RTFM Unit 4

Controlling a Stage can be quite challenging

Day four of the pre-course work - the exciting world of:

• From the Processes section, Managing Stage Boundaries, Controlling a Stage and Managing Product Delivery (just get UPS to do it, surely?)
• From the Components section, Controls
  

Well, to summarise:

Managing Stage Boundaries is where you draw up the real plan for actually doing something, and try to get some actual named bodies assigned to it. In real life, this may be something you’d prefer to avoid, if you’re a high-level, strategic directions and architectures kinda guy.

Controlling a Stage is where you get to hand out neatly parcelled Work Packages to the bods doing the actual work (whether it’s their birthday or not), and then check up on the results.

Managing Product Delivery is that tiny little box you find at the heart of all these methodologies that involves ACTUAL WORK (i.e., producing executable code, laying bricks, assembling a nuclear warhead, whatever). You should avoid this like the plague.

Now, what about Controls? As Ms Jackson once remarked:

Are we ready? I am cause its all about control
And Ive got lots of it

Im in control, never gonna stop
Control, to get what I want
Control, I got to have a lot
Control, now Im all grown up

Lots of it, alright. Control is really what PRINCE2 is all about. You need to know about controls, the contingency, tolerance and the change budget … all slightly different and make sure you get the definitions right.

RTFM Unit 3

Every Plan Involves Risk

Day three of the pre-course work. That means more chapters of the OGC manual:

• From the Processes section, Initiating a Project and Planning
• From the Components section, Plans and The Management of Risk
• From the Techniques section, Product Based Planning
• Appendix C, Risk Categories
  

Does anyone sense an element of repetition here? You have a process called Planning, a component called Plans, and a technique called Product Based Planning. Maybe they’re just forcing the message home, for those of us with short attention spans. Now, we all know planning is important, because:

If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail

On the other hand, maybe von Moltke had it right:

No plan ever survives contact with the enemy

To be fair, PRINCE2 does try to accommodate both maxims – planning is important, but it is seen as an iterative process, with the high-level project plan only fleshed out into named resources at the stage level.

What about all this risky business? The key quote is from Management of Risk, section 17.2.2:

The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that the risks are identified, recorded, and regularly reviewed.

And … errr … that’s it! Actually doing something about those risks is down to the Project Board, as 17.2.2 goes on to explain (although, the PM does have to modify his plans to include agreed risk mitigation actions).

So, the key PRINCE2 risk management principle is simply this: CYA (Cover Your *rse). And, the secret to successful CYA implementation is: for f*cks sake record any and all risks in the Risk Log and keep banging on about them on a regular basis. Then you can say “Nah nah nah nah nah !!! I TOLD you so!”

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.

RTFM Unit 1

Right, time to get on with some actual work, I suppose. Unit 1 of the pre-course study guide is not too scary; it covers amazing stuff such as:

• Check your course joining instructions for times, dates, location, and whether you need overnight accommodation (gosh, and here was I thinking I’d just sleep under a hedge).
  
• Familiarise yourself with the basic structure of OGC’s Managing Successful Projects With PRINCE2 (emm … it’s a big paperback book, nice glossy paper, black print with headers and diagrams in RED for some reason, not a lot of illustrations and precious few jokes).
  
• Read the various introductions (which set up various definitions, etc. – a PRINCE2 “customer” is not the same thing as newsagent’s “customer”).
  
• Read the Product Description Outlines in Appendix A.
  

Now, this last bit is informative. In practice, I suspect that the Product Description Outlines (i.e., document templates in normal English) will turn out to be the single most useful part of the PRINCE2 manual – they certainly were with METHOD/1, that late, unlamented IT project management method I used years ago. The big difference between PRINCE2 and METHOD/1, however, is that PRINCE2 defines 36 different types of “management product” (now, there’s an oxymoron for you), whereas METHOD/1 had … f-ing SHEDLOADS. So, yippee!!! Less is most definitely more.

Pre-course Work

Holly’s Project Briefs were much admired

Now, there’s a phrase to send a chill down your spine. You know how it is – you’ve finally persuaded your company to spare you for a week, and shelled out the dough to pay for a course (or, worse, even sprung for it yourself), and you find that a week of total immersion is somehow not considered enough. Oh, no, despite being prepared for some intensive learning, and even the possibility of homework, they also want you to do … PRE-COURSE PREPARATION !!!

So, I’ve got my “exclusive” PRINCE2 pre-course preparation pack, and what does it consist of? Mainly, it’s THE BOOK – yes, the latest edition of the OGC’s Managing Successful Projects With PRINCE2, in all its 457-page glory, and complete with that cover illustration of a happy Project Board, grinning like a bunch of Goldman bankers at bonus-time (circa 2006). And, there’s also the actual Study Guide, which consists a few stapled sheets of A4. The contents are simple: studying is broken down into six sections, each of which is an instruction regarding which chapters in the OGC manual should be read and in which order, followed by some self-assessment questions (answers at the back – no peeking, now!).

Hmmm … so, that’s it? Let’s put this simply – I could rewrite the “exclusive pre-course preparation” in four letters – RTFM (Read The F-ing Manual).

Not that that’s such a bad thing. Personally, I’ve always been a great believer in the RTFM principle, as opposed to paying good money to have someone talk at you. And, don’t get me started on CBT’s or video-based training – the cheesy delivery and familiar Powerpoint presentations simply set my mind wandering elsewhere. No, if you really want to learn something, read a book.

Actually, I did originally intend to learn PRINCE2 that way – just buy the book and RTFM. And, if I were simply learning PRINCE2, with a view to using it in my job, that’s what I’d do. But, the point is, I want those qualifications, so that means I have to sit the exams. And, while you can self-study, and then book the exams yourself (see the APM website ), the problem is that you may not be very near one of the three open exam centres (Milton Keynes, York and Chester), nor may their dates suit you. Also, it’s not cheap just to do the exams - £555 for both Foundation and Practitioner, plus you’d then have to shell out for at least the OGC manual to study. So, all in all, the cost of my one week course was really quite reasonable, considering that the fee included the exams and all necessary materials. And, who knows who you might run into on a course? I hear that Holly Valance is really into Project Management these days.*


* This is a lie.

What’s it all about?

I’m a Project Manager. I manage projects. Or, at least, I used to … and now I want to give it another go.

You know how it is – Project Management’s a dirty job, and we all think about moving on … I had this dream about buying some land, gonna give up the booze, and the one night stands – just try to settle down, in a quiet little town, and forget about everything. But you know he’s gotta keep moving … etc.

So back down these mean streets I must go. And, one difference I have noticed from the old days is how every project management job ad now lists PRINCE2 certification as at least “highly desirable”. Now, I have managed a few projects in my time. And, I’ve used plenty of structured methods, including the original PRINCE (before it became new and improved). But, until I can put “PRINCE2 certified” on my CV, that’ll be one box I fail to check, when I start looking for an actual job again.

So, I have decided to do a course on PRINCE2 – one of the one-week, Foundation-and-Practitioner level bootcamps that should see me qualified. And, I thought that it would be amusing … and, hey, maybe even informative to somebody … to blog about it. So, here we are.

So, time for my first big question. Why does the cover of OGC’s Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 have Lando Calrissian from Star Wars on the far right?