PRINCE2 : Reflections on a method

PRINCE2: it’s all about control

Well, I’m sure you’ll all be glad to know that my Practitioner exam result is now through, and I have passed with flying colours – a much better score than I was expecting, actually. So, I must have been doing something right.

Having had a couple of weeks to reflect, what do I really think about PRINCE2? I think that it’s a good method, overall, as much for what it leaves out as what it includes. Back in the day … I mean, way back in the day, when I was but a callow techie promoted beyond his competence (because the system that needed re-developing was understood by precisely one person – i.e., me), I used a project management framework called METHOD/1. Now, anyone anywhere who complains about PRINCE2 being overly bureaucratic and document-heavy should be dropped down a hole somewhere, and forced to use METHOD/1 to plan his way out. I guarantee he’ll still be there on the other side of Christmas, unless he’s produced enough “deliverables” to clamber to the surface.

METHOD/1 tried to include EVERYTHING you might need to do to implement a computer system, so that (in theory) you could have a retarded chimpanzee as project manager and still come out on top. All you had to do was to fire up PMW (no MS Project in those days!), slot in all the METHOD/1 phases, tasks and steps, assign resources and dependencies (which was easy, as each step was sequential – classic “waterfall” stuff), and voila! You had your plan.

You could then enter it for the Booker Prize, as it bore absolutely no f-ing relation to any of the actual activities you would undertake over the next year or so.

PRINCE2’s aspirations are much more limited. There’s nothing IT-specific about it at all, or, indeed, any attempt to tell you how to do the actual work (whether it be by brickies or software engineers – those sweating workers, hammering out great sheets of code). What it is, fundamentally, is a framework of control, and a means of delegating that control in discrete chunks, while limiting corporate risk exposure. The prescribed organisation structure is key.

A PRINCE2 Project Manager is not there to tell the techies how to do their job (unless he’s also the Team Manager, of course, but this is a case of wearing two hats). Nor, particularly, is it his job to kick butts; if a kicking is required, it is more likely to come from the Senior Supplier. The Project Manager is also not responsible for delivering the benefits of the project, merely “delivering an outcome that is capable of achieving the benefits” (Managing Successful Projects PRINCE2, P 212, my emphasis).

It is the Project Executive who is “ultimately accountable for the project” and who is the “key decision maker”. I hate to break it to you guys, but the PRINCE2 Project Manager is really just the Project Executive’s bitch, who’s job it is to draft the plans (for the Board’s approval), parcel up the Work Packages for the techies, and then monitor progress and go crying to the Board when anything goes wrong. More admin boy than international troubleshooter; the general implication is that the Project Manager doesn’t even have any line management responsibility. In real life, this is quite likely – the Project Manager may be a contractor with a virtual team made up of slices of peoples’ time (been there, done that), or he may be responsible for an outsourced development happening on the other side of the world.

Tolerance, therefore, is a key PRINCE2 concept. The Project Manager hands out Work Packages to the Team Manager (or, directly to the techies), telling them what to do and when it must be done by – with a tolerance level beyond which they are not permitted to proceed. In turn, the Project Manager has been granted (by the Project Board) a budget for a particular project stage (consisting of lots of Work Packages), with a level of tolerance beyond which he must not proceed. One level above that, and the Project Board have been given a budget for the whole project (by corporate or programme management), with a tolerance level which they must not exceed.

Now, it goes beyond PRINCE2 to mention it (you need to learn the OGC’s MSP method now!), but corporate/programme management probably have their own set budget and tolerance level, going all the way up to the actual company board of directors, and (in theory) then to the shareholders (but, the fatal separation between ownership and control that blights modern capitalism is not a subject for this blog), or maybe even the Leather Goddesses of Phobos. And, if anyone does need to exceed their tolerance level, they have to pass the decision back up the chain.

Thus, in combination with PRINCE2’s explicit phasing of any project into stages, risk is strictly controlled, which senior management having the opportunity to pull the plug or make changes as required, rather than money continuing to be poured down the drain on projects which have long ago lost touch with reality. Marvellous, eh? Makes you wonder, then, as PRINCE2 is a product of HMG, how all those NHS and civil service IT projects manage to turn into bloated fiascos?

PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner Course – Day 5

When you can walk the ricepaper and leave no path, Grasshopper, it will be time for you to leave

Apologies for being a little late with this entry, but I have been enjoying the feeling of release that comes with the completion of any course. Day 5 was, of course, the final day – a final morning, actually, of tuition, and then the Practitioner exam in the afternoon.

The day started with a review of the previous night’s homework – several Practitioner-level “questions”. I did badly – my brain was frazzled by the time I even got to try these at home. Course fatigue was setting in. I checked I had my Pro-plus ready for the afternoon.

Homework review over, we then proceeded to cover Controls once more, with the emphasis on different forms of tolerance and when they should be used. Then, a bit more on Configuration Management, then back to Processes again for Managing Stage Boundaries, Controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery. These all seemed like old friends now.

Post-coffee, and we whizzed through the PRINCE2 Techniques once more, with stress being placed upon Product Based Planning, as probably the most obscure of the three. And, finally, back to Processes again for my favourite bit – Closing a Project. End of story.

And then lunch – the usual excellent cold buffet spread. The mood was subdued – a lot of mental preparation was going on. I simply made sure I had a coffee ready, my two Pro-plus downed, and a ready supply of mints to hand. We all received our special soft pencils (for filling in our answers). A hint to obsessive-compulsives like myself – take along a sharpener, so you can be sure of having the pleasure of using a nice, sharp pencil throughout the exam. Then, the sealed exam packs were handed out, the lecturer got us to mark the time, and … we were off.

Once actually underway, the Practitioner Exam itself was a relief. I read the overall scenario briefing – a straightforward situation, with clear and present dangers which a diligent PRINCE2 Project Manager could now address. Quickly, I fell into a routine for each of the nine question areas:

• Check the syllabus area noted at the top of the page
• Open the PRINCE2 manual at the corresponding section
• Check Appendix A for any document structures mentioned in the question
• Check for any additional information re this question in the scenario booklet
• Give it my initial best shot and move on, marking the question paper where I was ambiguous

And, after an hour and a half, I was finished. Well, I had at least answered everything. Other heads were still bowed, scribbling away. Time for a break – we had been told we could simply get up to visit the toilet, which I didn’t really need, but I did need some air. So, I simply walked outside for a few minutes, stretched and took in some air, then went back.

Time to review the answers marked for ambiguity. I changed about half of my initial responses.

Then, time to quickly run through everything – only a couple of changes made.

Finally, I ran a very careful check on the numbering sequence of the questions and answers – my greatest fear being that I had managed to get out of sequence somewhere, rendering the remainder of my answers hopelessly wrong.

After that, enough was enough. I do not believe in continuously rechecking your own work – you simply begin to doubt your own convictions. So, with about forty minutes still left, I handed in my papers (you have to return everything – questions, scenario booklet and all), and left.

A bit of an anti-climax, really – no sense of grand triumph at completion. Already, I was thinking ahead to a busy weekend, and having to catch up on real life again. Oh well, roll on the results!!!

PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner Course – Day 4

The examination board considered a number of alternatives to the old essay-based paper

A new dawn, a new day, a new course, really. While most of us have opted for the one-week “bootcamp”, some delegates have chosen only to do the 3-day Foundation course (and have now left), while we also have a couple of joiners, for what is a two-day Practitioner course. It seems these new delegates have opted for CBT-based Foundation training, and have sat the Foundation exam alone, then choosing to come along for the Practitioner instruction only. Alternately, I suppose you could split it into separate three and two day course, but personally I think that’s to be avoided – much better to get through both exams with all the information fresh in your mind.

It soon becomes apparent that the focus of the Practitioner course is very much on getting us all through the exam. How could it be otherwise, as there is only really a day and a half of tuition, with the exam itself on Friday afternoon? And, it becomes apparent, the Practitioner exam is something of a subject in itself.

So, topic one is all about the Practitioner exam – the PRINCE2 Objective Test Examination, to give it its full title. Did I mention it is now multiple choice? Oh, yes, none of the old three-hour essay grind, just tick the boxes and you’re away, except … this isn’t your momma’s multiple choice. Oh, no, nor is it the sort of multiple choice you know and love from the Foundation exam (choice of four answers; tick one box; retarded chimpanzee gets 25%).

No, this is multiple choice with intellectual rigour. You still get three hours, but now there are nine separate topics, referred to as “questions”. Now, this is another example of PRINCE2-speak, as I initially thought “Three hours to answer nine multiple choice questions? Can I leave after ten minutes?” But, the truth is that each “question” actually consists of up to 4 parts (A through D), within which there are up to twelve actual questions to be answered (as normal human beings understand the term). So, in reality, we are talking about three hours to answer over three hundred questions.

What PRINCE2 calls a “question” is really a topic; the exam you sit will consist of nine topics selected from a possible list of eleven, viz.:

• Business Case
• Organisation
• Management of Risk
• Plans
• Product Based Planning
• Controls
• Configuration Management
• Change Control
• Quality in a Project Environment
• Quality Review
• Processes
  

The good news is that it is all based upon a single scenario; the idea is to demonstrate that you can apply your knowledge of PRINCE2 (gained by achieving the Foundation qualification) to a specific situation. So, what you get in the exam is a pack containing three separate booklets:

• The scenario booklet, containing an overall description of the Project Scenario (e.g., The Programme Manager, Mr A. Hitler, has as part of his programme of world domination assigned you the mission of managing the invasion of Russia. The project has to be completed before the arrival of winter, and you will be assigned the resources of Army Groups North, Centre and …etc …) as well as supplemental information for each of the questions (e.g., It is now autumn 1941. Despite Army Group South’s successful encirclement and destruction of Red Army units around Smolensk, the Russians refuse to surrender, and appear to have more reserves than was originally estimated. The main objective of the project has now changed to the seizure of Moscow, to achieve a political victory before the coming winter calls a halt to offensive operations).
  
• The question booklet, containing (surprisingly enough) the nine “questions”. Helpfully, each is labelled with the relevant syllabus topic listed above, so you can turn straight to the relevant section in the OGC manual.
  
• The answer booklet, the layout of which corresponds to the question booklet, and which contains stacks of little ovals for you to colour in.
  

The reason retarded chimpanzees will not get 25% in the Practitioner exam is because the format changes from question to question. For example, “Question” 1 might be about the Business Case. Part A might then make a statement about the Business Case, followed by eight questions each consisting of further statements, where you have to select the answer as either “A” (the statement is correct) or “B” (the statement is false). Part B might then consist of six questions, each of which requires you to select two true statements from a list of six (A to F). Part C might then consist of eight statements, and you have to select from a list of five categories (A to E) which one applies to each.

Many of the “questions” will include a section with a real brain-teaser of a format – the Assertion/Reason matrix. This is where each question requires you to identify whether an assertion is true or false; whether a reason is true or false; and, if they are both true, whether the reason explains the assertion. For example:

All swans are white - Assertion

BECAUSE

Only white swans have been observed - Reason

Depending on the scenario information, you might decide that both the assertion and the reason are correct; however, in this case the reason does not support the assertion (No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion. John Stuart Mill).

You see what I mean about the Practitioner exam being a subject in itself? What is helpful to learn is that the pass mark is only 50%, and that this is to compensate for the subjective nature of the subject and the different possible interpretations of the scenarios.

Other exam points:

• There’s no reading time allowed, but the first “question” is apparently simplified to compensate – so, plan on spending twenty minutes per “question”.
• The supplemental information for each of the questions applies only to that question.
• The 2009 PRINCE2 revision will split the OGC manual into two – one for Project Managers and one for the Project Board.
• There will be an advanced PRINCE2 qualification for Project Board members from next year.
  

Exam technique aside, we then proceeded into a review of the key elements of PRINCE2, and start to review the Processes. Yes, it’s time for Starting Up a Project all over again, with the emphasis on the project structure and roles, followed by a big section on the Business Case. After lunch, it’s all about Risk, Initiating a Project, and Quality in a Project Environment.

Throughout the sessions, we are encouraged to highlight and makes notes directly into our OGC manuals. This is vital, because the OGC manual is the only document you are allowed to take into the exam. So, there’s not a lot of point buying any of those other PRINCE2 guides then.

And, we also do lots of sample exam questions. At the end of the day, there is more homework – guess what? More sample Practitioner exam questions.

PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner Course – Day 3

Any signs of deviation beyond tolerance levels must be escalated

08:30 – like yesterday, we start with a review of last night’s homework. There’s a notable air of rising tension in the room, as we all await the real test this afternoon.

09:30 – We go through Controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery, and then there’s a quality bit. No, really, I mean a QUALITY bit (not that the rest was rubbish), looking at the Quality Review process.

10:30 – after coffee (and a Twix finger this time), it’s on to Change Control. This culminates in a genuine team exercise, with the people on my team being completely unable to decide whether the scenario issues are problems, change requests or off-specifications.

The pace picks up. We are rattling through the remainder of the syllabus, covering Managing Stage Boundaries, Exception Reports and Plans, and how to deal with deviation (most harshly, I would have thought - can't have these deviants carrying on with their filthy practices). Just before lunch, we finalise things (appropriately enough) with the Closing a Project process. Strangely missing is the essential sub-process which I remember vividly at the end of one banking project I ran back in 1999 – take all the contractors into a room one by one, give them a black bin liner for their stuff, and tell them to f*ck off.

12:30 – lunch was a slightly varied buffet today, but still excellent. Jam doughnuts for desert.

13:00 – post-lunch, there’s an overall review, process by process, while gallows humour predominates among the delegates.

14:00 – the exam. We have to clear our desks, and then we get a question paper and an answer matrix. It’s standard multiple choice stuff – you have to make an “X” in the chosen box. To my mind, the biggest challenge looks like ensuring your answering stays in sync with the question sequence – miss one, and you get everything wrong thereafter. What is really surprising is that it’s all done on paper – I would have thought an online version would be so much simpler and quicker to administer.

As I start, I find myself gripped by a growing sense of horror. The two test papers I had rattled through on Monday and Tuesday evening, and managed a comfortable score without trying very hard, as the answers simply jumped out at me. But this, the real exam, is much, much harder – the questions are full of ambiguity and convoluted logic. On my first pass through, I leave at least a dozen unanswered.

I managed my first pass though in about 30 minutes, more than twice as long as the mock papers had taken me. I then spend a good further 15 minutes puzzling over the skipped ones, before making a final check that my numbering sequence is correct. That’ll do. It’ll have to.

Outside, the delegates collect like condemned men.

16:00 - we are called back – and, incredibly, we have all passed (even the student – who really seemed like he’d lost the plot). Even more incredibly, we are given our scores, and I have come in only 1% less than I managed in the mock papers.

Six of our merry crew leave forever – they were just doing the Foundation course, which makes little sense to me.

The rest of us get a Practitioner course booklet – exam guidelines and sample questions. We have some to do tonight.

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.

PRINCE2 Foundation & Practitioner Course – Day 1

The lecturer was reassuringly grey-haired

08:40 – At last! The quest is at an end. After a good thirty minutes driving round and round and round and round … the light industrial park that is my goal looms before me. I really should spring for satnav – map-reading is all very well in theory, but when you can’t see any street-signs and there’s nowhere legal to pull over and navigate …

Funny place for an IT training organisation – nestled between the builders’ merchants and tyre and exhaust outlets. It doesn’t look like there’s anywhere to buy lunch – good thing I brought a sandwich with me. But, there is at least no problem with parking, and the building I’m headed for looks tidy and respectable.

The lecturer (I suppose I should say, “course facilitator”) turns out to be lurking outside, pulling down a sly fag before start-up time. He’s reassuringly grey-haired – I’d hate to be learning something off someone who looks younger than me (a preference that is becoming increasingly hard to sustain, now that James Bond, Doctor Who and the leader of the Conservative Party are all my junior – so what do I want to be when I grow up?).

There’s no reception – I just walk straight through the door and into the training room. The lecturer asks my name, and simply checks me off on a list (hint for cash-strapped PRINCE2 wannabes – just turn up at a course, give a common name like “John Smith” and you could be in f.o.c.).

Joy! There is not only coffee, but also a fine selection of biscuits and even a bowl of fruit. Dodging the latter, I seize a latte and a Kitkat.

09:00 – the introductions begin. We all do the usual “My name is Joe Bloggs, and I am an alcoholic [sorry] a Senior Analyst who is starting to manage projects” speech. The room is packed – there are 16 delegates in total, a full course. I learn later that there has been a marked increase in the course’s popularity over the past three to four months – a sign of the times? So many boxes to be checked these days.

The delegates are a mixed bunch. Mostly, they fall into pretty obvious categories by their particular definition of “smart casual” dress (as specified in the pre-course notes – is there another country in the world where this would need to be mentioned?):

• NHS, local authority and charity employees: Marks & Spencer (or maybe Primark – have you heard there’s a credit crunch?) sensible blouses, polo shirts, slacks and skirts, all in varying shades of beige polyester;
• Software house, telecoms and engineering techies (looking to be promoted beyond their competence): defiantly scruffy jeans and tee shirts;
• Bankers (a complete wunch): the same business suit and shirt they wear every day, but … err … leave the tie off … (it is casual, you know).
  

There’s one professional student (he’s just done his MBA, and PRINCE2 obviously slots in somewhere between the Applied Basket Weaving and Masters in Financial Mathematics courses he’s got lined up for autumn). There’s also one bold young lady who blatantly admits to having been made redundant (so, I’m not the only one hoping to tout myself around to anyone who’s hiring).

The lecturer introduces himself. He has, indeed, been around the block a few times, and has an IT background involving major insurers and banks, before joining this training crew. He has an avuncular, no nonsense style – I think he’s going to be good.

The course structure and objectives are covered. This is a five-day course, with the Foundation Exam on Wednesday afternoon, and the Practitioner Exam on Friday afternoon. It is intensive stuff – not, it is stressed, because PRINCE2 is intellectually difficult, but simply because there is a lot of information to impart. I wonder how many amongst us have actually completed the pre-course reading (most of the OGC manual); naturally, I make light of my efforts when in conversation, and I suspect that I am not the only one who does not wish to sound like a swot. In truth, I do think that, without a decent bit of pre-course work, you would rapidly be drowning in unfamiliar jargon.

We all get a very nice handout pack, containing slide copies, along with pens and highlight markers to go with our OGC manuals that we were sent in the post pre-course. We find out that – shock horrors! – there will be HOMEWORK in addition to the 9am-5.30pm slog. So much for having a life.

The aim is to complete the imparting of knowledge by Wednesday lunchtime, so that we can tackle the Foundation Exam in the afternoon. Thursday till Friday lunchtime, thereafter, will concentrate on the scenario work that is required for the Practitioner Exam. We are politely informed that we may feel overwhelmed.

Big news – BOTH exams are now multiple choice! No more three-hour essays for the Practitioner, thank God. Now, even a retarded chimpanzee has a fair chance of at least a 25% score.

A bit of gossip – PRINCE2 is changing. As of 2009, the manual will be split into two documents – one for Project Managers, and one for the Project Board. Well, let’s not worry about that now.

09:30 – the course proper starts. Basic stuff first – what is a project? Why do projects fail? Why use a Project Management method?

The answers, surprisingly enough, are to be found in the OGC manual … now, this really is a key point, because, let’s face it, what are we all on this course for? To learn how to use PRINCE2? Maybe for some of us … but, in the real world, the real purpose of the course is (just like the real purpose of school and university) to enable you to pass the exam. What we really want is that box ticked so that the next brain-dead recruitment agent who leafs through our CV doesn’t instantly discard it because “the client really wants someone who is PRINCE2 qualified”. Now, the Foundation Exam is closed-book (it’s basically just a memory test) but in the Practitioner Exam (the real challenge) you are allowed to take along your copy of the OGC manual (and nothing else).

Which is, if you think about it, pretty amazing, really. I don’t recall being allowed to take along my copy of Milton Friedman’s Monetary History of the United States to my University macroeconomics exam. And, even if I had, it might not have done me much good, as the exam was just as likely to cover Keynes as Friedman, and a dozen other economists too. But, with PRINCE2, the OGC manual is literally the word of God – that’s it, the whole subject in those 450 pages, containing the answer to every question you may be posed. And, you get to take it in with you.

Maybe I’m stating the obvious here, but it strikes me that the key Practitioner Exam technique is to know your way around the OGC manual, to have high-lighted the key points (you are allowed to use an annotated version), and to be able to find the relevant sections as quickly as possible.

And, it becomes clear, this course is going to deliver on that front. As he goes through each topic, the lecturer shows us which section of the manual contains the information, and even suggests which sentences to highlight with our funky yellow pens. Plus, I am rapidly adding any notes I take down to the manual’s margins, not on a separate pad or my handout pack – you can’t take those into the exam!

On my way home tonight, I am going to make an essential purchase: a pack of those mini-Post-it notes to mark each manual section for instant access.

10:30 – break for coffee, and this time a muesli bar (well, I had to skip breakfast). Soon after we are back to it, with an overview of PRINCE2 proper, PRINCE2 benefits and some of the jargon and product descriptions. Note that PRINCE2 is about projects, not programmes – the old PRINCE (1) used to cover programmes, but the OGC have worked out they can sell more manuals by splitting programme management into a separate discipline and calling it MSP.

12:30 – lunch, and wonder of wonders, a buffet appears. Now we are talking – there was no hint of us getting fed in the course brochure. I realise that to some of you a few rounds of sandwiches, a couple of pork pies and mini quiches, plus some fruit cake to follow, may not sound like much (especially if you are employed by the European Commission), but I for one now consider my course fee very well spent. Get in!

13:00 – Starting Up a Project. After lunch, we cover the SU process and project organisation, followed by a case study where we all have to identify likely individuals in a set project scenario.

15:30 – another coffee break, followed by Business Cases and a Business Case case study.

16:00 – I feel my eyes getting very heavy; there is only so much information one can absorb. Luckily, we whiz over risk management and get into another case study, so I have to wake up.

17:15 – wind up time. Some interesting statistics on the exam pass rates:

• Foundation Exam : 99%
• Practitioner : 80%
  

I’m not sure if that’s reassuring or daunting – how thick will you feel if you fail? Actually, given that the pass level is only 50%, it’ll probably be quite difficult to fail (remember, retarded chimps get 25% on multiple choice).

What’s truly astounding is that over 500 people per week are sitting the Practitioner Exam in the U.K. alone!

Looks like PRINCE2 is going the way of A-levels – no wonder all the job ad’s specify accreditation. They’ll be asking for instructor-level marks soon (66% or above).

Another piece of real-world advice: while there are thirty-six different PRINCE2 management products listed in the manual, in reality you can get away with using about eight.

If in doubt, always raise a Project Issue!

We are given our homework – a mock Foundation Exam.

17:30 -we are released! Hurrah! So far, I am impressed – especially by the lunch and biscuits.

RTFM Units 5 and 6

We put the K into Kwality!

Days five and six of the pre-course work – time to pick up the pace, as the real course starts tomorrow (and who, in the real world, has the luxury of as much preparation as they would like?). So, to finish off, I now need to read the following sections from the OGC manual:

• From the Components section, Quality in a Project Environment, Configuration Management, and Change Control (“Change Control to Major Tom … Commencing countdown, engines on …”)
  
• From the Techniques section, Quality Review Technique and Change Control Approach
  
• From the ….. Zzzzzzzzzzzz … Ooops! Sorry about that, I must have nodded off. Not the most thrilling read in the world, is it?
  
• From the Processes section, Closing a Project
  
• Then, to finish off, the Glossary, the PRINCE2 Healthcheck (Appendix D) and the Project Document Management (Appendix E … now, this one really will send you to sleep)
  

Whew! Thank goodness that’s over. Does it make any sense? Well, yes it does, but at the moment my head keeps swimming around with PRINCE2-speak, and I’m still having to take a step back to differentiate between processes, components and techniques. I seem to have done alright with the self-assessment questions, and (in isolation) each topic seems quite straightforward, but there are a lot of parts to put together, and I feel as though I have a few bits left at the end which don’t seem to fit in anywhere. Maybe they’re just like the spare screws those nice people at IKEA supply you with in their flat-pack furniture. Oh, well, the course proper starts tomorrow, so stay tuned for more exciting adventures in the world of PRINCE2 training.