Sorry ... we're out of vanilla

When a project manager applies the PRINCE2 Method 'as is', without any conscious tailoring or scaling to the business context or the needs of the project, when they apply it 'from the book', it has come to be called 'Vanilla PRINCE2'. And yet PRINCE2 itself always stated that it had to be tailored. (Believe me, I helped write the original edition.)

Yesterday I was in Cardiff as the keynote speaker for the launch of the Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning's

Project Management 'Alumni': a community of practice for people who been trained through the Cardiff University Unit's public project management training programme. I was glad to do this. The Centre are a valued business partner, they source their accredited project and programme management training from us, and as their name implies, they believe in the value of lifelong learning. I was asked to speak on the subject of 'Being a Project Managers in Troubled Times'.

'I hoped that I would see no more vanilla PRINCE2 projects ..'

Of course, I couldn't resist referring to the coming refresh of PRINCE2. We will be running a series of Breakfast Briefings on this around the UK, one of which will be hosted by Cardiff University on 21st July. One of the improvements I mentioned was how the scaling and tailoring of the Method will be made much more overt. So much so, I said that I hoped that I would see no more vanilla PRINCE2 projects, that is to say, projects where a practitioner had monolithically and indiscriminately applied the method 'as is'.

In the Q&A afterwards it was clear that I had struck a chord. Such vanilla applications of PRINCE2 betray an inability to think, to apply its principles to the context the project happens within.

So, I hope pretty soon we'll be out of vanilla...

Presenting, project management

Comments

[UK thesis]

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