Is PRINCE2 still relevant in an agile world? Or like in the fairy-tale, has it lost its relevance and changed into a frog? Well, no… it is still very relevant for two reasons:
PRINCE2 is not the only option when considering a traditional methodology but it is a popular one and one that blends in well with new Agile project methodologies such as the Agile project management framework which is derived from DSDM.
PRINCE2 is a formal, structured approach to project management. It recognises that there are three major levels of activities:
The major focus of PRINCE 2 is in management and direction. Delivery it treats as a black box because it may be internal or external. Prince2 does not dictate how delivery is done but it does state the expected communication and deliverables.
A PRINCE2 project looks like the following:
In fact, the 2009 revision to PRINCE2 reiterated its underlying simplicity by recognising explicitly seven principles:
It doesn’t say anything about how you should build your products.The only things PRINCE2 says about making things is the following:
PRINCE2 can be used to manage the project and Agile methods can be used to deliver the solution. The two methods are entirely complementary; they touch only in the definition of what constitutes a “workpackage” – and they even agree on how big that should be!
A paper on integrating DSDM and PRINCE2 is on the DSDM website. Another option is to use PRINCE2 for direction and use an agile Project management methodology and solution delivery. Agile Project Management is an initiative which extracts the Project Management elements of DSDM Atern and makes them available as Agile Project Management – a certified approach in its own right. This can then be combined with popular Agile solution delivery approaches such as Scrum and XP. This is detailed in this Agile Proect Framework for Scrum document.
In some cases the requirement may be to go completely Agile. This is possible as long as the direction provided is agreed and sufficient for the company leaderhip. Agile Project Management derived from DSDM (Shown in next 2 diagrams) or Disciplined Agile Delivery (Shown in bottom diagram )may be used.
Lou Gerstner of IBM famously said “who says elephants can’t dance?” Can big organisations act in an agile way? Do they have to throw everything (traditional methodologies) out and start again? To be agile do you have to go completely Agile and use all Agile methodologies.? Most companies according to research seem to be adopting a hybrid approach. The term Water-Scrum-Fall has been coined by Forrester to describe waterfall processes at beginning and end and Agile (Scrum) in the middle. It recognizes how many firms blend an approach of writing most requirements up front, using time-boxed sprints to code, and then falling back on traditional big-bang deployments. Sure there are some companies that are fully agile and Agile but there are some that are fully waterfall but can still adapt sufficiently to their environment. Why? Because they have different problems to solve.
Agile methodologies tend to be better in smaller and innovative environments. Waterfall are still best for very large scale project coordination and where features must be delivered at a certain time e.g a datacentre move.
There is no one size fits all. The trick is to apply the right approach in context, according to the needs of business leaders and recognizing the pace that the organization can successfully absorb new ideas and new methods and if they are right for the problem in hand.
Regardless of approach the following parameters will have a large impact on the success or failure of a project. If there is no management sponsorship then a major project will fail. If the business objectives are not clear then it will fail. The amount of information available upfront may dictate approach. Little information upfront may dictate an agile approach…but it will probably also mean that only a little money is approved and that approval will be required after every increment. A company that is dominating its market and is deciding to spend some of its cash pile on entering a new market is in a much different position than a company that is a follower in the market and is trying to deliver a large customer contract.
It is more important to be agile than to be religious about Agile methodologies.
Parameters For Success | ||
Market Position & Maturity | Product | Organisation Culture |
Acceptability of Change | Management Sponsorship | Clear Business Objectives |
Strong Customer Involvement | Optimal Project Complexity | Optimal Project Size |
Team Skills | Team Emotional Maturity | Project Management Expertise |
Tools & Infrastructure | Information availability |
Parameters derived from my own research and experience. Used the Chaos Manifesto 2013 for some input. (There are questions over the details of their research but some of the macro stuff seems ok)