Planning is an essential part of what project managers do, so you would expect there to be some mention of how to deal with fixed date projects in the PRINCE2® manuals. There isn’t.
Fixed date projects only get a passing mention in the Managing Successful Projects book , and you’d have to look really hard to find a mention of managing time constraints in the Directing Successful Projects book.
That’s because the PRINCE2® method expects you to do project management properly, with sponsors who commit to realistic plans and don’t expect you to deliver the world on a plate by Tuesday lunchtime.
Unfortunately, when does any methodology get applied perfectly? Project managers still need some guidance on how to manage projects that have a fixed date.
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PRINCE2® advises that the fixed date time constraint is managed as a planning risk. It identifies planning risks based on fiscal boundaries (for example, where you can’t move the project budget from one financial year to the next) and also on calendar boundaries (for example, delivering something before the end of the tax year).
It cites the Millennium Bug projects as calendar-bound planning risks, but there have been more recent examples, like last year’s 53 week year which messed up some software.
If you are doing product based planning properly, you will end up with a schedule that shows exactly how long the project is going to take. You then take this to the sponsor and ask for agreement.
The Role of the Project Board in PRINCE2®
The role of the Project Board members is PRINCE2® is to make a commitment to provide adequate resources to successfully deliver the project, and time is one of them. The Directing manual does acknowledge that there are factors that can upset the agreement process.
For example, people may not be available to resource the project adequately to enable it to hit the scheduled dates because they are working on other things.
PRINCE2® advises that the Project Board members decide between themselves how best to meet all the organization’s commitments and manage competing priorities.
The good news for project managers is that the Project Board are clearly advised by PRINCE2® that their role is to endorse the Stage Plans as realistic representations of the work required to achieve the deliverables.
That is, by agreeing a Stage Plan, they also agree that it is completely possible to do all the work in the required time and they sign up to providing all the resources necessary to make that happen. If you use gate reviews, the stage plan is reviewed there, so there is every intention that the committed plan should be reasonable and realistic.
They can’t agree a Stage Plan, take away half your project team and then blame you when you can’t get the work done on time. Has your Project Board done this to you?
Point them to page 26 in the Directing Successful Projects manual which says: “Project Board members cannot subsequently distance themselves and blame the planners.” So that’s good.
Something for your sponsor to read: 10 Tips for Being a Good Sponsor
While there isn’t a lot about managing fixed date projects in PRINCE2®, the reason is that you shouldn’t be managing fixed date projects. PRINCE2® is all about managing in a controlled environment (that’s the C and the E of PRINCE), not one where everyone is rushing around panicking to get things done by a date some executive thought up on the golf course.
If you are expected to manage a fixed date project in a PRINCE2® environment, question how that fits with the method – because it doesn’t fit very well.
This article first appeared at Rebel’s Guide to Project Management