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Chapter 3 People

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
39 views

Chapter 3 People

Uploaded by

Майский
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 3

PEOPLE
Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

CHAPTER 3
PEOPLE
3.1
Chapter 3 - People

Context

Key message

The purpose of a project is to deliver change, which will affect people in their business as
usual (BAU) activities, routines, and responsibilities. How well the change is implemented, and
therefore how well the project performs, depends on the capabilities of the project team, the
strength of the relationships between them, and the people impacted by the change.

In PRINCE2, ‘people’ covers those who are working on a project and the relationships between them, as
well as those impacted by a project.
Organizations are a complex ecosystem of fluctuating relationships. Projects change organizations,
regardless of whether or not it is their primary purpose. The success of a project will depend on how
well the project establishes strong relationships with the organizations that support its delivery, as well
as how it fits into the organizational ecosystem to deliver the change.
Projects combine a unique set of people from across the business, user, and supplier communities for a
limited period of time. To successfully deliver the project, all levels of leadership must establish a project
culture that motivates people.
Decisions should be made close to where the relevant knowledge resides. They should be escalated
only if there is a need to consider the impact on other parts of the project ecosystem, the
organizational ecosystem, or to manage wider political implications.

32
People

Project
ecosystem

Chapter 3 - People
Organizational
ecosystem

People or groups
Relationships
Figure 3.1 Organizational and project ecosystems

Definitions

Organizational ecosystem The internal elements of an organization (including staff, board,


owners, and other stakeholders) together with the organization’s external relationships such
as customers, partners, suppliers, regulators, and competitors.
Project ecosystem Those elements of the business involved in or directly impacted by the
project and the associated users and suppliers.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

Scenario: making decisions at the best level


Findef has established four layers of governance to oversee programme
delivery, address issues, and ensure that decisions are made at the appropriate
level. This model is underpinned by the principle of management by exception,
where each governance body operates within designated levels of authority.
This principle is the heart of empowering people to self-organize and stay in
control with the appropriate level of governance.
Chapter 3 - People

Operational day-to-day matters in the life of the individual projects, such as the approval of stage
gates, scope changes, or selection of suppliers, are covered at the local level as a key
responsibility of the project board.
A programme board has also been established to oversee the progress and health of the
FindefTwo programme, with the authority to make decisions at the programme level (such as
agreeing the programme and project tolerances and signing off the completion of each tranche,
including deliverables).
Should there be a need for additional change to investment over 20 percent of the original
programme budget, the investment committee is required to be involved in the decision and
retain ultimate authority over the programme finances.
Finally, strategic decisions must be escalated to the leadership board, who are at the top of Findef
hierarchy. Strategic decisions include: entering the end-user market rather than focusing solely on
business-to-business (B2B), using a new technology, or introducing a new DevOps department in
the corporate structure, which demand a higher-level focus, including mitigation of business and
reputational risks.

3.2 Leading successful change

3.2.1 Projects require change management


All projects result in a change in how people, organizations, and systems operate the current state to a
future target state that incorporates the use of the project products. Effective leadership is required to
deliver this change.

Definition: Change management

Change management is the means by which an organization transitions from the current
state to the target state.

The current and target states can be captured and described as a set of routines, responsibilities,
relationships, cultures, and capabilities.

34
People

Identifying which areas of the organization will be impacted by the project as it transitions from the
current state to the target state describes the change the project will deliver. For some projects, there
may be interim states the business will transition through, and these can also be described.
PRINCE2 addresses change by creating and maintaining a change management approach for the
project. In determining the level of detail to capture in the change management approach, it is worth
considering:
● what decisions the change management approach is supporting the project team to make

Chapter 3 - People
● the skills and capabilities required during and after the transition from current to target state
● which areas of the organizational ecosystem are likely to be impacted by the project
● the key relationships to be considered
● the evolving culture
● how best to transition; for example, through learning or upskilling, transitioning knowledge from the
project team, or recruiting new people into the business.

Management product: Change management approach

The change management approach is part of the project initiation documentation.


Purpose
To establish the target organizational state required for the project to meet its objectives
together with the means by which the business will shift from the current state and through
any interim states.
High-level content
Scope what changes will be delivered by the project; any exclusions
Change states description of current, interim, target states
State characteristics for each state, highlighting those that are changing: for example,
routines, practices, process, culture, responsibilities, structure, capabilities
Enabling activities before transition, during transition, after transition; for example,
consultation, trials, training, and helpline
Resources for the enabling activities
Responsibilities for the enabling activities
Supporting tools and techniques for the enabling activities; for example, modelling
Standards any standards that apply to change management activities
References for any associated documents or products.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

3.2.2 Stakeholders
Projects will impact people from across the organizational ecosystem. Therefore, a project will need to
involve those with a formal role in the project team and key people either impacted by or critical to the
success of the project (who may not hold a formal role). These people are the stakeholders in the
project and will cover the full spectrum of users, suppliers, and the business. Stakeholders can be
external to both the project team and the business.
Chapter 3 - People

Definition: Stakeholder

Any individual, group, or organization that can affect or be affected by (or perceives itself to
be affected by) the project.

A strong understanding of the relationships between the project and the organizational ecosystem, and
the ability to identify key stakeholders at the interface between the two is fundamental to leading
successful change.
These stakeholders are the key influencers, who may be the following:
● senior executives
● those found in the user, supplier, or wider operational communities within the organization
undertaking day-to-day tasks and decision-making
● those who can be identified by considering the bottlenecks where information, knowledge, and
money flow across interfaces (for example, document controllers, technical experts, and commercial
managers); and by speaking to people in the areas impacted by the project to find out who holds the
knowledge in their area and is best informed on how things will practically work
● those who can shape the perception of the majority within the project ecosystem

● these are the people, through their network, who can have the greatest influence on the adoption
of the project products and the realization of project benefits
● taking time to understand their perspectives on the project and any constraints they have will
help improve project delivery
● the people the project management team needs to work closest with to ensure the success of the
project.

Stakeholders at the interface with the project may change over time as the project evolves and
relationships develop.
The way in which a project is established should support relationship building across interfaces. This
can be established through regular meetings and working groups that build a shared understanding of
different perspectives, the project data, and knowledge agreed on by stakeholders.

36
People

Project
ecosystem

Suppliers

Chapter 3 - People
Users
Business

Organizational
ecosystem

Figure 3.2 The three project interests

In figure 3.2 the size of the bubbles can vary. For example, for some projects the majority of the users
may sit in the organizational ecosystem. For some projects all the suppliers could fall within the project
ecosystem as they are uniquely engaged for the specific project and have no other relationships with
the business. Understanding where the business, supplier and user interests sit in each of the
ecosystems helps in deciding how they will be represented on the project and how they will be engaged.

3.2.3 Culture
Projects often combine people from different parts of the organizational ecosystem, where different
working cultures may exist. A project team may need to establish a project culture that is distinct from
the business but in such a way that it remains aligned with the wider organizational ecosystem.
A shared understanding of the project developed with key influencers must be captured as part of the
project brief. This shared understanding of the project combines with an understanding of the external
legal and regulatory obligations and relevant business commitments (such as sustainability targets) to
provide a guide for multi-layered decision-making.
Based on the shared understanding developed with the key influencers, it is possible to establish ways of
working to ensure all impacted areas of the organizational ecosystem are appropriately involved in the
project as it progresses. The ways of working are captured in the management approaches for the project.
Gaining a shared understanding is also enabled through who is assigned to project roles (see Chapter 6),
including decision-makers on the project board who represent business, user, and supplier interests.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

The project management team structure and the quality and planning practices in PRINCE2 ensure that
users are represented or involved in defining, developing, quality control of products, and consulted in
the decision-making process.
The shared understanding enables aligned behaviours and sets the culture for the project.

Definition: Culture
Chapter 3 - People

Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and ways of working that characterize a
group of people.

At the start of a project, the project culture tends to reflect the organization’s culture. However, a
distinct project culture may emerge as it evolves. It is important that the formal ways of working evolve
to reflect the emerging project culture and support alignment with the wider organizational ecosystem
that the project needs to interact with.
As the project progresses, key influencers on a project may change, as do the key relationships. It is
important to ensure that the shared understanding of the project remains valid and supports the
project’s evolving culture. Project teams should check the shared understanding at the end of each
stage of the project and whenever there is a change in key influencers.
Defined ways of working should remain aligned with how people are actually working. Persistent non-
compliance with project processes is often a leading indicator that the agreed ways of working have
become unaligned with the emerging project culture. Although it is tempting to assume that non-
compliance is because of poor behaviours, there could be an underlying disconnect that is worth
exploring. The ways of working should evolve to remain aligned with the desired project culture and
with the wider organizational ecosystem which the project interacts with.

Scenario: embedding shared understanding/users


inside and outside organization
The idea of project management as a discipline is completely new to NowByou.
As a result, the professional project manager who was contracted to produce
the initial project documentation and mentor the future project management
team is experiencing some initial challenges, including introducing NowByou to
new terminology and practices. The contracted project manager decided to work with the culture
of the NowByou by demonstrating the need for a shared understanding among staff and users
outside the organization, such as donors and suppliers.
To do so, she formed a community of practice, ‘the project club’, intended to gather everyone on
a regular basis and co-create the future project toolkit using the currently available artefacts and
aligning to industry best practice wherever possible. For example, the ‘campaign brief’ is now the
‘project brief’, which is the template that has the same branding and layout as before but updated
to also cover project management fundamentals, such as project governance or defined
milestones. When the toolkit is finalized, the project manager plans to run a series of internal
roadshows aimed at bringing to life and embedding the new concepts.

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People

3.3 Leading successful teams

Definitions

Chapter 3 - People
Collaboration People from across the project ecosystem working together to achieve the
project’s objectives.
Co-creation A specific form of collaboration involving users and key influencers in the design
of products and agreed ways of working to ensure they are adopted by the project and
organizational ecosystems.
Leadership Motivating people to achieve a project’s objectives. On projects, this is best done
through collaboration across the project ecosystem, persuading, influencing, and co-creating
with a focus on managing key relationships and seeking regular feedback to ensure team
members remain aligned to the project’s objectives and agree to joint ways of working.
Management Instructing the execution of tasks in line with agreed ways of working. Co-
creating ways of working with project team members (and stakeholders) significantly
improves people’s willingness to be managed in line with them.

Projects are delivered by people in a temporary team, typically working across organizational
boundaries. As a result, the people assigned to work on projects often have multiple reporting lines.
This reporting line can be to a part of the organization that has allocated the person to the project for a
limited duration. This can also be to a supplier’s organization where external people provide project
skills and capabilities. Sometimes people with specific skills and capabilities are assigned across
multiple projects or are assigned to a project on a part-time basis. This creates reporting lines to
multiple people.
To successfully lead a project team, it is important to be aware of the following:
● Although a project manager has formal authority within the tolerances set by the project board, the
actual power structure that emerges in a project does not always reflect what has been formally
agreed.
● Due to the temporary nature of projects and the multiple reporting lines of people working on the
project, project managers often rely on their ability to influence and motivate people through aligned
interests and relational skills in addition to establishing the shared purpose of the project.
● PRINCE2 defines roles that might not align with a person’s job title.
● Team members often have competing priorities for their time and attention, which may at times
conflict with the needs of the project.
● It is not unusual for members of the project team to be more senior than the project manager,
potentially causing hierarchical tension.
● Some motivational factors may be outside of a project manager’s remit. For example, remuneration
and career progression of project team members.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

These factors mean project teams require a different style of management and leadership than that
used for established business teams, as it can be more challenging for a temporary leader or manager
to exercise their authority.

3.3.1 Leading across organizational boundaries


In addition to those people formally assigned to a project, there are people within the business who are
affected by the project, but do not work within the defined project team. They often have a role to play,
Chapter 3 - People

for example directly contributing to the project through activities such as defining, assuring, and
accepting products into the business. They may indirectly contribute by undertaking activities within
their area of the business to accommodate or derive benefit from the project, such as upskilling staff,
changing ways of working, or integrating new products into their area of the organization.
When these activities are outside of the defined project scope, it is important to ensure that there is a
clear understanding of the dependencies on such activities, who is responsible for undertaking them,
and how they will be funded and monitored. If this type of work is not managed carefully, projects can
be delayed or fail to achieve their benefits.
Leading people beyond a project’s direct authority (often across organizational boundaries) requires a
degree of cultural intelligence. Cultural intelligence is the capability to relate and work across cultures
within the organizational ecosystem. Successfully working across cultures requires:
● teams to adapt and find ways to successfully interface with each other
● setting clear project boundaries within which people can flex
● establishing the right conditions for people to succeed
● awareness of and means to consider the many different perspectives that may exist in the project
(such awareness is often referred to as emotional intelligence)
● awareness of the constraints people work within, including different pulls on their time and attention.

3.3.2 Building effective teams


An effective team will require a diverse set of capabilities, competencies, and perspectives that match
the requirements of the project.
Ideally, organizations would select the people needed to fulfil each of the required roles, but this is
often not possible. It is important to understand the competencies and capabilities of the people
recruited or assigned to a project, and ensure any gaps are identified and mitigations established to
cover them, such as upskilling or shifting responsibilities for certain tasks to more appropriate people.
Even when people technically have the same capabilities and competencies, they are likely to perform
the same role differently. Sometimes, the same person may perform differently depending on who they
are working with.
As temporary organizations, project teams may not have worked together before and may need to
quickly discover how to work together effectively. It can help accelerate team building by using
structured exercises that focus on building not only self-awareness and self-management but also an
understanding of other’s perspectives. This can build trust and find compatible ways of working.
Roles and responsibilities should reflect the capability, authority, and availability of the individual
undertaking the work and should be considered through the lens of their key relationships. They should
be reviewed in the event of any shifts in these key relationships and updated accordingly.

40
People

An integral part of building an effective team is that team members feel accepted, respected, and able
to express diverse viewpoints without fear of negative consequences. All members of a project team
are responsible for creating this psychological safety for each other through their day-to-day
interactions and by caring for each other’s wellbeing. Team members may also need space to
experiment, inspect, adapt, self-organize, and adjust their ways of working.
PRINCE2 supports building effective teams through the:
● Project plan This explains the team’s goals to create a clear sense of purpose and provides an

Chapter 3 - People
ability to answer questions from stakeholders.
● Project management team structure and the role descriptions These explain the structure of
the team and their associated roles, responsibilities, and relationships to support developing key
relationships and identifying any coaching or training needs (such as influencing skills and how to
handle resistance to the change).
● Communication management approach This explains how team members will actively engage
with and support each other and how relationships will be developed between different groups
within the wider project ecosystem.
● Project initiation documentation This explains the agreed ways of working, empowering the team
to remain focused on delivering the project outcomes.
● Product based planning This approach places great emphasis on getting agreement on what will
meet user needs (product description) and also clarifying the dependencies and sequencing of key
outputs (products).

3.3.3 Bringing the team together


Whether projects are delivered virtually, in person, or through a hybrid approach, the way in which
people work with each other needs to be carefully considered, both to optimize the use of people’s time
and to build social cohesion. Social cohesion is developed by:
● people meeting in a purposeful way on a regular basis and building trust across organizational or
project silos
● considering how key relationships will be developed and maintained over the length of the project to
build resilience for when inevitable hurdles are encountered
● considering the benefits of co-locating an office-based project team to facilitate the organic
relationship building that occurs during non-structured activities (such as conversations over the desk
partition, in the communal kitchen, in corridors between meetings, shared lunches, and social events).

When teams are virtual, located at a distance from each other, or hybrid, building social cohesion may
need additional activities such as:
● syncing co-location days for key people and teams with a focus on building key relationships
● allowing time for less structured conversations online
● holding ‘away days’ for virtual teams
● using virtual collaboration tools to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of virtual ways of working
● providing opportunities or incentives for people to meet and socialize face-to-face.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

Scenario: bringing the team together/social cohesion


Everyone involved in the new product development (part of the FindefTwo
programme) has been under pressure to deliver the second stage of the
project. This is because the programme board wants to complete the high-level
design before the next quarterly leadership board meeting.
Although the team managed to deliver on time, this was not without issues. It was found that working
Chapter 3 - People

across multiple time zones and in virtual teams exhausted individuals, resulting in low team morale.
The project manager is aware of this, and before the detailed design starts for product 1, decides
to bring the team together for a ‘pause and reflect’ day. This is a full day of team building activities
that offer an opportunity to share lessons, re-energize for the upcoming stage, and build social
cohesion within the team.
To ensure that the unity of the team is not lost after the ‘pause and reflect’ day, certain changes
have been agreed. There will be regular project update webinars at different times of day to allow
those in different time zones to attend. There will also be a ‘virtual coffee time’ in the internal
social network platform, giving members of the team an opportunity to interact with each other
informally.

3.4 Communication
Whether it is the primary function of the project or a by-product, projects create change in
organizations. As such, projects are often subject to high levels of scrutiny and open to misconceptions
regarding their purpose and impact. Without a clear approach to communications, this can lead to
unnecessary barriers in implementing any changes, as people seek to protect the current situation or to
limit the perceived negative impact of the project.
PRINCE2 addresses communication in a communication management approach.

Management product: Communication management approach

The communication management approach is part of the project initiation documentation.


Purpose
To define and describe the means and frequency of communication with and receiving
feedback from across the project ecosystem, supporting alignment and shaping of the
project. It facilitates engagement with stakeholders through the establishment of a controlled
and bidirectional flow of information.
High-level content
Scope describes what communication will be managed by the project
Stakeholder analysis identification and analysis of those impacted by the outcome of a
project or by the process of delivering the project and those who have the influence to impact
the success or failure of the project
Box continues

42
People

Communications schedule and procedure(s) for each stakeholder group: purpose,


frequency, channels/format, messaging, and so on
Responsibilities for the communication activities
Resources for the communications activities; for example, public affairs or internal
communications
Supporting tools and techniques for the communication activities; for example,

Chapter 3 - People
communications platforms or tools for analytics or automation
Standards any standards that apply to communication activities; for example, public
engagement standards and ethical standards
References for any associated documents or products.

A communication management approach is equally about listening as it is about broadcasting. It seeks


to understand the perceptions and concerns within the project ecosystem so they can be addressed
before they become more significant risks. This also allows messaging to be tailored to the concerns
and interests of different groups within the project ecosystem and the wider organizational ecosystem.
Generic messaging is rarely effective, as people obtain information from a variety of channels.
Identifying and working with key influencers from the user, supplier, and business stakeholder groups
helps to accommodate different perspectives. This ensures strong feedback loops and the ability to
tailor messaging for each of these groups.
Given the number of communication channels and how interconnected the digital landscape is,
attempting to control the messaging on a project can be challenging. This can be made more
manageable by ensuring that key influencers help shape messaging and support communications.
Most communication within organizations occurs outside of formal channels. Therefore, it is best to
accept this and provide information in multiple formats that people can share easily and provide
multiple pathways for people to give feedback.
How project teams communicate will also depend on whether they are co-located, remote, or hybrid:
● Co-located teams Information tends to be shared organically through both formal and informal
networks. The focus is on:

● providing information in multiple formats which can be easily shared through these networks
● monitoring whether information is flowing freely throughout the project ecosystem
● identifying any team members or groups who are disconnected and working to reconnect them.

● Remote teams A more deliberate and structured approach is required to ensure information is
flowing through the project ecosystem. The focus is on:

● building in time to allow for unstructured listening and sharing of information


● seeking clarity on how information is flowing through the project ecosystem and providing
information in appropriate formats to facilitate this
● identifying key relationships and agreeing how they will build both structured and unstructured
time together.

● Hybrid teams Hybrid teams’ means of communication must ensure the project does not develop
separate groups who are more involved or less involved because of their location.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

Scenario: two team leaders meeting for coffee


Data Knowledge’s iterative approach for the development of a new time-recording
solution allows for early feedback to be incorporated. It made the data science
team leader and the development team leader realize that they needed to be
aligned. They agreed to meet for a coffee every two weeks for a general catch-up
in a local park, as they usually met virtually. The company provided coffee vouchers at a central
coffee shop, encouraging people to accompany each other for coffee whenever they are in town.
Chapter 3 - People

On one occasion, the data science team leader was unsure of the level of detail to be captured in
the solution and related reports. Specifically, they had to decide if it would be sufficient to record
how many hours per project each resource carries out, or if it would also be useful to have that
information at the task-level.

On one hand, reporting at the task level would give assurance to project managers that the team
is allocating their time to priority tasks; on the other hand, reporting at this low level would be a
significant cultural change and the staff could be uncomfortable with such level of scrutiny.

The two team leaders exchanged ideas over coffee and agreed that reporting at the task-level
would be too much. A decision was easily reached to report time at the project level only.

The communication management approach is likely to evolve as the project evolves and becomes more
defined. For complex projects with a wide impact, it can be useful to develop the project with a smaller
group of key influencers in what is sometimes referred to as a ‘quiet phase’.

A ‘quiet phase’ will keep wider communications to a minimum until the project is better defined and
minimize the spread of misinformation or rumours (this is especially important when a project is
politically sensitive and may be of interest to the general public).

It is insufficient to rely solely on periodic reporting to determine how a project is progressing. Reporting
can be subject to bias as people might subconsciously manipulate information based on what is
considered acceptable, expected, or desirable.

An open and transparent environment can reduce the level of bias. However, it is important to have
additional pathways to obtain feedback in the project, such as building strong relationships with key
influencers and monitoring the health of key relationships within the project ecosystem.

Pockets of resistance to the project are a useful indicator of where communications should be focused. In
taking the time to listen to the concerns raised, misconceptions can be identified, and issues can be addressed.

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People

Scenario: concept of quiet phase


It is no surprise that LouisShopping is likely to cause some disruption to
residents and businesses during the construction works. To minimize the risk of
incorrect information being shared and rumours spreading, the project team
has decided to contain wider communications to a minimum until the project is
defined. Following this, BuildyBrick established a full communication strategy.

Chapter 3 - People
For that purpose, the project team has invited key influencers from the local neighbourhood to
join a monthly communication planning meeting. Together, these selected influencers will suggest
ideas and work closely with the project team on the communication messages, formats, and
vehicles to use when the time comes to communicate a clear message to the local community.

3.5 People are central to the method


This chapter explains three people-focused activities: leading successful change, leading successful
teams, and communication.
These are not standalone activities as they influence all aspects of project management. As illustrated
in figure 3.3, leading successful change, leading successful teams, and communication are central to the
PRINCE2 method.
PRINCE2 is a project management method composed of five integrated elements: principles, people,
practices, processes, and the project context. The following sections explain how the principles,
practices, and processes address the people factors explained in this chapter.

Leading
successful
change

People
central to
the method

Leading
Communication successful
teams

Figure 3.3 People central to the method

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

3.5.1 People and PRINCE2 principles


PRINCE2 is based on seven principles, one of which is that all PRINCE2 projects must define roles,
responsibilities, and relationships. This ensures people factors are continually addressed throughout
the project’s lifecycle.
People factors permeate the other principles as illustrated below.
Ensure continued business justification
Chapter 3 - People

● Organizations are fundamentally a collection of people interacting with each other around the core
purposes of that organization. The business justification for a project needs to satisfy all three
project interests: user, business, and supplier. Defining a project that aligns all of these interests can
take time and effort. Therefore, it is important to consider the dynamics of the key relationships
relating to these interests, as they impact how agreement is reached and determine whether the
project continues to be valid. Moreover, it is crucial to recognize that what is considered justification
may change when roles change.
● Business justification can be perception-based, so the communication management approach is a
key enabler to ensure ongoing perceived business justification by managing key relationships and
showcasing progress to demonstrate value.

Learn from experience


● There is significant value in learning from visible knowledge, such as business books and captured
learning, but there is valuable knowledge hidden within a project ecosystem. This requires a
collaborative environment that encourages knowledge sharing throughout the lifetime of a project.
Knowledge sharing enables people to benefit from each other’s experience.
● In particular, people factors such as behaviours, culture, and relationships are difficult to document
and are best learned through social learning. For example, team members connecting and learning
from people who have worked on an earlier stage or other projects with similar characteristics.

Manage by stages
● The stages of a project often mark a change in the influencers and any key relationships. They are
good points to review how the project is planned to deliver, ensuring it remains aligned with how
people interact with each other and the wider organizational ecosystem. Stage boundaries often
mark a transition in the organizational design (see Chapter 6).
● Stage boundaries provide a more controlled way to review the skills needed for the next delivery
stages and make changes, even to the Project Board. It is better to have the right people managing
the project rather than people who are unable to effectively contribute.

Manage by exception
● Decisions should be made at the most local level where the knowledge needed to make and own
those decisions resides. Decisions should be progressed through the levels when a decision has the
potential to impact other areas of the project. Therefore, it requires different perspectives to be
considered, or it will have a wider impact outside of the project boundaries.
● The extent of delegation is often dependent on the level of confidence and trust that exists in the
key relationships and will adapt over the life of a project in response to the skills and capabilities of
individuals. Improving confidence and trust improves the ability to manage by exception.

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People

Focus on products
● Co-creating products, with agreed product descriptions, with the business, user, and supplier
communities unites their different perspectives. This improves the development and adoption of the
products into the business, reducing handover risks and ensuring that operational and maintenance
issues are fully considered.

Tailor to suit the project context


● Tailoring supports the ability to adapt the PRINCE2 method to the people and organizations involved,

Chapter 3 - People
rather than attempting to adapt them to the method.
● Tailoring is based on the level of capability or project management maturity, which will evolve over
time as people gain a better understanding of PRINCE2 principles, practices, and processes.

Scenario: management by exception principle


The NowByou project team is formed of people with different backgrounds and
levels of experience. Generally, they all share a drive to use their competencies
to make the world a fairer place. Being new to NowByou, the contracted project
manager mentoring the project team has asked team members to complete a
competency self-assessment. The project manager has also initiated a series of individual
conversations to become familiar with the team’s competencies and experience, as well as their
level of project management and campaign management knowledge.
It has become clear that the to-be appointed project manager, who is currently part of the
donations team, is a skilled individual aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They are a fast
learner who has demonstrated awareness of project management. Therefore, the contracted
project manager is managing by exception, asking for decisions to be made without much
supervision and to be notified of any deviations against tolerances.
By contrast, the campaign team manager is a specialist in campaigns but lacks planning and
coordination skills. The contracted project manager has decided that a closer management style
is needed, and the delegation level will be based on direct instructions, coaching and slowly
granting more autonomy in the completion of project tasks.

3.5.2 People and PRINCE2 practices


PRINCE2 defines seven practices (see Chapter 4) that are essential aspects of project management that
must be applied continually and in parallel throughout the life of the project. The ‘organizing’ practice
explains how people organize within a temporary project management team. In this way, it ensures that
the interests of the user, supplier, and business are represented in the project and establishes the
design and development of the project organization.
People factors are represented in all the practices. For example, the development of the business case
requires multi-layered perspectives from across the organizational ecosystem (business, user, and
supplier communities). This is to provide clarity regarding the project’s purpose and enable a common
understanding to develop across the project team.

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Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2

3.5.3 People and PRINCE2 processes


The PRINCE2 processes are organized into four layers: business, directing, managing, and delivering.
People factors such as behaviours, culture, and relationships are included in the processes, explaining
how people interface between the layers (see Chapter 12).
Chapter 3 - People

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