PRINCE2 is the most commonly used project management approach in the world, and it is increasingly being used in conjunction with Agile. As more organisations adopt agile, the need for specific guidance on how to use PRINCE2 in an agile context has grown accordingly. In simple terms, PRINCE2 and agile each have their own strengths and when combined they complement each other and create a holistic approach to managing projects in an agile way. The strength of PRINCE2 lies in the areas of project direction and project management. However, it provides little focus on the field of product delivery. Conversely, agile has a very strong focus on product delivery but relatively little on project direction and project management

PRINCE2 Agile provides governance and project management controls that are suitable for some situations but not others.

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When a PRINCE2 Project needs to adopt to agile context, tailoring is most important. A PRINCE2 project manager and the project board will need to monitor PRINCE2 recommended behaviours of project management team and the delivery teams. These behaviours are important to function in Agile context efficiently. Below are the PRINCE2 Agile recommended behaviours :

• Transparency
• Collaboration
• Rich communication
• Self‐organisation
• Exploration

Transparency

Transparency behaviour means everyone involved in the work knows the situation and there are no surprises. In Agile ways of working Transparency or openness is very Vital. The more information Clarity is there with in the team, the better this is. Having Transparency helps team to achieve speed, clarity and engagement. The most important driving factor behind this behaviour is the agile values of – honesty, trust, integrity and respect.

Collaboration

Collaboration means engaging with customers and working with them, rather than working for them. Working in silos has it’s own disadvantages. Having a motivated, respectful and collaborate team is better than people who work in Silos. Collaborative teams work together and provide cover for one another.

Collaboration is not always within the project teams but it involves external stakeholders as well. Collaboration with all internal as well as External stakeholders is very important to achieve shared understanding and work towards shared goals and outputs.

Rich communication

As agile way of working, mostly practiced using scrums is very fast paced. In such situations adopting to most effective way to communicate is very important. In Agile context the most effective way to communicate is face- to‐ face and/or visual communication as they are numerous times faster. 

Face- to‐ face and/or visual communication is considered to be a rich communication. Project environment should be tailored to encourage Rich Communication where team can pass information freely in a culture of commitment and trust. Documentation is still important, but by using visual communication methods prove to be more effective.

Self‐organisation

Self-organisation behaviour includes how team and team members work and behave with each other. The people who work together closely mostly know best how to get the job done. Hence people should be trusted and given liberty to work on their own. If they creates a plan, they own it and work towards achieving the plan. Self‐organising creates mutual respect with in the team. In PRINCE2 context a project manager can create trust environment by allowing team manager to focus on product delivery.

Exploration 

Projects are unique risky and challenging, and that is why experimentation is important in order to create ‘the right thing’ which a customer needs. Frequent Releases and quick feedback loops provide an opportunity to learn and adopt for Team. Learning helps to improve the products.

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The most common problem faced by people working on projects is ‘Communication problem’. There are many communication problems that can occur on a project resulting in delays and mis-communication of information and mis-use of resources.

There are various ways in which information and knowledge can pass between project stakeholders in the most effective way. This information flow needs to be managed effectively. Effective communication is very important to the Agile way of working. 

Communication can happen in many different ways as people interact differently during different situations. Like an Email notification to the team informing about an event or meeting. or a workshop to brainstorm and resolve an issue.

PRINCE2® identifies different communication channels as follows:

• The written word
• Visualization (video)
• Verbally, by telephone
• Verbally, face-to-face

The PRINCE2 Agile® approach to communication:

In order to achieve the effective & productive communication on a project, it is important to set up rules for compunction Like the most appropriate time or using the appropriate method

Communication problems need to be proactively addressed by the project manager. A high level guideline or rule for communication are:

• Face-to-face communication should be favored as a faster and clearer channel
• Technology and the level of formality needed by project needs to be assessed
• There is a role for the written word but it has disadvantages
• A project manager or team manager needs to be aware of how a team is communicating
• Communication needs to be organized and planned.

PRINCE2 Agile® gives a lot of importance to communication because in order to succeed with PRINCE2® in an agile environment effective communication is essential. When communication links are weak or they break down in an agile context, it can be very damaging for the project.

1. Choosing the most appropriate channel:

It is very important to choose appropriate channel communication. One of the most effective ways to improve communication is to convey a message at the right time to right people with the right media. The type and frequency of communication need to be agreed by the project management team and the level of formality agreed. PRINCE2®’s communication management approach helps us to manage this.

2. The difficulties with the written word

Most of the time information in the form of the written word is a formal way of communication but human beings find it difficult to process if the volume of information is more.

If the team keeps on communicating with formal media of written word … like an email instead of verbal or other media, then teams time and energy takes a toll affecting the Team bonding and Soul.

3. Getting the right blend

PRINCE2® stresses on the point that document only when necessary. It also describes management products as ‘information sets’ and not documents. As an agile team needs to work faster due to the iterative and adaptive nature of agile, extensive use of face-to-face interaction, visualisations and workshops or video is needed. But this does not mean there is no place for formal or written communication. PRINCE2® ‘s Management products like Business case, Plans tailored according to need and scale of the project need to be used to record decisions and information with Face to face Communication.

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For a PRINCE2 project it is recommended that Suitability of Agile is assessed throughout the project life (In agile terms mostly during retrospectives).

Most of the time the project situations are different affecting usage or working of Agile. Like the level of uncertainty involved or technology used or trust between the stakeholders. 

To assess the agile environment in order to tailor PRINCE2 in the most effective way to work with agile, PRINCE2 Agile guidance suggests using an assessment tool called “Agilometer”. Use of Agilometer helps you make an informed decision.

The Agilometer looks at six key areas or categories indicating risk areas using agile. The project manager is responsible for figuring out what values should be given to each category after consulting the required stakeholders. Each category is represented on the Agilometer figure by a slider. These Key areas are as follows:

• Flexibility on what is delivered
• Level of collaboration
• Ease of communication
• Ability to work iteratively and deliver incrementally
• Advantageous environmental conditions
• Acceptance of Agile

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How should Agilometer be used to assess the suitability agile environment of the project?

The project manager with the help from the project team and its stakeholders should consider each Category separately. Each Category is assessed on a Scale of 1 to 5 or Low to High. A low level (1) in the Agilometer represents a high risk, while the highest level (5) represents the lowest risk. If you assess the Slider Category at Level 5, then it is the most ideal situation to apply Agile way of working.

After using the Agilometer PM creates an assessment. Next step after the assessment is to review and see what can be done to improve the sliders and shift them further to the right. i.e. Towards Level 5 or High.

What You Can Expect from Agilometer:

1. Flexibility of what is delivered

Customers Need to understand that not everything can be delivered. So many times there is a need for training and education. Also prioritization methods Like MoSCoW will be used to decide which Requirement ore needs are must and which probably are not needed at all.

2. Level of collaboration

The purpose of this slider is to investigate reasons why people may be reluctant to collaborate.  This applies to the development team, as well as customer and supplier relationships. Having Slider at level 5 indicates that there is “One Team” culture and High levels of trust exist.

3. Ease of communication

Agile suggests that more informal communication. The environment is said to be ‘communication rich’ if there is a lot of face-to-face interaction and visual information is readily available for all its stakeholders.

So Check here how you communicate. It is recommended that face-to-face communication. Also Formal communication and reporting kept to limited.

4. Ability to work consistently and deliver incrementally

Value has to be delivered to customers early or in incremental steps or stages. Incremental or Step deliveries provide great opportunities for learning and improvement and also to experiment, explore from any mistakes. Check how you are delivering this Value to customers incrementally.

5. Advantageous environmental conditions

The overall working environment should be very supportive of working in an agile way. Typically, an ideal situation is where people are assigned full-time to work on the project and their skills should be appropriate. Check all you environmental parameters here.

6. Acceptance of agile

Stakeholders involved in the project also need to have a good understanding of agile way of working. They should be fully aware of the behaviours, concepts and techniques of working in an agile way. They have been trained and have experience in agile would be advantageous.

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PRINCE2®, stands for Projects In a Controlled Environment. It is a very widely accepted project management methodology which was at first created as a UK government standard for IT projects. Later it’s popularity made it applicable across many industries.

Now PRINCE2 is recognized as a generic project management method, suitable not just for IT projects but projects across all sectors, private as well as public sectors internationally (Mainly in the UK / Australia)

PRINCE2® describes End to end method for project management. It suggests that you can control your projects, by dividing them into manageable stages and Managing One Stage at a time by Setting Tolerances for each Management Level in the Governance.

Let’s look at the difference between PRINCE2® and PRINCE2® Agile certification.

In 2015, AXELOS launched PRINCE2 Agile. It was developed to help professionals tailor management controls when working in an agile environment. PRINCE2 Agile combines two frameworks within the Project Management domain – PRINCE2 and Agile. It combines the flexibility of agile with the governance of PRINCE2. It focuses on how we can tailor PRINCE2 to adopt Agile working practices to ensure success in project environments.

The core of PRINCE2 is PRINCIPLES, THEMES and PROCESSES. Both PRINCE2® and PRINCE2 Agile® cover these 2 Core aspects – principles, processes and themes.  But the main difference between PRINCE2® and PRINCE2® Agile certification is that PRINCE2 Agile guidance describes how PRINCE2® elements can be tailored for an agile environment.

The PRINCE2 controlled environment which has principles, themes and processes are then complemented by five Agile behaviours. The main focus is on purpose & tailoring / adopting documentation with flexible control mechanisms to deliver required results. It also encourages communication and collaboration between the management level and Team.

It also focuses on Creating Value for the Customers. With that PRINCE2 Agile certification also covers wide range of Agile concepts and techniques Like Scrum, Kanban and Lean Start-up principles.

PRINCE2® Certification comprises different levels. They are :

• PRINCE2® Foundation
• PRINCE2® Practitioner
• PRINCE2® Agile Foundation (For Agile Projects)
• PRINCE2® Agile Practitioner (For Agile Projects)

PRINCE2 Agile Foundation

PRINCE2 Agile Foundation is for individuals who are new to PRINCE2 and are working in or around an agile project environment. It aims to cover overview of PRINCE2, an introduction to agile and how to apply the two together

PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner

Candidates who are already certified in either PRINCE2 or PRINCE2 Agile Foundation levels can appear for PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner. It aims to explores practical application of the PRINCE2 Agile method in different project environments and scenarios

PRINCE2 Foundation

The Foundation certification aims Check if you know and understand the PRINCE2 method well enough to be able to work effectively as a member of a PRINCE2 project management team. 

PRINCE2 Practitioner

Candidates who are already certified in PRINCE2 Foundation level can appear for PRINCE2 Practitioner. The Practitioner certification aims to confirm whether you have sufficient understanding of how to apply and tailor the PRINCE2 method in different project environments and scenarios.

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