prince2 agile white paper uk edition

PRINCE2 Agile®: It’s All About Tailoring

Duncan Wade Director of Human Interface Consultancy Ltd.

Copyright © Learning Tree International, Inc. and AXELOS Limited 2015. All rights reserved. Material in this document has been sourced from PRINCE2 AGILE, 2015 Edition. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of both Learning Tree International, Inc. and AXELOS Limited. Permission can be requested at www.LearningTree.com and [email protected]. PRINCE2 Agile® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOSLimited. All rights reserved.

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2PRINCE2 Agile®: It’s All About Tailoring

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

PRINCE2 Agile Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

PRINCE2 Facilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

PRINCE2 Customisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

PRINCE2 Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

PRINCE2 Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About Learning Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

PRINCE2 Agile Course 3634 Excerpt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11




PRINCE2 Agile Overview

PRINCE2 Agile is a terrific solution that can help organisations already benefiting from PRINCE2. It may be traditional for white papers to maintain balance, but I want to share my enthusiasm about a valuable solution that will help us transition to new working practices without compromise.

In recent years, Project Management has been described as “traditional”, while agile working practices have been described as “novel, changing the world of work.”

Professionals have been forced to make a decision that appears binary: Are we a traditionalist or do we go boldly into the future? I imagine I’m not alone in answering, “I want to be both!”

PRINCE2 Agile resolves the dilemma of having to choose. With the right sort of preparation, an organisation can maintain good governance and direction of its initiatives while making use of every tool available to create forward-facing products and solutions. It can help ensure desired outcomes while employing ideas that also bring the future of work into the office today.

Project management is not a new concept, and best practices have been inspected and adapted many times over the years, constantly evolving to address new challenges. While fundamental principles have remained steady, other aspects have changed to capitalise on lessons learned. PRINCE2 has worked effectively with waterfall methodologies to guide and deliver successful projects throughout the world. As much a victim of its own success as anything else, it has become synonymous with traditional project delivery. However, that does not properly represent its role.

US1603_ITIL WP pg2

PRINCE2 can help ensure desired outcomes while

employing ideas that also bring the future of work

into the office today.




PRINCE2 Facilitation

PRINCE2 is a facilitator. Its job is to create an environment where the team and the team delivery processes can succeed. It has done, and will continue to do this facilitation role well for the waterfall approach, as it will for agile delivery if we keep to our established principles. In this case, the key is “tailor to suit the environment”.

PRINCE2 Agile asks a simple question. “What sort of environment do we need in order to empower agile project management?” It considers this question from multiple angles:

• How do we ensure that there is flexibility on what is to be delivered?

• How do we promote and empower collaboration?

• How do we make communication within the project rich and fast?

• How do we enable iterative working and incremental delivery?

• How do we get the contracts and commercials to support our chosen approach to working?

• How do we get buy-in to an agile way of working?

PRINCE2 is a facilitator. Its job is to create an environment where the team and the team delivery

processes can succeed.




It then sets about creating the correct environment. This is PRINCE2 at its best – creating effective project environments where work can be successful. The goal of tailoring is to adjust the “vanilla” vision of PRINCE2, as represented in the manual, to enable directing, managing and delivering to work together to create the products that we want, in the way that we want to them created.

Directing and managing ensure that:

“ The project board are accountable for the project’s success by making key decisions and exercising overall control while delegating day to day management of the project to the project manager.”

– Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® AXELOS

Delivering is about getting the work done and getting it done right:

“ When combining PRINCE2 with agile, the managing product delivery process and the use of work packages needs to be seen as a vital interface and linking process.”

“ The interface should be collaborative and transparent where there is a collective agreement on what is to be produced and how this will be achieved.”

– PRINCE2 Agile®, AXELOS




PRINCE2 Customisation

PRINCE2 Agile is not prescriptive. As agile is such a wide body of knowledge, the PRINCE2 Agile manual explores concepts, gives guidance, and considers alternatives. It does not offer just one simple solution that will work best for every situation.

However, there are front-runners in the world of agile, such as Scrum and Kanban. Both of these approaches are reviewed in the manual, and basic knowledge covering how PRINCE2 might be tailored is offered.

We are not tailoring agile; we just want the delivery mechanism to do its job. PRINCE2 has been built in a flexible way in order to enable our chosen delivery mechanism. Tailored PRINCE2 establishes the environment; agile delivery focuses on creating products that are fit for purpose.

While we could simply put agile in the “execute the work package” box and leave PRINCE2 alone, PRINCE2 Agile aspires to much greater than that, as one process embodying the very best of both. It is an inspirational transformation and exercise in tailoring.

What are the drivers that we should consider when evaluating the benefits of PRINCE2 Agile?

Copyright© AXELOS Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Material is reproduced under licence from AXELOS.

(Figure 3.1 – PRINCE2 AGILE® 2015 Edition.)

Tailored PRINCE2 establishes the environment; agile delivery focuses on creating products

that are fit for purpose.




PRINCE2 Drivers

PRINCE2 Agile is an enabler. From the top down, it facilitates a way of implementing agile techniques, concepts and behaviours that don’t weaken the governance, direction and information flows necessary for successful project completion. It’s a way of tailoring management that empowers agile’s implementation rather than limiting it to fit.

PRINCE2 is a career builder. PRINCE2’s appeal to working professionals is that it is a proven method that works, and its implementation helps us to be successful in our chosen careers. It is also a differentiator in a busy job market. When you have real skill at delivering projects, the challenge is how to make that visible to prospective employers. Today the market is more fragmented, with questions pertaining to how you deliver, traditional or agile. My answer would be, “I don’t mind, how do you like to see it done? I have a flexible set of skills that understand the big picture and the value of governance, I can run a traditionally organised project and I can create an environment where agile working can flourish”. A key piece of evidence that will support that position is the PRINCE2 Agile qualification.

For PRINCEers. Agile is simply too good a tool to be missing from your toolkit. In the right situation it will transform your delivery and build trust and collaboration that is exceptional.

For Agilisters. PRINCE2 is not the traditional behemoth you may think. It creates the space needed for work to be successful, and if applied well, is about empowering and facilitating not command and control.

PRINCE2’s appeal to working professionals is that it is a

proven method that works, and its implementation helps us to be successful in our chosen

careers. It is also a differentiator in a busy job market.




If we challenge PRINCE2 Agile from the perspective of “How does it help me be successful,” it creates an interesting picture:

“The first thing to note is that PRINCE2 allows us to clearly look at winning in different ways. In a PRINCE2 project there are 4 distinct ways to demonstrate a win:

1. The defined acceptance criteria which include the projects performance targets are met

2. The products that the project creates are accepted by our customers

3. The benefits identified in the business case are delivered

4. The promises that we make about how we will run the project, captured in the project initiation documentation, are kept”

– AXELOS White Paper “It’s all about winning”, by Duncan Wade




PRINCE2 Guidance

PRINCE2 Agile guides us to:

Copyright© AXELOS Limited 2009. All rights reserved. Material is reproduced under licence from AXELOS.

(Figure 6.1 – PRINCE2 AGILE® 2015 Edition.)

For a taste of Learning Tree’s PRINCE2 Agile Course 3634, please see the attached slides, excerpted from the course.

In order to create the right environment for an agile delivery framework to succeed, we need to consider every aspect of PRINCE2 and every step in the process of project delivery. PRINCE2 Agile does just that by reviewing the PRINCE2 principles in context and offering recommendations and considerations for the processes and themes. It is a comprehensive approach that considers every step of the dance.

1. Create acceptance criteria that is flexible yet measurable and definitive. Manage our targets to fix time, cost, flex, scope, and quality.

2. Work iteratively and deliver incrementally so that products are accepted by our customers early, and delivery becomes second nature to the project.

3. Create value by ensuring that work delivered has benefit

4. We keep our promises by adopting a set of behaviours, concepts and techniques that define a way of collaborative working.




About the Author

Duncan Wade (www.hic.co.uk) is a Director of Human Interface Consultancy Ltd. He is the Lead Trainer and Course Author of the Learning Tree International courses on PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile, and a working professional in the field of project management and agile delivery.

About Learning Tree

Established in 1974, Learning Tree International is a global provider of hands-on IT and management training. Learning Tree develops, markets and delivers a broad, proprietary library with over 6,000 scheduled, instructor-led courses offered at Learning Tree Education Centers around the world, on-site at client facilities, or via the Internet with AnyWare™ — Learning Tree’s superior, online attendance platform.

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• 66,000 organisations in over 115 countries served

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What PRINCE2 Agile® May Look Like

Handout 3

PRINCE2 Agile® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.

3634/HO3/A.2/605/A.1

2 HO3-

Copyright © Learning Tree International, Inc. and AXELOS Limited 2015. All rights reserved. Material in this document has been sourced from PRINCE2 AGILE, 2015 Edition. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of both Learning Tree International, Inc. and AXELOS

Limited. Permission can be requested at www.LearningTree.com and [email protected]. PRINCE2 Agile® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. All rights reserved.

PRINCE2 Process Overview

Authorize a Stage Directing

Managing

Delivering

Risk Register Quality Register Issue Register

Corporate or Programme Management

DP

CS

SB

IP SU

SU

SB

CS

MP MP

Project Mandate Exec Role Description Appoint Exec

PM Role Description Appoint PM Project Mandate

Project Initiation Documentation (PID) Incl Strategies Incl Project Plan Incl Detailed BC Benefits Review Plan End Stage Report Next Stage Plan

Daily Log Lessons Log

Updated PID Incl Project Plan Incl Detailed BC Incl Risks Benefits Review Plan End Stage Report Next Stage Plan

Accepted Products Updated PID End Project Report Incl Lessons Report Incl FOAR Benefits Review Plan

Work Packages

Work Packages Specialist

Products Specialist Products

Checkpoint Reports

Checkpoint Reports

Highlight Reports

Highlight Reports

CP

Initiation notification Project authorization notification Closure notification

Authorize Initiation

Authorize the Project Authorize

a Stage Authorize Project Closure

Give ad hoc direction

Project Brief Incl Outline BC Incl Project Product Desc Incl Project Approach Incl PM Team Structure Initiation Stage Plan

3 HO3-



Delivery Team •  Self-organized and empowered Approach •  Timebox or flow (e.g., Scrum, Kanban) •  Frequent releases and sprints •  Regular delivery of something of use and value •  Communication face-to-face and visualization—

stand-ups, WIP boards •  Product demos and working practice Retrospectives Plans/product backlogs •  Provide relative priorities between products/

requirements/user stories •  Dynamic, updated regularly Work packages •  Collaboratively defined, empowered teams pull

selected work •  Scope

–  Higher level defined before the stage—releases/ sprints/products

–  Lower level defined during the stage—products/ groups of features/requirements

–  prioritized Product Descriptions •  Outcome •  prioritized composition •  prioritized quality criteria

PRINCE2 Agile—How an Overview Might Look

Setup Team

•  Agile behaviours •  Agile roles blended

Approach •  Agile implications

•  Uncertainty Cynefin Business Case

•  Value per amount delivered –  Best, worst, expected, MVP

–  Tolerances –  Product/features/quality

•  Timescales –  Stages/releases/MVP

–  Early benefit realization •  Costs

–  Increased customer involvement –  Earlier operational expenses

•  Risk Agilometer Project Product Description

•  Outcomes •  Priorities/ranges

–  Products/features/requirements –  Acceptance criteria

Plans/strategies •  Define new approaches/ways of working

–  E.g., change formal and dynamic Extras

•  Requirements gathering •  Product backlog creation

–  Requirements/user stories (Epics) •  Cost and time tolerances for delivery set to zero

4 HO3-



Starting Up a Project

Select the project approach and assemble

the Project Brief

Plan the initiation stage

Design and appoint the project

management team

Appoint the Executive and the Project Managers

Capture previous lessons

Prepare the outline Business Case

Request to initiate a project

Project mandate

Directing a Project

Corporate or programme

management

Starting Up a Project

•  Likely workshop, informal and low-tech •  Plan/timeboxes for requirements/products •  Sprint zero, iteration zero, discovery phase •  Safe-to-fail experiments

•  Likely workshop •  Product Backlog •  High-level

requirements •  Assess uncertainty

with Cynefin

Likely workshop; consider the agile roles required

•  Likely workshop to define Outline Business Case •  Define outcomes, minimum viability •  Value of frequent releases •  Use concepts from Lean Startup (MVP) •  Identify risks with Agilometer •  Likely to indicate some costs and timeboxes •  Project Product Description defines outcomes

Review previous project/release retrospectives

Executive and Project Managers familiar with agile behaviours, concepts and techniques

5 HO3-



Initiating a Project

Create the project plan

Set up the project controls

Prepare the Risk Management

Strategy

Directing a Project

Authority to initiate project

Prepare the Quality Management

Strategy

Prepare the Configuration

Management Strategy

Prepare the Communication

Management Strategy

Refine the Business Case

Assemble the Project Initiation Documentation

Request to deliver a project

Stage boundary approaching

Managing a Stage Boundary


•  Formality agreed •  Release planning •  PRINCE2 and agile

roles mapped

•  Based on info from the Agilometer and Cynefin

•  New agile risks to consider

•  Early definition of ‘Done’ •  Testing strategies (test first) •  Quality criteria prioritization explained/

described

•  Likely workshop with Information Radiators

•  Notes on planned tailoring

•  Agile-orientated Business Case •  Benefits/value tracked by release •  MVP and minimum viability

•  Project plan shows overall viability

•  Product Backlog •  Frequency of releases •  Key requirements and

products prioritized

•  More informal comms •  F2F, workshops,

whiteboards

•  Identify different levels of change; e.g., Formal/Dynamic

•  Plan for frequent delivery

6 HO3-



Controlling a Stage

Directing a Project


Stage boundary approaching Controlling a Stage

Closing a Project

Escalate issues and risks

Report highlights

Take corrective action Review stage status

Project end approaching

Authorize Work Packages

Review Work Package status

Receive completed Work Packages

Capture and examine issues and risks New issue

Managing Product Delivery

Exception likely less- formal meetings

Highlight Report Potential pull from Information Radiators

•  Release reviews •  Release Retrospectives •  Information Radiators

Deal with blockers and impediments

Likely low-tech, sticky notes on the wall

•  Negotiate requirements •  Sprint and release plans •  Agree tolerances •  Working agreements •  Definition of ‘Ready’ •  Definition of ‘Done’

•  Attend daily stand-ups, collaborate with team/team managers •  Update Info Radiators (burn charts, cumulative flow diagrams) •  Servant Leader

•  Sprint reviews •  Sprint Retrospectives

The project from the Project Manager’s

perspective

Authority to deliver Work Package

Completed Work Package

Project Board advice

Request for advice

Exception raised Stage

authorization

Exception Plan approved

7 HO3-




Controlling a Stage


Authority to deliver a Work Package

Completed Work Package

Accept a Work Package

Execute a Work Package

Deliver a Work Package

The project from the Team Manager’s

perspective

•  Collaboratively defined Sprint/release planning

•  Agree tolerances •  Negotiated requirements

lead to work pulled by the team from backlogs

•  Definition of ‘Ready’ •  Definition of ‘Done’ •  Select quality methods

•  Potentially frequent releases •  Sprint/release reviews •  Sprint/release Retrospectives •  Scope and quality checked

and reported •  Assess and improve team

performance

•  Scrum/Kanban frameworks •  Lean Startup approaches •  Daily standups/Scrums •  Low-tech Information Radiators •  Track progress (Scrum/Kanban

boards, burn charts and CFDs) •  Dynamic swapping of low-level

requirements to protect timeboxes •  Flex scope and quality •  Fix time and cost •  Impediments and blockers identified

8 HO3-




Directing a Project

Request to approve Exception Plan

Request to approve next Stage Plan Exception Plan

request

Stage boundary approaching



Controlling a Stage

Produce an Exception Plan

Report stage end

Plan the next stage

Update the Project Plan

Update the Business Case

•  Workshops to create •  Stage Plan/Exception Plans •  (likely to be low tech on the wall) •  Incorporating releases/Sprints •  Product backlogs including •  Product Descriptions •  and requirements updated and

prioritized

•  Product checklist updated •  Release delivery updated •  Release plans updated •  Scope/requirements/products

delivered identified

•  Information Radiators •  Release/Sprint Reviews •  Release/Sprint

Retrospectives •  Value and quality reported

•  Value delivered tracked •  Planned value updated

Managing a Stage Boundary has less significance due to iterative and

incremental delivery, each accompanied by reviews and Retrospectives

Produce an Exception Plan

9 HO3-



Closing a Project

Controlling a Stage

Project end approaching

Premature close

Directing a Project

Prepare planned closure

Prepare premature closure

Hand over products

Evaluate the project

Closing a Project

Recommend project closure

Closure recommendation

•  Draft project closure notification

•  Closing event

•  Final product demo (review) •  Creating BAU Product Backlogs •  Future release planning •  Benefits Review Plan (future

potential value)

•  Final Product Retrospective (incl. review the use of agile)

•  Assess value •  Final checks against original

baselines (Project Product Description, Business Case and project checklist)

•  Informal, low on ceremony •  Project Checklist •  Project Product Description

•  Informal, low on ceremony •  Likely to be common and normal •  Value delivered •  Learn fast/fail fast experiments

Closing a Project has less significance due to iterative and incremental delivery

accompanied by reviews and Retrospectives

10 HO3-



Overview of Directing a Project

Closure recommendation

Premature close

Initiation notification

Project authorization notification

Project Board request for

advice

Corporate advice and decisions

Closure notification

Authorize initiation

Authorize the project

Authorize a Stage or Exception Plan

Give ad hoc direction Authorize

project closure

Request to initiate a project

Request to approve

next Stage Plan

Request to approve

Exception Plan

Exception Plan approved

Stage authorization

Authority to initiate a project

Request to deliver a project

Project Board advice and decisions

New issue

Exception raised

Project Manager request for advice

Exception Plan request

Starting up a Project



Controlling a Stage

Closing a Project

Directing a Project

Likely to be straight- forward as significant delivery has already been achieved

•  Transparent and collaborative interaction

•  Use Information Radiators and pull information

•  Potentially attend reviews •  Facilitative and collaborative

in style •  Management by exception

•  Decisions made quickly based upon

•  continuous flow of information

•  Empower the Project Manager

•  Management by exception •  Use tolerances to support

agile working

•  Approve the planned releases and value realisation

•  Fix cost and time

This is a more significant decision as initiation now involves work to identify and prioritize requirements and create Product Backlogs

prince2 agile white paper uk edition

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