How to approach project management using both Agile and Prince2?

Question

I am new to Project management. My current position is helping to project manage a small software team. I have been giving the opportunity to attend the PRINCE2 course which from my reading I would be looking to use to combine with Agile methodologies. Will this approach work?

Answer 1

My view is that Stephan is right in his response. Agile methods address components of the overall project, but the project should be about delivering the business benefits, not just the technical components. Prince 2 ensures that you have the right governance in place (otherwise how do you know whether the project is still viable?), and the right people directing the project (otherwise how do you know that you are delivering what the organisation needs, especially in times of business change?)

Prince 2 can be applied with a light touch: that is one of the key principles of the methodology. And if the project requires money to be spent, I suggest that this requires proper governance of the company's resources.

To try to put my response into context: If you are delivering a series of components, then you are managing products (in Prince terminology), whereas the overall project will be delivering business change and business benefits, including the implementation, training, and most importantly, mechanisms for benefit realisation.

Answer 2

PRINCE2 is a rather formal methodology, while Agile is an opposite to formality. In order to combine them you should ask yourself - why are you doing this? What is the purpose of this combination?

I would suggest to use Agile since you're managing a small team.

Btw, this phrase is not valid: "project manage a team". You can "project manage a project" or "manage a team". Project is something that is bounded in time and scope. While "team" is a process.

Answer 3

I would say that there is a conflict between the formality and requirements-driven nature of Prince2 and the just-in-time, flexible and iterative nature of Agile. Who wants you to attend the Prince2 course? Is a course available instead that would help with your understanding and implementation of Agile? Does the company you work for favour one approach above the other for their own business reasons?

Agile and Prince2 are generally used to manage different sorts of projects: in my experience agile is for fast results-driven market-critical projects where many changes and flexibility are paramount, whereas Prince2 is more often used for projects that need a high level of accountability and paper-trails for all decisions and many stakeholder sign-off and overview procedures.

Answer 4

Naturally. Agile methods like Scrum can be perfectly applied as the process for "managing product delivery" (Prince2 process group).

Answer 5

Prince2 adds a useful layer onto Scrum or Agile.

Its like an onion, Scrum/Agile in the middle with layers of Prince2 over it. This allows a project to deliver in scrum/agile whilst dealing with the formalities found in large scale or government projects using Prince2.

I also believe Prince2 helps manage risks better.

For a comprehensive PDF on this have a look at my site www.MasterBusinessChronicles.com

Answer 6

You might be interested in DSDM Atern, which is an Agile methodology that is essentially Prince2-made-Agile. In fact, most training centres for Prince2 also run DSDM courses since they both share the same roots.

I've personally found DSDM to be brilliant around everything except the actual development process itself. I use Scrum to fill this hole, but the framework that DSDM provides wraps neatly around Scrum and provides all the checks and balances that my company requires.

As far as the development team are concerned, however, we only use Scrum. They don't even see or care about the DSDM wrapper that keeps the Business satisfied the project is under control.