Effective Project Management is all about achieving goals and objectives successfully by careful planning and efficient management of resources. It isn’t just about sitting behind a desk only but involves systematic planning, negotiating, analyzing and if necessary intervening in the process.
Being a project manager is not so easy, with loads of responsibilities on shoulders, endless meetings, constant supervision of workflow it is difficult to keep track of heaps of files, schedules and stats at a moment’s notice. However, a well-structured project management method can help project managers in effectively delivering results.
PRINCE2 (Projects IN Controlled Environments) is the well described and proven method for project management. It provides a structured project management approach with defined processes, roles and responsibilities.
PRINCE2 has seven principles, which are the core building blocks of the method. These as follows:
- Continued business justification, which means ensuring that the reason for starting the project remains consistent throughout the duration.
- Learn from experience, which means ensuring continual learning from previous experiences.
- Defined roles and responsibilities, which means ensuring a clear organizational structure and right expertise for the task at hand.
- Manage by stages, which means ensuring that each project stage is managed effectively.
- Management by exception, which means defining tolerances for each project aspect.
- Focus on product, which means maintaining focus on definition, delivery and quality of the output.
- Tailor to suit the project, which means that project management method must be tailored according to the environment, size, complexity, importance, capability and risks.
PRINCE2 also has seven themes. All themes are valid for the entire project lifecycle. Themes are as follows:
- Business Case: the project must have a valid business justification for its existence.
- Organization: roles and responsibilities of project manager and other important stakeholders are clearly defined.
- Quality: PRINCE2 requirements of the project and product quality is defined.
- Plans: various levels of plans, their content and usage are defined here.
- Risks: guidelines for effective risk management is defined here.
- Change: types of changes along with processes are defined here.
- Progress: reporting to various stakeholders and progress evaluation are defined here.
PRINCE2 also provides seven processes through which themes are implemented and projects are managed successfully. These are as follows:
- Starting up a project
- Directing the project
- Initiating a project
- Controlling a stage
- Managing product delivery
- Managing stage boundary
- Closing a project
Initially developed as a UK government standard for project management, PRINCE2 has now become the leading method for project management across the world. PRINCE2 provides better control over resources and allows management of project risk more effectively.
Business Beam provides PRINCE2 implementation consultancy, internationally accredited training courses and certification examinations. Business Beam is an Accredited Training Organization for PRINCE2 and AXELOS Certified Partner. AXELOS is the global owner of PRINCE2 method.
Organizations as well as professionals can benefit from PRINCE2. Please contact Business Beam consultants for further details for implementation consultancy, training and certification examinations.
