RTFM Unit 2

The trigger for the project is the Project Mandate.

(OGC manual, Starting Up A Project, section 4.2)

Cracking on. Unit 2 of the pre-course work has our hero slogging his way through the following sections of the OGC manual:

• From the Processes section, Starting Up a Project and Directing a Project
• From the Components section, the Business Case and Organisation
• Appendix B – Project Management Team Roles
  

Notice once again PRINCE2’s unique (mis)use of the English Lanuage – “Starting Up” and “Initiating” are two separate things, not synonyms as we all thought. Guess which one comes first? Guess which one is and which one is not actually part of the project life cycle?

“Components” is a strange term, too – now, the Business Case is really a product (indeed, it has an entry in Appendix A, Product Description Outlines) – i.e., a document in normal human language. Organisation, on the other hand, is all about the management structure – something quite central to PRINCE2, and quite remarkably rigid. I’m not sure that “components” would be my first choice for a collective term – “odds and sods” might be more realistic.

Anyway, there are some clear lessons to take from this unit:

• No project can start unless the project manager is first supplied with a bottle of cheap 1970’s aftershave.
  
• The project manager then has to start producing a Daily Log (“Would you like to see my Daily Log?” “Get lost, you filthy depraved scumbag”).
  
• You, as project manager, don’t really need to bother your *rse about Directing a Project.
  
• You are the Project Executive’s bitch.