its agreed scope and deliver the required products.

The Progress theme for simple projects

Simple projects will need some form of agreed controls and reporting requirements between the Project Board and Project Manager. It is always better to put these in writing, even if this is an email.

Tailoring PRINCE2: Simple Projects

Tailoring Processes for Simple projects is easier than you might think! All processes remain relevant in simple projects and therefore must be done; they can be a bit less formal than in more complex projects, however. The Starting Up a Project process is often done very quickly, and the Project Initiation Documentation is written without first doing a Project Brief. This is possible for simple projects, especially if the project is similar to a previous project.

Tailoring Management Products for Simple Projects

A simpler format to the Management Products will help reduce the effort required by the Project Manager in a simple project.

Here are a few examples to explain this:

The following Management Products may not be needed: