Introduction

• Forewood
• Introduction
  • Introduction part 1
  • Introduction part 2a
  • Introduction part 2b
  • Introduction part 2c
  • Introduction part 3
• Principles
  • Principles
  • Continued business justification
  • Learn from experience
  • Defined roles and responsibilities
  • Manage by stages
  • Manage by exception
  • Focus on products
  • Tailor to suit the project environment
• Themes
  • What are the themes?
  • Applying the themes

Key sections

• Introduction
• Business case
• Organization
• Quality
• Plans
• Risk
• Change
• Progress
• Introduction to processes
• Starting up a projectDirecting a project
• Initiating a project
• Controlling a stage
• Managing Product Delivery
• Managing a Stage Boundary
• Closing a Project
• Tailoring PRINCE2 to the project environment
• Directing Projects with PRINCE2

Manage by stages

A PRINCE2® project is planned, monitored and controlled on a stage-by-stage basis.

Management stages provide senior management with control points at major intervals throughout the project.

At the end of each stage, the project’s status should be assessed, the Business Case and plans reviewed to ensure that the project remains viable, and a decision made as to whether to proceed.

Breaking the project into a number of stages enables the extent of senior management control over projects to be varied according to the business priority, risk and complexity involved. Shorter stages offer more control, while longer stages reduce the burden on senior management.

Planning can only be done to a level of detail that is manageable and foreseeable.

A great deal of effort can be wasted on attempts to plan beyond a sensible planning horizon.
For example, a detailed plan to show what each team member is doing for the next 12 months will almost certainly be inaccurate after just a few weeks.
A detailed Team Plan for the short term and an outline plan for the long term is a more effective approach.

PRINCE2 overcomes the planning horizon issue by:

• Dividing the project into a number of management stages
• Having a high-level Project Plan and a detailed Stage Plan (for the current stage)
• Planning, delegating, monitoring and controlling the project on a stage-by-stage basis.

PRINCE2 requires there to be a minimum of two management stages: one initiation stage and one or more further management stages.

PRINCE2® is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries.