Attra Partners Limited is an affiliate of Rovsing Management A/S. Rovsing Management A/S is an accredited ATO by the APMG on behalf of the OGC (Office of Government Commerce U.K.).

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

PRINCE2® & take a walk on the Agile side!(Release 1.1)

Hany Choueiri, BSc, MSc, MSP & Certified PRINCE2 Trainer and coach writes:

The recent economic crisis has lead to increasing cost and delivery pressures. Although from a

governance perspective PRINCE2 is one of the project management methodologies, there is an (incorrect)

impression that PRINCE2 is expensive, heavy handed and inflexible.

The latest edition of PRINCE2 (released June 2009) does facilitate the use of an Agile delivery approach.

PRINCE2 defined six aspects of project‟s performance that must be agreed and monitored:

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Time

Cost

Quality

Scope

Risk

Benefits

PRINCE2 also recommends that tolerances are specified for

each of these six aspects.

Let‟s see how the SCOPE aspect can be used to “go Agile” –

diagrams on the next pages summarise the fusion of these.

(knowledge of PRINCE2 & Agile concepts are assumed.)

If you have any questions or comments please email

hany.choueiri@attrapartners.com

Linkedin Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/hanychoueiri

Attra Partners Limited is an affiliate of Rovsing Management A/S. Rovsing Management A/S is an accredited ATO by the APMG on behalf of the OGC (Office of Government Commerce U.K.).

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

PRINCE2® in an Agile mode

Managing

Project Manager

DeliveringTeam Manager

SU

IP CS

MP

CS

MP

Starting-up a Project

Pre-project

Initiation

StageMeasure

CS

MP

...

...

...

Authorize

Initiation

Authorize the

Project

Authorize a Stage

or Exception Plan

Authorize Project ClosureDP Give ad-hoc Direction

SB CPSB SB

...

Project Mandate

Stage #1 Stage #3 Stage n

MP – Managing

Product DeliveryIP – Initiating

a Project

SU – Staring

up a Project

SB – Stage

Boundaries

DP – Directing

a Project

CS – Controlling

a Stage

CP – Closing

a ProjectPRINCE2

PRINCE2

(Processes)

Directing

Executive

Senior Supplier(s)

Senior User(s)

Stage #2

Delivery Delivery Delivery

Agile Agile Agile

Scrum Master

Attra Partners Limited is an affiliate of Rovsing Management A/S. Rovsing Management A/S is an accredited ATO by the APMG on behalf of the OGC (Office of Government Commerce U.K.).

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

PRINCE2® in an Agile modePRINCE2

(Notes)

NOTES:

Agile mode can be adopted within a Stage to deliver products based on a priority order (such as the MOSCOW principle).

SCOPE tolerance can be used to remain within the PRINCE2 philosophy.

The Managing a Stage Boundary (SB) process includes the “Plan the Next Stage” activity. It is here where we would

create or refine all Product Descriptions (Specifications) for the next stage. In Agile mode and using SCOPE tolerance we

can get Board Agreement to deliver as many of the important Products as possible within a Scrum Cycle (typically 4

weeks).

If the Product Breakdown Structure is not granular enough, then one can adapt the Product Description „s themselves

indicating that some f the product‟s features are optional and will only be delivered if there is sufficient time within the

Scrum cycle. If this is the case, then the same Product gets worked upon in the following Stage(s) or Scrum Cycles.

One difference between PRINCE2 and Agile is that in the later, the Users are heavily engaged as part of iterative

development (equivalent of the MP – Managing Product Delivery process in PRINCE2). This would be acceptable as long

as a reasonable agreement is reached before the beginning of the Stage (or Scrum cycle) on the key deliverables (even

though not all features may be known). This is where a compromise needs to be reached as PRINCE2 needs the

possible features/Scope tolerance to be determined, while pure Agile would entail developing potentially new features (or

fine tuning them) during a Scrum cycle.

Project Product Description

PD1 PD2 PD3 Must have

Nice to have

Attra Partners Limited is an affiliate of Rovsing Management A/S. Rovsing Management A/S is an accredited ATO by the APMG on behalf of the OGC (Office of Government Commerce U.K.).

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

Senior Supplier(s)

(inc Design Authority)

Senior User(s)

Corporate or programme management

Team members

Project Support

Team Manager

(Scrum Master)

Business, User & Supplier

Project Assurance

Emphasis on Documentation

Executive

Project Manager

P r o j e c t B o a r d

PRINCE2® in an Agile mode

PRINCE2

(Organization)

Change Authority

1

2

3

1 2

3

It is important to include a Design Authority/Architects as

part of the Senior Supplier representation. This is to address

one of the pitfalls of Agile where iterative development may

lead to solutions that does not conform to design blue-prints

leading to products that are very difficult to subsequently

upgrade/enhance to meet future business need.

Scrum Mater takes the role of the Team Manager

User involvement working within the product

development team(s)

4

4 Project Assurance should make special provision to

ensure the Products are properly documented (frequently

a downside of Agile - “abuse of the Agile method”)