Lesson 14: Organization, Part 4

Based on AXELOS PRINCE2^® material. Reproduced under licence from AXELOS. All rights reserved.
Note: PRINCE2 2017 edition is now called PRINCE2 6th edition.

00:07 – So our next scenario question is we have an organization that has just decided to start a program and it’s taken then an existing project that is up and running into that program and that project was just in its IP stage, okay, that’s the Initiation Stage.
00:23 – Then the organization then decided that the Executive of that project which they took in will also become the Program Manager and the reason they have done this is because they wish to have clear lines of responsibility between the program and the projects.
00:39 – Is that a good idea for them to do it?
00:43 – To allow the Project Manager to also be the Program Manager?
00:48 – The Project Manager or Executive? Sorry, the Executive. Executive. Yeah.
00:52 – I think it’s a good idea for the Executive.
00:56 – When we have a program, because we don’t always have a program, and when we do have a program, usually the Executive comes from the program layer, well, it can be any role in the program level.
01:09 – My question was can the Executive be also the Program Manager as well? Manager.
01:15 – I don’t see a problem, but I feel like you want to say no.
01:20 – No, it’s okay. So the Program Manager may be the Executive on one or more projects, the other way around, so that’s fine and just as long as PRINCE2 is focused on making sure there are just clear lines of responsibility and everyone is accountable in the program and the project. So it is possible, it’s allowed.
01:44 – Okay. Actually there’s a lot of overlap between the program and the project, which is not made so clear in PRINCE2.
01:51 – For example, the whole Starting Up a Project process has a complete overlap with the program management system, and that’s also the same for some of the roles, especially the Executive.
02:05 – That should be covered more in the manual.
02:07 – Even if it’s only background information that we’re not going to have an exam question on, but it’s good to have that in because it makes people know where ideas and projects come from and how the decisions are made above the project. Also with the portfolio management system.
02:22 – Yes. Okay, the next question then is an organization has a program, yeah, and they offer project support services for all the projects underneath, but this Project Manager wants to have their own project support person reporting directly to them.
02:40 – Is this appropriate for them to ask for that?
02:46 – I don’t see a fundamental problem with that. You will be correct.
02:53 – Sometimes, maybe, you know, it depends on Can you maybe think of an instance why they might be able to get away with it because normally they should have to use somebody from the central services, so why they would be allowed to an instance where they would be allowed to have it.
03:09 – Maybe it’s a new type of project and the existing project support personnel are not familiar with the way things are done there or maybe there’s not enough capacity there or maybe there’s a difference in the leadership style and the Project Manager sees that they’re not comfortable working with those existing project support people.
03:32 – Well, you even gave more reasons than I did. Alright.
03:34 – That’s good. Yeah, so they in fact, actually the Project Manager should normally be encouraged to use the services from the program, but maybe some ideas might be if the project is really confidential, then maybe we need an extra person, or if the project is very complex and it needs really a full-time person, so we don’t really want to share that resource with somebody else.
03:57 – So normally they should.
04:00 – Our next scenario again has an organization that has a program environment and has a number of small projects. Now they wish to have …
04:09 – they wish to speed up the communication between the projects and the program.
04:14 – So what they want to do is to allow certain Project Managers to report directly to their program because this will help a lot.
04:22 – Is that a good idea or not? Is it appropriate?
04:25 – No. We do have an organization in the project, in PRINCE2.
04:29 – We shouldn’t jump ahead. If there’s going to be a communication, I would say it has to be between the Project Board and the program layer, not directly from the Project Manager to the program level.
04:41 – On the other hand, what happens when they communicate?
04:44 – The program management system may want to tell them what high level decision to make, for example, but that’s the responsibility of the Project Board. Correct. Inside the project borders. Yeah. Exactly.
04:58 – So projects must have a Project Board and that’s the reason for existence, so Project Managers cannot report directly to a program and if it’s tried, then that should be stopped immediately.
05:09 – On the other hand, maybe we can also explain it like this, that there are many different parts of the organization outside the project who want to tell the project what to do.
05:19 – There may be a program management system, a portfolio management system, an independent PMO, a CEO who gets themselves involved in the projects and many, many other people and if you want to communicate with all of them separately, then it will be very difficult for the project. Yeah.
05:38 – That’s one of the reasons we can say that we have the Project Board in PRINCE2, to create a single point of contact with the outside world with all the powerful people in the company.
05:48 – You can see it like a protection layer as well to protect the Project Manager.
05:51 – Yeah. It makes things much easier for the Project Manager. Yeah.
05:54 – And that’s one of the problems. I see that in most companies, people don’t have a real Executive, a real Project Board.
06:02 – There are some things similar to a Project Board and Project Managers really have to go out there and see who to talk to and where to get money from.
06:11 – That’s one of the responsibilities of the Executive.
06:13 – And they get asked around in questions by people they don’t Yeah. Good.
06:17 – So, my message is that see the Executive and the Project Board as a big help.
06:23 – Our next scenario is a company where the Project Board like to publicly question their Project Manager because this makes the Project Manager stronger and they want to send out a message to the organization that they are open and giving input and testing everybody.
06:39 – Is this is a good idea for the Project Board to do, do you think?
06:46 – That’s not really process-based. I would like to think of PRINCE2 as a process.
06:53 – So that question is more about leadership styles and that type of thing. Okay.
06:59 – I mean that’s not the strength of PRINCE2 to talk about that, but in general, I think as long as people respect each other and make sure that they do not abuse each other, it’s fine to be transparent and just talk about everything.
07:17 – Alright. The reason I asked that question is because PRINCE2 mentions something very specifically.
07:24 – The Project Manager runs a project on behalf of the Project Board and the Project Board must provide visible and sustained support for the Project Manager during the project.
07:34 – So, it says that in the manual and that’s the reason why I asked the question.
07:38 – So you were … yeah, you didn’t answer it but you went off track, which is a good way of escaping, but people watching do have to answer the questions.
07:45 – So what’s your answer? I just said it, that the Project Board should not do this.
07:50 – They should not question the Project Manager in public.
07:52 – If they want to question him, invite him in person into a room and talk to them, but not question them in public. They have to show full support for the Project Manager, because they will run the project on their behalf.
08:03 – So openly questioning the Project Manager is bad.
08:07 – If it does happen, the Project Manager should know how to respond, pull out this page of the manual and show it properly.
08:14 – The next scenario, again a program.
08:16 – So the program advises the Project Board to behave like a democracy.
08:22 – Is that a good idea or a bad idea?
08:25 – In PRINCE2 projects, it’s a bad idea.
08:28 – Didn’t we have this question before? No.
08:31 – I think we did. Maybe we have touched on it, but not in the Organization section.
08:36 – Okay. Well, to make sure that we remember, it really cannot be like that because in the Project Board, we have Senior Supplier who may be a representative from the supplier and they cannot be one of the people who make decisions about the project on behalf of the customer.
08:53 – That’s one of the things, or the Senior Users may not know enough to make decisions about that.
09:02 – So no, it’s not like that. It’s all up to the Executive to make the final decisions.
09:07 – However, it does kind of give that impression if you see the manual and the way it’s put together, you would think like they’re a nice team where everybody has equal say, so people can have that impression, and that’s a wrong impression, of course.
09:23 – So, the Executive is really a single point of accountability for the project.
09:28 – So it’s their neck that’s on the line if something goes wrong and they are the key decision-maker.
09:33 – So, it should not be a democracy if they have the final say, unless you think of a democracy in North Africa where there was one person responsible.
09:43 – The next scenario, during the third stage of a project, some users have little time to attend workshops, you know, because they have to provide extra product description information and they have to review completed work in the quality review meetings.
09:57 – So, as a Project Manager, what would you do in this situation?
10:04 – Well, maybe we can get help from the Senior User to provide us with more user representatives.
10:10 – Why would we need why would we ask them?
10:14 – Because they come from the user side and they are senior?
10:19 – I was looking for something more exact, but okay. You’re correct, but because they’re accountable, what I was aiming at, because they are accountable to supply the resources for the project.
10:30 – So when they don’t appear, they’ve got to make that happen. That’s what I was looking for.
10:34 – So, sorry for all the pressure.
10:37 – So, here actually is a good example where the Project Manager has to take action.
10:40 – They cannot just sit back and complain, but they’ve got to really get off their ass and do something.
10:46 – So, our or the Project Manager’s tools is to create an Exception Report, make sure that the Project Board are aware of this and then they can take action.
10:55 – So it becomes then a Project Board issue and they should solve the problem, is what should be done.
11:02 – Our next scenario, the Executive has time to do their normal duties, but they don’t have time to do Business Assurance.
11:10 – So what they decide to do is to appoint somebody from the financial department to take care of Business Assurance.
11:18 – Is this an appropriate thing for the Executive to do?
11:23 – It’s fine to have someone else take over the Assurance.
11:27 – The only thing is that make sure that there’s no conflict of interest.
11:31 – So, for example, if the person comes from the financial department, what about the Project Manager?
11:37 – If the Project Manager is also coming from the financial department, then they are really close colleagues, then there’s some problems there. Okay.
11:45 – and if they are the same person, then it’s not even allowed based on PRINCE2. Yes.
11:50 – But we should make sure that the because the Project Assurance goes there and double checks everything that the Project Manager says, all the reports, should make sure that they’re comfortable doing that and also know how to do that.
12:04 – Yeah, okay, that’s good. So, yeah, so in this case then, if there’s no conflict of interest, it’s a good idea for the Executive to appoint somebody from the financial department because they, of course, they’ll be able to think about the business aspects of the project and that’s what they are supposed to … that’s what they know how to do, and it’s also very good for the Executive to realize and if they don’t have enough time not to fake it, but to be generally open and say, “Well, I’m going to appoint a different person to take on that role in the project.” Next scenario. So during the second stage, the Project Manager is over-worked and they ask an experienced Team Manager to assist them.
12:48 – Because the Team Managers have good experience, they say, “Well, you can be co-Project Manager,” and they can kind of share the project management role, and they will also feel that this will increase the chances of the project’s success if they can get on with their work.
13:06 – Is this a good idea or not?
13:12 – So, in other words, delegating some of the responsibilities to the Team Manager.
13:18 – How many teams do we have? Let’s say we have three or four teams and we want one of them to be the co-Project Manager for the project.
13:28 – So, to take up extra responsibility.
13:31 – Yeah. If there was only one team, then I would say yes, but when you have more teams, there may be some risks in doing that, I’m thinking.
13:42 – It’s kind of a trick question, so be careful.
13:45 – Always careful. Well, you know, those teams may have some dependencies and to solve the conflicts between the teams, the Project Manager usually has to go there and help. Okay.
14:07 – To make decisions, and if one of those the Team Manager from one of those teams becomes the co-Project Manager, then it will be some form of discrimination. Correct, yeah.
14:19 – So look at the rules of PRINCE2 and decide.
14:23 – So we’re going into a very awkward territory here.
14:27 – So, the PRINCE2 manual says that the Project Manager role cannot be shared.
14:30 – So this is not a good idea. If the Project Manager needs help, then they have to look for the project support role and the only roles they can take on are more administration roles, which are nothing to do with the project.
14:42 – So that’s the official answer from PRINCE2 if you’re asked in the question.
14:47 – Well, that wasn’t my impression of the question.
14:49 – I thought you’re actually asking about some form of project support, not sharing the project management role.
14:56 – Yeah, well, the question was to try to catch you out on using a role kind of like a co-Project Manager.
15:04 – That’s not allowed. Co-Project Manager. Yeah.
15:09 – That’s not allowed. So if the Project Manager needs help to do some stuff, they have to rely on project support.
15:15 – I mean they’re already getting help from the Team Managers in other areas like the requirements documents and in the planning.
15:22 – So the other work would be issue management or risk management, but that’s not really the role of the Team Managers, you know, and the project support person there is for administration, booking rooms, handing out documents and keeping the database … product database up-to-date and so on.
15:38 – What we want is to have one person responsible as the Project Manager. Yes.
15:45 – So sometimes they can get help in different ways and that’s fine, but you should have one clear person as the Project Manager. Correct. Yeah.
15:55 – But still what do you think about what I said before.
15:58 – Getting help from the Team Managers, only one of them. Do you think it’s okay?
16:07 – Well, let’s just say if you have a question on the paper, I’m thinking like this for the moment, so then I would say it’s not okay.
16:14 – No, it’s not they’re not sharing, they’re not sharing the role.
16:17 – It’s more like project support, but that’s only one of the Team Managers.
16:26 – Well, let’s say that if an issue comes in and one of the ways of solving it is a technology issue, then you’re going to have to speak to the Team Manager to get help from that, but you’re not going to say to the Team Manager, “Okay, you can document the whole issue, you’re responsible for that issue form and then you can escalate it to the Project Board.” So that’s not going to happen or it shouldn’t happen.
16:47 – So there are certain ways that the Project Manager can delegate, work out or get help, but it should not come into their main job description.
16:57 – Again, I’m trying to be as official as possible because this is the way the questions will be asked, okay?
17:05 – Good. Now it’s time for a coffee. It is.

The next lesson is the last one about the Organization theme.

Scenarios/questions we’ve discussed in this lesson

Scenario: An organization started a program, and they took an existing running project into the program. The executive of the project was chosen to be program manager as the organization wished to have clear lines of responsibility between the program and the projects. Is this appropriate?
Scenario: An organization has a has program environment that offers project support services. The PM wants to have their own project support person reporting to them directly. Is it appropriate for the PM to request this?
Scenario: An organization has a program environment with lots of similar projects, and they wish to improve communication. Therefore, a decision is taken to allow the project managers to report directly to the program. Is this appropriate?
Scenario: The project board likes to publicly question the PM as this makes the PM stronger and they want to send a message of openness. Is this appropriate?
Scenario: The program advises the project board to behave like a democracy so that all roles will have an equal say. Is it appropriate for the program to give this advice?
Scenario: During the third stage of a database project, some users have little time to attend workshops to provide extra product-description information, or to review the completed work and give feedback. As PM, what would you advise?
Scenario: The executive of a project have time to carry out their normal duties but not business assurance. Therefore, the executive decides to appoint a person from the finance department to cover business assurance. Is this appropriate?
Scenario: During the second stage of a project, the PM is overworked and so they ask an experienced team manager to assist them and act like co-PM and share the PM role, as this will increase the chances of project success. Is this appropriate?

Lesson 14: Organization, Part 4

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