Prince2 Agile Handbook

[Ellington Walford]

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Just like the original Prince2, the agile version comes in two versions, the basic Foundation and the more advanced Practitioner. Unlike the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP), the Prince2 Agile Foundation does not require any previous experience in agile development. Certified Project Managers* can even enroll directly for the Prince2 Agile Practitioner, but there is a catch. If you do not collect enough CPD points within 3 years, the certification will expire. The Foundation certification is valid forever. Both certifications are acquired by passing a test, which can be done online.

The Prince2 Agile handbook is called the PRINCE2 Agile Guidance. It has 380 pages and the price for the eBook is 76 . I read it once for the Foundation certification and a second time for the Practitioner certification.

I guess it is possible to pass the Foundation exam after only a 2-day class training or after 2 days of intensive studying, however I would not risk it. My score was 80 % correct answers in the Foundation exam and 70 % in the Practitioner exam.

The agile certification recognizes most of the known Agile frameworks. Scrum, Kanban & Lean Startup are described in detail. E.g. Prince2 takes over the definition of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) from Lean Startup where the meaning is slightly different to common knowledge. MVP might be just a paper prototype that enables feedback.

To manage project variables, Prince2 Agile introduces the Hexagon. Just like in the Inverted Triangle Time and Costs are fixed, Scope is flexible. Furthermore, Hexagon includes Quality which is flexible just like Scope. The remaining variables Benefits and Risks can be either fixed or they can flex. It is complex but so is the Agile Project Management.

According to Prince2, project managers should not ask whether to use agile approach on a project, the question is how much agile behavior should be used. Prince2 Agile introduces a solution called Agilometer, which consists of a set of questions that measure agile environment. The result is then used to adjust the agile usage.

I can recommend Prince2 Agile primarily to those who work in companies following Prince2 methodology. If Prince2 Agile does not seem to be a perfect fit for you, check out my previous post on PMI-ACP.

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