CHAPTER 8: IMPLEMENTING PRINCE2 AGILE WITH NO EXISTING FRAMEWORK

The previous three sections focused on project situations that existing PRINCE2 organizations are likely to encounter in their transition to PRINCE2 Agile. In all of these sections, it was assumed that staff had the necessary training, certification, and experience to successfully deliver PRINCE2 projects – and that the implementation of PRINCE2 Agile was an expansion of their existing knowledge.

There are, however, other project situations that organizations may encounter if they are interested in implementing a PRINCE2 Agile framework and they do not have the benefit of an existing PRINCE2 framework to work from. This includes:

• Organizations that have no existing governance or project management framework and no experience in using Agile methods.
• Organizations that have no existing governance or project management framework, but they do have the benefit of project teams that are experienced in using Agile methods.

This section addresses the first of these situations to guide those organizations that have no existing governance framework to leverage and no experience in using Agile methods.

The next chapter, Chapter 9: Moving from Agile to PRINCE2 Agile, is for organizations that have experience with Agile methods and want to leverage that experience in their transition to PRINCE2 Agile.

For organizations with no existing governance framework or experience with Agile methods, implementing a wholly new project using PRINCE2 Agile is, in many respects, the easiest and most efficient way to implement this method. You are not saddled with incorporating legacy artifacts (e.g. waterfall project plans) into your PRINCE2 Agile project; you do not need staff to “unlearn” previously established frameworks, processes, and behaviors; and you are less likely to encounter resistance from project team members who are used to working on projects in a particular way.

On the other hand, a wholly new PRINCE2 Agile framework will require training staff and establishing new project structures, and will have limited historical information to leverage.

The most important thing to remember is that PRINCE2 Agile is a supplement to – and not a substitute for – the proper implementation of PRINCE2. Therefore the first step is for the organization to establish a viable PRINCE2 framework for portfolio, program, and project management before endeavoring to implement PRINCE2 Agile.

Once the PRINCE2 framework is in place, it can be transitioned to PRINCE2 Agile using the step-by-step approach described in Chapter 5: Moving from PRINCE2 to PRINCE2 Agile.

At first glance, this may seem like a substantial commitment of time, budget, and resources to obtain the benefits of PRINCE2 Agile for your project, but it really should be viewed as an investment in your organization to more effectively deliver all of your projects moving forward.