PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner Course – Day 2

The Configuration Librarian maintains strict control over releases (you naughty boy)

08:30 – an early start, and I only just make it. I suspect that I have the furthest to drive.

We begin with a review of last night’s homework – a mock Foundation paper. The lecturer takes us through it page by page, with delegates required to pipe up whenever they got a question wrong, so that they can feel like idiots / have the answer explained to them. As I didn’t get any wrong until question 40, I feel pretty smug at first.

One fact is blindingly clear: you may have read somewhere that “there are no trick questions in the PRINCE2 exams”. Well, that’s a lie – the mock Foundation paper (which consists of real questions) is full of sneaky double negatives, three-questions-for-the-price-of-one, and questions which look as though they’re asking about one thing, but are actually testing you on something else completely. Beware!

And, of course, multiple-choice is a double-edged sword. While it is true than even a retarded chimpanzee should be able to score 25%, on the other hand there is no scope for ambiguity, or for successfully arguing your case. Answer (a) is either right or wrong, score one or zero, circuit gate closed or open, that’s your lot. And, of course, there’s no opportunity to be a smart arse like the fabled philosophy student at my old Uni who, when confronted with an exam question that terrifyingly demanded “Why?”, answered succinctly “Why not?” and spent the rest of the afternoon in the union bar (according to the legend, the faculty were of course forced to award him full marks).

09:00 – we move on to the next topic: the IP process (you do know this is “Initiating a Project, don’t you?). And what is the first concern when initiating your project? Why, QUALITY, of course, with a capital K.

“Quality” is such an easy sell to the captains of industry, isn’t it? You can almost see the presentation – “Yes, gentlemen, quality is built-in from the very start of our PRINCE2 method – it’s our first concern”. But what, exactly, do captains of industry think of when they hear the word “quality”?

Traditional features like the bulls-eye air vents and the organ stop controls are exquisitely framed by brilliant veneers on the fascia, and the front and rear seat consoles. Premium grade leather hide is also employed to soft surfaces, including the trim around the sporting gear selector and steering wheel. Knurled brightware controls and a choice of premium wood veneers exemplify the craftsman’s touch

(The Continental GT interior, Bentley Motors website)

Not, perhaps, some pedantic w@nker picking holes in the grammar of your Business Case in a sweaty little meeting room somewhere.

Anyway, if you want QUALITY in your project, you’re going to need a Quality Plan (we all know that if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail, right?). So, we cover how to put one of those together, and also PRINCE2’s rather sinister-sounding “Path to Quality”, which sounds a bit like a Scientology auditing session.

We do an exercise, where we all have to create a Quality Plan, based on the same running project scenario we worked on yesterday. I have to admit, mine was rubbish – some quickly scribbled notes on a torn sheet of A4 – nothing “quality” about it at all. But, that’s enough QUALITY for now.

10:45 – after a much-needed coffee break and, yes, a Club chocolate biscuit (I had no idea they still made them), we move onto Planning proper, and PRINCE2’S product-based planning technique. I think I finally get it now, especially as the lecturer makes clear that section 22.1 of the OGC manual (The four products of product-based planning) actually lists the products in the order they should be produced, which was not at all clear from my first reading. I do, at this stage, feel sorry for anyone on the course who has not already produced project plans using MS Project and the like, and this sort of knowledge is very much assumed.

12:30 – lunch is a similar buffet to yesterday (I’m not complaining – I just regret failing to bring along an Alan Partridge-style oversized plate, and so am forced to make that shameful second visit). Our break is enlivened by a nice sales lady giving us a presentation of the company’s other training products. Ho hum …

13:10 – back to work, and the planning session completes, followed by a bit about Project Controls, Configuration Management and setting up your Project Files (I must admit, I find this last bit of guidance re your project filing to be a bit pathetic – something PRINCE2 could easily do without). The only trouble with Configuration Management is that I keep having these thoughts about the Configuration Librarian …

15:30 – coffee break, and then we crack on with Managing Stage Boundaries, followed by the last exercise of the day – preparing a Product Description. We are allowed to pick any product around us, and (for some reason) most of us choose a plastic cup.

17:00 – end of day. Homework is another Foundation Exam.