In a world where an organization’s responsiveness to change can be the difference between its long-term survival and its short-term departure, it is no surprise that organizations are moving toward more agile ways of doing business. Changes in technology, market conditions, external suppliers, and internal staff all contribute to the need for organizations to be positioned to adapt and evolve ongoing work to reflect the most current information available:
Organizations that adopt agile behaviors and techniques stand to gain from early delivery of more projects … faster returns on their investment … a competitive edge.4
The challenge for these organizations is in establishing an environment that supports responsiveness to ongoing changes without jeopardizing the need to ensure that corporate funds are being used effectively and delivering their intended business value.
PRINCE2 Agile is the ideal coupling of governance and responsiveness in a rapidly changing marketplace. It gives senior management the level of control and access to critical project information that it needs for confident ongoing decision-making. It also empowers the project team to deliver adaptable, high business-value outputs within the allocated project timeframe and budget.
For organizations who currently utilize PRINCE2 methods, the incorporation of Agile methods in a PRINCE2 Agile framework provides an unprecedented level of flexibility, responsiveness, and transparency to project delivery that gives the Project Board the ongoing evidence it needs to confidently progress (or to strategically limit) project work.
For organizations who currently utilize both PRINCE2 and Agile methods independently (i.e. without an integrated approach), implementing PRINCE2 Agile provides an opportunity to bring together these methods into a cohesive framework and leverage the benefits of both. The combined governance of PRINCE2 Agile better aligns existing Agile project work to corporate objectives and provides the project delivery team with greater management visibility and support. It also provides senior management with greater visibility into project progress, more confidence in the value of project outputs, and greater flexibility to adapt ongoing project work to meet changing corporate and market conditions.
For organizations in an environment with no existing framework, PRINCE2 Agile provides an unparalleled combination of corporate governance and flexible delivery to support the needs of both senior management and the project delivery team members.
Most importantly, for all organizations, PRINCE2 Agile provides a shared framework for communication, status updates and issue resolution that focuses the entire team on continually delivering high business-value outcomes. It gives senior management exceptional insight into project work and ongoing confirmation of business-value generation. It also allows project delivery team members to better understand – and appreciate – the overarching business drivers that the project work is based on, and the correlation between business-value generation and continued project funding.
As part of this shared framework, PRINCE2 Agile project teams use high-value communication tools, such as information radiators, to allow Project Board members to know the status of project work at any time, without waiting for a highlight report, checkpoint report, end stage report, or exception report. (This also reduces overheads for the project manager, and saves the project delivery team from stopping their work – and shifting their focus – to create ad hoc status reports.)
The successful implementation of PRINCE2 Agile requires far more than an agreed set of procedures and documents for the project team – it requires a shared vision, a collaborative mindset, and an open and honest working environment. Although the Project Board, project manager, and project delivery team members all have different responsibilities, they have a shared objective to deliver valuable outcomes in the PRINCE2 Agile framework.
The key to successfully implementing PRINCE2 Agile is in understanding how it brings together PRINCE2 and Agile best practices into a cohesive framework, and how to adapt that framework to meet your needs. This guide is specifically structured to provide you with the core information that you need to understand how PRINCE2 Agile works, and implementation guidelines specific to the needs of your organization and your projects.5
The first three chapters of this guide describe how PRINCE2 and Agile methods each work independently, and how PRINCE2 Agile brings them together into a cohesive framework:
Chapter 1: Overview of PRINCE2 describes the key elements of the PRINCE2 governance framework.
Chapter 2: Overview of Agile describes the most common Agile methods that are used for project delivery.
Chapter 3: Overview of PRINCE2 Agile describes how these two approaches are combined into a unified project governance and delivery framework with a focus on the benefits that this integrated approach provides.
Chapter 4: Five Keys to PRINCE2 Agile Success identifies the five most important factors for you to consider when implementing PRINCE2 Agile.
To implement PRINCE2 Agile most effectively in your organization, it is essential for you to use your current governance, project management, and project delivery frameworks as the baseline for moving forward. The next five chapters of this book provide you with guidelines specific to the needs of your organization:
- Chapter 5: Moving from PRINCE2 to PRINCE2 Agile
- Chapter 6: Merging Existing PRINCE2 and Agile Methods
- Chapter 7: Moving an Existing Waterfall Project to PRINCE2 Agile
- Chapter 8: Implementing PRINCE2 Agile with No Existing Framework
- Chapter 9: Moving from Agile to PRINCE2 Agile
Figure 1 shows you how each of these implementation chapters aligns with your specific circumstances, and guides you on the most appropriate chapter(s) for you to focus on in your reading.
Figure 1: Selecting the most suitable PRINCE2 Agile implementation approach for your organization
When you have finished reading the implementation chapter(s) that are suited to your needs, Chapter 10: Further Expansion of PRINCE2 Agile offers an approach for expanding your use of PRINCE2 Agile beyond project work.
The guidelines in this book, when used in conjunction with the detailed information in the AXELOS official PRINCE2 Agile guide,6 provide you with realistic and achievable approaches for implementing a PRINCE2 Agile framework that can consistently deliver responsive, high business-value project outcomes.
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4 Taking Agile to PRINCE2, Raconteur (2015), http://raconteur.net/business/taking-agile-to-prince2.
5 The AXELOS Official PRINCE2 Agile Guide provides a complete and comprehensive description of PRINCE2 Agile, including all of the information that you will need for PRINCE2 Agile certification. It is strongly recommended that you read this book in conjunction with the AXELOS official guide, not in lieu of it. It is also recommended that anyone who interested in implementing PRINCE2 Agile go to the AXELOS website (www.axelos.com/qualifications/prince2-qualifications/prince2-agile) for information about formal training and certification.
6 PRINCE2 Agile: www.axelos.com/store/book/prince2-agile.