Real advice for real practitioners

Hummm – in a strange twist not only am I a registered PRINCE2 Consultant, but after many years of refusing to become a registered PRINCE2 trainer I have finally done the deed!!

To my defense it is to satisfy a demand, when sending consultants overseas often the customer needs both training and then implementation support. They have tried to send a trainer – but sadly they have little experience in implementing it – just maybe a bit of experience trying to use it before they become a trainer. So in a moment of inspiration we thought – get the expert who knows how to use it and implement it to also get them through the exam….

I was the sitting of my re-registration exam last week that has made me think about this.

I took my first PRINCE2 Practitioners exam in 1997, my first re-registration in 2001, my second re-registration in 2006 and now my third.

I mention this as I think it is important to look at how long I have being trying to use PRINCE2 – firstly as a Head of Programmes/Projects and one of the first “early adopters” and then as one of the first registered Consultants. Yet here we are some 13 years later and still learning.

So I am hoping to give some “Real advice for real Practitioners” through this thread – be great to tailor to your needs…

Problem no 1 – are you sure you understand the scope? Do you have enough information to create a “Brief” or “Proposal” or “Outline Business Case” (I don’t care if you use the PRINCE2 “Project Brief” or your own organisations naming)

Practical Advice no 1 – do a “Problem Tree analysis” and “Benefits MAP”.

How do you do this? Easy – get a flip chart – in the middle of it write “What is the problem I am trying to solve?” the below this write the causes of the problem and above it write the effects that the problem is having.

Then write a “Vision Statement” i.e. if this problem is solved what does the future look like “by 2013 we will have x,y,z” don’t sound bite it – write a full answer. Then put this statement in the middle of a new flip chart and underneath it put all the “Approaches” that you would need to solve each of your “Causes” from the earlier exercise. Now put the “results” or “benefits” you expect to achieve that get rid of the effects from the earlier exercise.

By the time you have completed this – have a look at your headings of a Project Brief and Project Product Description and see how much fuller and complete the document becomes….

More to follow…