Elizabeth Harrin's Blog, page 7

Questioning and listening: Your everyday power skills

Project management is a lot of talking to other people and acting on what they say. A successful project manager relies on being able to ask effective questions and listen to the answers.

In this article, I’ll show you how I use effective questioning and active listening and how you can use them at work to improve your professional practice.

Technique 1: Effective questioning

Effective questioning is an engagement technique where the question supports the goals and encourages the respondent to answer in a particular way.

In other words, if you ask better questions, the respondent is challenged to frame their answer in a particular way and that helps them with clarifying their ask or their response.

It’s great because it helps you understand the problem more effectively so you can offer constructive feedback, if that’s appropriate, or plan the next steps.

What effective questioning looks like

There are 3 ways that effective questioning can be characterised (according to the Uni of Tennessee):

Structure: open or closed questions where there is the potential for a range of responses or yes/no answers.Cognitive effort: how much effort the student needs to put in to process the question and respond appropriately.Directionality: exploratory questions that prompt a wide range of thinking/responses or convergent questions that encourage a topical discussion to get narrower, used depending on the goals of the conversation.

In The Coaching Habit (Bungay Stanier, 2016), the author advises that we avoid asking ‘why’ questions when working with colleagues/direct reports as it can come off as judgemental (“what were you thinking??!”).

Instead, reframe questions to ask them as a ‘what’ question (“what was your goal with that?”).

Cornell University says effective questions are those that are understood by the listener and provide a challenge but aren’t too difficult to answer. If the question is virtually impossible, your colleague is going to assume you’re trying to trip them up. You won’t get anything out of the conversation, and neither will they.

How I use effective questioning

The point of questioning is to encourage reflection, and I do ask a lot of questions as a project manager.

Questions help me understand the situation so I can properly advise, report, plan or take whatever action is needed.

Using effective questioning in the workplace

Effective questioning is something we can use to make sure we have a full understanding of a situation. It’s a technique that works with people at all levels of the organization, and it’s especially helpful with busy people – the more targeted the question, the more likely it is that we’ll get an answer that helps move the conversation/decision/work on.

I also help people frame their questions in the most effective way, especially if they are asking for something: sometimes, I spend time with colleagues thinking about how we (or they) are going to ask for something or phrase something in a session.

For example, recently I was on a call with a colleague who was drafting an email asking for input to a decision. I suggested he phrase it so it was clear he was asking for blockers/challenges and specific points in comparison to ‘general feedback’ which would not have got us closer to signing off the document.

Benefits of effective questioning

Effective questioning allows project managers to gather crucial information, encourage thoughtful responses, and foster a deeper understanding of project challenges and opportunities. By asking the right questions, project managers can facilitate better decision-making, provide valuable feedback, and support their team's development.

Being able to ask the right questions at the right time helps me, especially if I don’t know a lot about their project, work or department.

While there are some universal truths in project management, a lot is situation dependent, so being able to understand the situation and any associated office politics or opportunities for conflict can be helpful in working out a strategy to address a challenge in conjunction with the mentee.

Technique 2: Active listening

Active listening is listening in a way that helps you understand the speaker’s perspectives. Knowing how to listen actively is a skill that you can develop for your professional relationships, and you’ll find yourself using them time and time again.

NHS England describes 6 ways to demonstrate that you are actively listening:

1.     Define terms

Make sure everyone has the same understanding of jargon. An effective project manager will make sure that they define terms, and will ask questions if they don’t understand an acronym or term used.

Because... there is a lot of jargon in project management. If we didn’t listen for phrases we didn’t know and question them, we’d be operating in the dark most of the time!

2.     Repeat and paraphrase

I use this technique a lot to make sure I have heard and understood correctly, often using the words that the person used but in a different way, or similar words so it’s not literally repeating what they have just said as that sounds annoying.

3.     Don’t interrupt

Make sure people have the time to complete their sentences and their thoughts.

Jan Keck, one of the most experienced facilitators I know (and I was fortunate to do his training a while back) says if you have to interrupt someone (for example, in a meeting where they are going on about something that is not relevant to the discussion points on the agenda), you can say, “Can I pause you there?” instead of ‘stop you there’.

Then simply don’t go back to them – helpful if you are shutting down over-enthusiastic talkers in meetings.

4.     Listen between the lines

This is about looking out for and listening for feelings, assumptions, values, fears etc. The higher your emotional intelligence, the easier you’ll find this.

It’s harder to do through a camera, so if you are planning on having highly-charged, sensitive conversations, try to do those in person so you can read body language more easily.

5.     Don’t rush to fill silences

I talk quickly and I am getting better at leaving gaps. This is something I could work on more! Having a pause allows you and the person you are talking to a chance to slow down and reflect. Then you might get something even more useful in the next sentence.  

6.     Feedback impressions

The NHS website suggests checking observations with assumptions and gives the example, “If I were in your shoes, I might be thinking…” and then letting them say whether your assumption is correct or not.

This gives you both an out if you’ve misinterpreted the content, which is helpful when working with very senior stakeholders. You could use, “If I were in your team, I might be thinking…” or, “If I was going to have to use this deliverable, I might be thinking…”.

Active listening as a project manager

On project work, active listening is important as it helps us understand stakeholder opinions and perspectives, and what is not said is as important as what is said, especially in relation to implementing changes.

If I am queued in to what is not being said, or said but not believed, it can help identify areas where more change management or support is required. Active listening works with all stakeholders, from all backgrounds.

Active listening ensures you really understand the perspectives and concerns of stakeholders. It helps in identifying underlying issues, building trust, and demonstrating empathy. You can better anticipate potential conflicts, address them proactively, and ensure that all voices are heard and valued.

How I demonstrate active listening

I demonstrate active listening by watching my body language, for example nodding and smiling at the right times, and looking directly at the camera to make eye contact instead of at the screen, as that makes your eyes look like they aren’t directly looking at the person.

It’s particularly hard to demonstrate active listening on camera because I often I do have something else on my screen alongside their face, like the notes I am typing as I go through the call, or some other relevant document we are looking at together.

I think I’ve got a lot better at almost exaggerating some of the queues that you’d expect to see in person, not so it looks fake, but so that the behaviour is obvious and a clear signal to the other person.

I find it harder to demonstrate active listening when the other person does not have their camera on; fortunately this does not happen that often. If you work with colleagues who do not have their cameras on, encourage them to change that! Or meet in person.

Taking it further

Mastering the skills of effective questioning and active listening is essential for any project manager aiming to excel in their role, and luckily it’s not that hard. You don’t have to do a course or read a book (although you could if you wanted).

You just have to be intentional about how you show up to conversations.

When you do that, these everyday power skills will help you navigate complex situations, build strong relationships, and drive projects to successful completion.

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Questioning and listening: Your everyday power skills

The Stakeholder Salience Model and How to Use It

What is the stakeholder salience model?

The stakeholder saliency model was proposed by Mitchell, Agle and Wood (1997). They define salience as:

the degree to which managers give priority to competing stakeholder claims.

Their model looks at how vocal, visible and important a stakeholder is. Those dimensions help you identify the stakeholders who should get more of your attention.

Project stakeholder management and saliency

Project management relies on people: you need the project team to get things done, and that team might include members of different stakeholder groups. It’s common to have a core team of people who work daily (or at least regularly) on the project, and then a wider stakeholder community.

The saliency model is a tool you can use as part of stakeholder analysis, management, and engagement. It’s a way of categorizing stakeholders so you can evaluate the best way to involve them in the project.

There are three elements to consider, which together highlight the saliency of a stakeholder: in other words, how much priority you should give that stakeholder.

The three considerations are:

LegitimacyPowerUrgency.

Let’s look at each of those.

Legitimacy

This is a measure of how much of a ‘right’ the stakeholder has to make requests of the project.

Legitimate stakeholders can have a claim over the way the project is carried out can be based on a contract, legal right, moral interest, or some other claim to authority.

The strategic management layer in an organization is likely to have a say in how the project proceeds. Key customers or clients are also likely to have high legitimacy.

Power

Power is a measure of how much influence they have over actions and outcomes. Their power could derive from hierarchical status or prestige within the organization, money invested from a particular shareholder, ownership of resources required to successfully deliver the outcome, or similar.

Larger projects are likely to have higher numbers of people with power involved because they tend to attract greater corporate governance and oversight – so the top management likes to know what is going on.

Examples of stakeholders with high power are the sponsor, the CEO and the client.

Urgency

This is a measure of how much immediate attention they demand and how unacceptable a delay in response/action is to the stakeholder.

The expectation of high urgency can result from some kind of ownership, previous experience where urgent action was taken that leads to continued expectations of comparable response times, a time-sensitive problem that creates exposure for the stakeholder, or similar.

For example, how often are they likely to bring you urgent issues? Things that can’t wait?

Again, sponsors, clients and senior management are likely to score highly for urgency. Regulatory agencies and compliance teams might also have the right to demand immediate action.

Together, an assessment of these three elements can tell you how engaged a stakeholder is or will be in the work and how they could influence the project. This is useful information for tailoring your engagement activities and working out with whom to invest your time.

You might be familiar with the classic stakeholder analysis impact and interest grid. Stakeholder saliency is simply another tool for stakeholder classification. Personally, I find impact and interest easier, but the theory of stakeholder salience is worth understanding to deepen your knowledge about what action to take and who to be aware of.How the dimensions overlap

The picture shows how power, legitimacy, and urgency overlap to give stakeholders more or less saliency.

Project managers love a good Venn diagram!

Stakeholders that fall into areas where they have two or three elements of saliency are the ones to be most aware of and to spend the most time with.

Mitchell, Agle, and Wood define these salient stakeholders as follows.

Dominant stakeholders

This group has high power and also high legitimacy to influence the project. An example would be the board of a company. The blend of power and legitimacy means they can act on their intentions, should they ever want to.

They might not spend much time on the project, but you know about it when they want to get involved.

Dangerous stakeholders

This group has high power and also expects their needs to be met with a high degree of urgency. However, they have no legitimate claim over the project.

The researchers point out that project stakeholders in this group, for example, pressure groups can use coercive power and unlawful tactics to draw attention to their interest in the project.

Dependent stakeholders

This group has legitimacy and urgency but lacks real power to influence the direction of the project. An example would be the future process owner who will be responsible for running the activities resulting from the project’s deliverables.

If you work in projects for local governments, for example, you might find that lobby groups, local community groups, or local residents fall into this category.

They have a legitimate claim to influence the project as the outcome is going to impact their environment. They want their views to be heard in a timely fashion. But they don’t really have any power to influence the direction of the work because they are not employed by the contractors.

They are ‘dependent’ because they depend on the power of others to generate action at this time.

Definitive stakeholders

This group meets all the criteria for saliency. They have high power in the situation, they have a legitimate claim over the project and they have a claim to urgency.

For example, your sponsor.

Together this gives them an immediate mandate for priority action on the project. Typically, this situation occurs when a dominant stakeholder wants something done and gains urgency as a result.

Small projects may only have definitive stakeholders: perhaps just you and a manager.

Non-stakeholders

They also define a group of people who don’t meet any of the criteria and are therefore not stakeholders.

I would advise caution when using this label because often you simply haven’t identified them as stakeholders yet – they might be at some point.

There’s also a risk attached to labeling everyone else as non-stakeholders. Perhaps you simply haven’t identified them yet.

Other types of stakeholders

The model does talk about other groups – what happens if someone falls into the bracket where they only meet the criteria of urgency, for example. If you want to look them up, these are:

Dormant stakeholdersExpectant stakeholdersLatent stakeholders.

My personal view is that in a business context, given how little time we have to engage all the stakeholders, it’s better to focus on the individuals and groups who tick two or more boxes. The reality of managing projects is that you simply don’t have the time to go through a consultation process and do the analysis for everyone.

Your choice, though.

How to use the salience model

So what are the practical implications for the model of stakeholder salience?

Understanding stakeholder saliency is useful because it helps you identify how to spend your limited resources. You have limited time, and you can make the most of that by applying different levels of stakeholder engagement to different people.

Stakeholder relationships are time-consuming, so it’s worth investing your energy where it is going to have the greatest effect.

Look through your analysis and identify the individuals and groups who are going to benefit most from your time. Prioritize the definitive stakeholders as they tick all the boxes.

Then look at the other groups. There might be important stakeholders hidden away in other categories. Don’t let the model become a replacement for common sense.

However, remember, stakeholders can move between the categories as the project and the situation evolve.

Power, urgency, and legitimacy can be lost and gained slowly over time, or in a moment. Keep your analysis under review and switch up your actions accordingly, creating a stakeholder management strategy that fully engages your community to the best of your ability.

This is an edited extract from Engaging Stakeholders on Projects: How to harness people power by Elizabeth Harrin (APM, 2020).

Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R. and Wood, D. J. (1997) ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts’, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 22 (4), pp. 853-886.

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: The Stakeholder Salience Model and How to Use It

What you need to know about project communication management

Did you know that 56% of your project budget might be at risk due to poor communications?

Perhaps that number (from research by PMI) surprises you, but I’m sure you aren’t surprised by the fact that good communication management on projects leads to higher success rates.

We know that all projects use finite resources to achieve an objective. One of the most valuable resources in a project is the people (developers, engineers, subject matter experts, etc.) who support it.

But just how does a savvy project manager ensure that work is completed in a predictable, efficient and less stressful way?

Project managers will use multiple tools and techniques at different times, but project communication management is one that it used throughout a project.

This article is a guide to project communication management. You'll learn why it matters, see an overview of the communications process, and get some examples of where you might apply it on your own projects.

What is project communication management?

At a high level, project communication management ensures that key information flows efficiently and in a predetermined way between the various people working on (or impacted by) a project.

What they do with the information varies, and some may just need awareness of information versus taking a specific action based on it. However, having a plan for how to share information throughout a project’s lifecycle is critical to project success.

How much communication should you do?

Depending on who you ask, project managers spend anywhere from 60% - 90% of their time on communication with the various people on their projects. Whew, that is a lot of your time!

To explain why communication is so crucial, consider the PMBOK® Guide formula for determining the number of communication channels:

n (n-1) / 2

In this formula, n is the number of people on the project.

Using this formula, a team with 10 people would have 10 (9) / 2 or 45 communication channels. No wonder communication takes so much of our time!

Why project communication matters

I recall a story shared by a project manager who worked on an international consulting project. He took over responsibility from the previous project manager part way through the project.

During the transition, he focused on a smooth transition for the project team at the home office. One detail that was overlooked was reestablishing regular communications with a key stakeholder in a different country.

As a result of this oversight, a project complaint (escalation) occurred after the transition and included specific concerns around project communication. Although communication was occurring, the perception of the stakeholder was that communication was not being properly managed because he felt unintentionally “left out.”

The concern was ultimately addressed along with a plan update to include all key stakeholders. During the project's lessons learned session, managing communication updates during and after a team member transition was recognized as an area in need of some improvement.

The key takeaway is that project communication management should occur throughout a project’s lifecycle, especially when a transition occurs.

When project communication happens

Here are some of the more common meetings where project communication occurs during a project:

Project kickoff meetingPresentations for clients, customers, or other stakeholdersExecutive updates, written briefs and presentationsThe daily standup, or weekly or monthly status meetings in person or via Teams, Zoom, video chat etcMilestone meetings to discuss progress, project risks, and determine path forwardReview meetings to periodically present and get acceptance on project deliverablesLessons learned meetings or retrospectives.

You can probably think of other times where you are communicating with people on a project. After all, it's a large part of what you do all day! Effective project managers spend most of their time communicating in one way or another.

I like to talk about project managers being the glue that holds the team together, and we do that through discussion, conversation, facilitated meetings and chat.

The communications management process

Communications management occurs in a well-defined and repeatable cycle. Here are the 4 steps of the communications process along with a bit of information to explain each one.

1. Plan

At or before kickoff, the project manager proposes a communication plan and seeks input from team members and stakeholders. The plan outlines who will provide communication, how information will be issued, the frequency, and what action(s) are expected. The intent is to ensure that all team members and stakeholders know what to expect from each other during the project.

As part of communication planning, a project manager should perform some degree of stakeholder analysis to answer some key questions:

Who - the stakeholders impacted by the project and who will expect updates and informationWhat - their expectations of the project, what they want to “know” about the projectWhy - why the project matters to themInfluence - their respective influence on the project’s resources and outcomes (low / medium / high)

Understanding stakeholders is critical because how to communicate, what they expect, and how to manage them varies according to these factors. You should adapt the plan with everyone in mind, but provide special consideration for the most influential people.

You will also need to consider the frequency and detail preferred by the most influential stakeholders so that you can meet their expectations from the beginning.

You will also want to consider who should receive information, who may provide information /input before communication is issued, and how to send that information.

Get the project communications plan template I use to plan my project communications

If you want to try something different, read this case study on using video for project communications.

2. Do

Once planning is done and the project starts, the communication really begins! 

This step is all about action - issuing meeting minutes, providing reports, and documenting proposed changes as agreed. Your biggest responsibility here is to ensure that all commitments are met on time and to the agreed level of expectation.

There are numerous examples where project communication supports other project management processes. Just to expand on that a bit, here are a few examples of where that might typically occur:

Stakeholder engagement - provides a general awareness of project status, issues, concerns, and required action or support needed for project success.Progress monitoring and reporting - helps through regular overview of project progress, accomplishments, path forward, and next steps.Key decisions documentation - provides a mechanism for documenting and distributing key decisions with the project team for future reference.Team building - helps a project team establish and maintain trust through regular communication, discussions around issues and concerns, and getting to know each other.Expectations management - sets the tone and details for how communication will flow, when who will receive it, and criteria for taking appropriate action (if needed).Transition and change management - ensures that team members and stakeholders are aware of any proposed changes, their potential impact, and aligned in their support of changes.3. Monitor

In this step the project manager seeks input from the team and stakeholders, along with feedback. Are people looking for more information, less, or doing something different from what was agreed?

A direct conversation or survey can be helpful to understand if needs are being met and any area(s) that may need adjustment.

4. Change

Based on feedback from the Monitor step, incorporate feedback and adapt the plan as needed. The goal here is to ensure that expectations are fully aligned with how communication is occurring.

Learn from what works and what doesn't, then make the appropriate changes so the team can improve the way comms are done.

For example, if you don't get the required response from an email, pick up the phone. There are more examples of how you can switch up your communications in the table below.

How much does project communication cost?

Project communication costs vary depending on the project. If you are hosting community events, that’s going to cost more than providing an internal team with a quarterly PDF newsletter.

However, you can do your stakeholder communication on a budget (there are ideas for cheap ways to communicate here).

Regardless, it is worth spending the money on getting project comms correct. According to PMI’s report into the Essential Role of Communication, effective communication is associated with a 17% increase in finishing projects within budget.

In other words: investing in comms pays off because you are more likely to hit your financial targets and prevent overspending.

Communication skills for project managers

Project communication requires different skills for maximum effectiveness.

Here are the top communication skills for project managers:

Active listening: really hearing what people are saying in the roomConsistency: follow through when you say you will and create a cadence for the teamClarity: use short sentences and jargon-free language in your communicationsAccessibility: make sure comms are delivered in a format that works for everyoneRespect: treat your audience with respect and consideration.

Another important skill is public speaking – Toastmasters is a great way to improve. Look for a chapter near you, or simply volunteer to present to groups at work.

Your next steps

Projects are a big responsibility and may seem overwhelming at times. Thankfully, there are tools and techniques that can help us break things down to make them more manageable.

The details of project communication management may vary according to your own style and preferences. Regardless of your project size or industry, communication will play a big role from beginning to end and can help you deliver your projects with success.

Your action steps are:

Have you got a communications plan? If not, download my template and create one.Review your stakeholder list and ensure everyone is on there who needs to be

Good luck and happy communicating!

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: What you need to know about project communication management

Real-life tips for managing Red projects and getting back to Green

Has your project just ticked over into Red status? I know what that feels like! And I know what the scrutiny is like too – suddenly you’ve got a lot of attention on your project and everyone is demanding a path to Green.

I’ve been managing projects for over 20 years and many of my projects and programs have had periods of Red… sometimes for a long time!

It is something you can handle, so let me share my top tips for surviving the Red stage and let’s get you tooled up to talk to stakeholders and get back to Green.

First things first: act quickly

The first thing to do when your project goes Red is to act quickly. Make sure the right people know that you will be reporting the project as Red, because your sponsor won’t like it if they find out about it through the weekly portfolio report and not from you.

Hopefully you would have reported Amber/Yellow status before you zinged up to Red, so it won’t be a total surprise.

Understanding Red status projects

OK, let’s think about what makes a project Red in the first place.

You’ve moved to Red because the project is:

Outside the defined tolerance for time/schedule e.g. is going to miss a major milestone by a significant amountOutside the defined tolerance for budget e.g. is going to go over budget by a significant amountOutside the defined tolerance for quality or scope e.g. is not going to deliver what you thought it would.

Or some other criteria as defined in your project management process internally, that specifies what Red means for you.

Or (and this is a biggie) the project manager is lying to herself about the status and is reporting Green even though the work is what we call a watermelon project: Green on the outside, Red in the middle when you cut it open and have a proper look.

Don’t be that project manager!

It’s really important to have a definition of what Red means, that everyone understands, before you have to use it. Then the conversation is about ‘this project now meets the criteria for Red reporting’ rather than ‘We’ve hit a major issue so I’m going to slap Red on it this week.’

What causes a project to end up Red?

Normally, a troubled project moves to Red status because something is out of alignment with the baselines and original agreements.

For example, maybe the testing phase has uncovered more bugs than you were expecting and that’s going to delay go live.

Maybe a key vendor has pulled out or said they can’t get you the kit in time for you to hit your milestones.

Maybe your estimates were poor or you forgot to add something into scope that you really should have worked out in advance.

It happens. All experienced project managers have been there.

Red means ‘management attention required’ and that’s what you’ve probably got now.

Managing stakeholder expectations

Stakeholders tend to not like Red projects as they bring a lot of attention from senior leaders and the PMO.

However, I’ve always thought of Red as a good thing. It means you get the attention you need to unblock your project: whether that’s more money, an agreement that the date can change or something else. (OK, that something else might be closing your project prematurely…).

Manage stakeholder expectations when your project goes Red. Let them know that there are governance hoops to jump through and that you’ll be escalating the problem, with a view to securing support to keep the project moving forward.

That might mean they have things to do as well, for example, they might need to lead a replanning exercise.

Escalating project status

Generally, you’ll escalate the project status and flag it as Red through your normal reporting process. That might be a weekly or monthly status report, or a report to your steering group.

Complete your report as normal.

Then let the key stakeholders know what is in the report before you submit it, especially the sponsor. Circulate and socialize!

The sponsor, finance lead and any other key internal stakeholders should see the report before it goes in, preferably, and then submit it.

Should you have a plan to get back to Green by the point of doing the escalation? Yes, ideally, but sometimes things happen so quickly that you just don’t have that option.

Getting back to Green

Getting back to Green is everyone’s goal at this point. Or frankly, sometimes you might settle for Amber/Yellow!

It is often relatively straightforward to identify what needs to happen:

If you are running late, your steering group or program board needs to approve a replan to a later date or the resources to enable you to deliver to the original date.If you’re running over budget, you need approval to increase your budget.

However, getting either of those things, or any other remedial action, agreed, approved and implemented is a big ask.

Here are 5 ways to get your project back to Green.

1.     Request more (people) resources

Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to add more human resources. For example, bring in a contractor to speed up developing an IT system.

Beware of Brook’s law: adding more people sometimes makes the work go slower because you have to bring them up to speed.

One alternative is to secure more time from key resources so they aren’t splitting their time between several projects – get approval to have them focus on your project until you’re back in control.

2.     Request more funding

Do you need more cash? If your estimates were wrong or scope was missed, you might need more funding to pay for the additional work or materials.

Put together a request asking for the additional funding – and be sure it’s comprehensive. You don’t want to be going back in a couple of months asking for more.

3.     Reduce the scope

Take a look at what you are delivering and see if there are any items that can be pushed to a future sprint or a Phase 2 project.

Don’t make decisions on dropping scope items without the support of business owners and your project sponsor. Make a recommendation and say how you will address the scope gaps in the future. Get them to sign off on the fact they’ll be getting less this round.

4.     Request more time

Sometimes you can complete the work but it will take longer. If your project end date is now going to be outside of the tolerance (assuming you set some in the first place – I’d go for 10% as a ballpark figure), you will need approval to slip the date further.

Lay out your revised project timeline and get the project board to sign off on this.

5.     Avoid going Red in the first place

All of the above methods affect project benefits. If the project is late or costs more, the benefits are reduced.

So, the best plan is to avoid going Red in the first place, by actively managing the project. Assess the level of risk. Double down on corrective action when the project is at Amber status, so that everything is back on track before Red becomes the inevitable conclusion.

I know, easier said than done, especially on complex projects!

Managing back to Green

With your recovery plan in place, it’s time to monitor progress against the actions you’ve agreed. Get any approval papers through the governance to secure additional funding, resources, time or scope changes. Bring in your extra people and brief them.

Update your budget documentation, schedule and other project artifacts.

Report weekly on the recovery actions and make sure you are transparent about how the remedial plan is working out.

The bigger picture: Tips for PMO leaders

Project managers are clear about what to do with Red status projects, but how do PMO leaders and portfolio managers create the psychological safety to allow teams to report Red in the first place?

Create a no-blame, problem-solving culture

There’s no value in pointing the finger. The project is where it is, and we can’t go back in time to do anything differently. There is a place for lessons learned to uncover how the project got into this state, but for now, the focus is on recovery planning.

If the organization has a culture of problem-solving and solution creation, then you can quickly get through the difficult conversations about the ‘what’ and get on to the ‘how’. Support project managers to create an action plan.

Use peer reviews and project assurance processes

Project assurance is the process of making sure a project is performing within the agreed methodology, standards, guidelines, processes and practices. It’s a way of assuring senior management that the project is being managed well.

Peer reviews do a similar thing by sharing good practice between experienced project managers and highlighting areas where a project manager could be doing something differently for a better outcome. In other words, it’s an early opportunity to avoid poor project performance and check for optimism bias – we all get a bit lazy as project managers from time to time and miss out the easy fixes!

Both practices ensure there is adequate check and challenge and opportunity for review to spot easy fixes to keep the project under control.

Key takeaways

Don’t be afraid to turn your project Red. If it meets the criteria, it should be Red, and that doesn’t always need to mean bad news. It’s the opportunity for the team to work together to course correct.

When your project is Red (or preferably before, at Amber/Yellow status), proactively manage the project’s path back to Green. Work with the project team to identify the best course of action.

Take the appropriate steps and communicate these, or escalate to get the approvals you need to return to Green. You’ll soon be back on track for project success! 

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Real-life tips for managing Red projects and getting back to Green

How to choose a PRINCE2 course online

You’re looking for the best PRINCE2® course online. In this article, I’ll share what to look for in an online training provider and how to choose the right PRINCE2® certification course for you.

TL;DR: The training provider I think is the best online PRINCE2® training is Management Plaza, led by expert trainer Frank Turley. They offer reasonably priced training including the exam voucher. Find out more about their courses.

What to look for in an online PRINCE2® course

The criteria I use to rate online training are the following:

Delivery mechanismContentTime zone (for live classes)Company background and credibilityAccreditationStudent reviewsExam simulatorGuaranteePrice

These are the important features for me, but ultimately, other things might be more important for you.

1. Delivery mechanism

Is the course taught live or is it a self-study recorded option? Or a blend of both? Some classes will give you access to trainers via chat/email/live calls although the bulk of the material is pre-recorded.

There is no ‘correct’ answer. Pick what you think will work best for you, whether you want the interaction and schedule of a live class or the ability to work on your own time.

Personally, I’ve done both over the years, and there are pros and cons to both. For project management training, I like to have the option to watch videos so I can speed up the materials. And I like to have subtitles.

2. Content

The course content needs to be:

Fully aligned with the latest edition of Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® (the manual)Short lessonsFull of supporting materials e.g. quizzes, games, handouts, flashcards and printable cheat sheets

This is all-important because studying is hard enough as it is. Make your life easier by ensuring your learning materials are good quality and designed to help you study.

Bonus: See if the provider will let you access some of the course material for free. This will give you an idea of the quality of the content.

3. Time zone

Whether you are based in London or Bangalore, Manchester or Sydney, a city in the USA or somewhere else, online courses with recorded video will work for you.

However, if you are planning to join a live online class, you need to pay attention to what time zone the sessions are going to be in. Otherwise, there is a risk that you’ll be staying up late or joining calls early, and that might not be the right time for your levels of energy.

Having said that, there could be some benefit to joining a class at a different time zone to your normal working hours. You may be able to take less time off work if you can fit the training into your evenings or early mornings.

It’s your choice, but bear in mind that you are going to be tired: doing an online PRINCE2® course is exhausting, whether it’s live or self-study.

4. Company background and credibility

Look into the company. Is this someone who just set up an Udemy account and posted a video training yesterday? Or have they got credibility as a PRINCE2® trainer?

How long has the company been around for? You need to have confidence that the training provider is going to be around to support you and that they have enough expertise to give you a quality training experience.

5. Accreditation

AXELOS is the official PRINCE2® accreditation body. Look for courses that are accredited by AXELOS. PeopleCert is the official examination institute, so they are the organization that offers the exams.

6. Student reviews

It’s really important to read student reviews AND get a feel for whether they are bot-created and paid for or are real students.

Yep, some companies fake their reviews. I bet you aren't surprised.

I like how Management Plaza has a PRINCE2® study group on Facebook and Frank is very active in the group, along with his team. I think you get a better feel for what the courses are like in a Facebook group instead of simply reading online reviews.

Take some time to seek out reviews. Ask the provider if you can’t easily find them. Get a feel for the type of student that does the course and student results.

7. Exam simulator

One of the best ways to prepare for the exam is to take sample questions and mock exams with an exam simulator. Check out a few of the best PRINCE2® exam simulators here.

PRINCE2® is a pair of certifications, so you’ll want to get a simulator for Foundation and another for the Practitioner. The style of questions in the test is quite different so it is worth taking mock exams for both.

Read my review of the best PRINCE2® exam simulator.

8. Guarantee

Look for a class that has a pass guarantee.

There are normally caveats around the guarantee. For example, you can’t expect to get the provider to pay for your next exam if you didn’t bother to study properly the first time, or if you studied a year ago and have forgotten it all.

Read the small print and make sure you can buy into the pass guarantee criteria before you buy the course.

9. Price

Let’s be honest: price is a concern for people. And it should be. If your employer isn’t paying, you have to pay up yourself.

I recommend asking your employer if they will pay. I’ll be mentoring people and the conversation turns to certification, and they say their manager would never pay so they have to fund it themselves. I say, “Have you asked them?” and they say no… I’ve helped a few people craft winning statements to sell their boss on the idea of paying for training. It’s always worth asking!

Look at the price and what you get for that. Some will just be the training. Others will be a package that includes the exam voucher (which you need to book the exam) and/or a simulator.

Your next steps

You’re considering an online PRINCE2® course, and it’s worth looking at a few options to find a reliable, credible provider before you part with any money.

Or… if you just want my advice, check out the courses from Frank Turley and team at Management Plaza. They tick all the boxes and provide a good level of customer service, have many happy students and the material is good quality.

If you still want to do more reading you can check out the best PRINCE2® books here!

[lasso ref="prince2-link" id="26308" link_id="275609"]

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: How to choose a PRINCE2 course online

PRINCE2: The project management method explained

What is PRINCE2®?

PRINCE2® is a project management method. It’s structured, and experience-based, created from the lived experience of thousands of project managers and successful projects.

PRINCE2® stands for Projects IN a Controlled Environment (Version 2). And it’s not spelled PRINCE TWO!

It’s a customizable way of managing and controlling the work. It’s tailorable and suitable for projects of all sizes, large and small.

I took my first Practitioner course in 2004.

Who is PRINCE2® for?

PRINCE2® works in a huge number of industries and domains. As a project manager, I have used it in financial services, and to a lesser degree, a modified version in a healthcare setting. It’s a predictive methodology, although PRINCE2 Agile® allows for agile frameworks.

Because PRINCE2® is a broad-brush approach, it doesn’t cover technical processes or specific techniques, but it will fit alongside them.

The history of PRINCE2®

PRINCE2® is part of the best practice guidance that came out of the UK Office of Government Commerce.

It started life as the PROMPT methodology, created in a private UK company back in the 1970s. A British government agency, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, licensed it for use in government IT projects back in 1979.

It was renamed PRINCE.

PRINCE2® was released in 1996 and had major updates in 2009 and 2017. The most recent major update came in 2023.

I was asked to be one of the reviewers of the PRINCE2 7 manual, so I am very familiar with the content and changes since the last edition.

The PRINCE2 method is something that was used mainly in public sector UK projects, but quickly got picked up by the private sector and spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Because it works. Today, it is used by thousands of practitioners in hundreds of countries.

PRINCE2 Agile® came along in 2018 to enable PRINCE2® to work with agile concepts like timeboxing and Kanban.

The 5 elements of PRINCE2

There are 5 integrated elements of PRINCE2. These are:

People (new for the 7th edition, there is a whole new chapter which is long overdue in my view)PrinciplesProcessesPractices (this section used to be called Themes, if you are familiar with the 6th edition) Project context (which is where we talk about the business environment and tailoring).PRINCE2 core principles

The 7 core principles in PRINCE2® project management are the 'guiding obligations' to ensure that critical areas for success are constantly front of mind. They are:

Ensure continued business justificationLearn from experienceDefine roles, responsibilities and relationshipsManage by exceptionManage by stagesFocus on productsTailor to suit the project.

Let’s have a quick look at these best practices.

1. Ensure continued business justification

A PRINCE2® project needs a business case. There should be a point to doing any new project: there should be some business driver to doing the work.

And that business justification needs to last throughout the project. You should keep checking in, for example at the end of each stage of the project, to make sure that the work is still viable.

Ideally, you’ll be able to achieve the benefits but sometimes things happen to make that difficult. In those cases, you might want to recommend the project is stopped.

2. Learn from experience

There is a focus in PRINCE2® on learning from experience. You should look at what happened on past projects because that helps mitigate risk on your current project.

Lessons learned isn’t something you do once. PRINCE2® encourages you to dig into lessons learned all through the project life cycle to help you make better choices. Document lessons learned for future projects.

3. Define roles, responsibilities and relationships

There are defined roles and responsibilities in PRINCE2® projects. There are 3 main stakeholders:

Sponsor: the business sponsor who make sure the project delivers the right thingUsers: people who use the end result and/or receive the benefitSuppliers: people or companies that provide the resources to get the project done.

The default roles are:

The project board, made up of the executive (sponsor), senior user (user rep) and senior supplier (supplier rep)Project managerProject supportProject assuranceChange authorityTeam manager.

That’s it. All the team members fit into one of those roles, although it is possible to tailor the structure to suit your environment.

The relationships part of this principle's title is all about the project ecosystem and how soft power and networks influence the way work gets done.

4. Manage by exception

I love this principle. It means you have boundaries and tolerances set for your role as the PRINCE2® project manager, and you can operate within those boundaries. If you go out of those, there is an exception, and you escalate or get management input as necessary.

Management by exception works at every level and relies on the project team being trusted to do their job. When that happens, the sponsor and project board only need a regular report at the prescribed times.

This avoids micromanaging and builds trust in the team.

5. Manage by stages

PRINCE2® delivers the work in stages. The project manager and team break down the work into chunks called management stages.

There’s a process to guide work through the stages so there is adequate control at every point.

At the end of a stage, the project board decides whether the project is still viable and whether it should move on.

6. Focus on products

The method has a focus on products, which means you create a product description so that everyone knows what the project is creating. It’s a way to ensure expectations are managed and all stakeholders are on the same page.

Products can be defined in work packages. There’s normally some documentation that lists out what the products are so everyone understands what is being delivered.

7. Tailor to suit the project

The final principle is that PRINCE2® should be tailored to the environment. You can tailor to fit the project’s:

SizeImportanceEnvironmentTeam cultureRiskComplexity.

Tweak project controls to make the whole thing work for your situation.

What’s missing from PRINCE2® (thankfully) is the detailed guidance on ‘how’. For example, it talks about creating a schedule, but doesn’t mandate how to do that. You can use critical path scheduling, a Gantt chart, full on earned value management for schedule control, or some sticky notes on the wall. PRINCE2® won’t beat you up for choosing the right scheduling approach for your environment.

PRINCE2® practices

There are 7 practices in PRINCE2®. Let's look at these.

1. Business case

The business case shows up in the principles as well – that’s how it important it is. It’s probably the most important one of the management products (that’s my view anyway: in the manual, they all have the same importance).

The business case ensures that the project is worthwhile and aligns to business goals. It also links back to performance targets. There is a new performance target of sustainability in the 2023 7th edition, which requires having a sustainability management approach in place for the project.

Finally, the business case empowers the project manager to recommend the project is stopped if the business benefits won’t be realized.

2. Organizing

This relates to the project organization: roles and responsibilities, the team, and the management set up for the project.

It’s the practice that enables the project leadership, effective communication, and team empowerment. It also covers organizational design and development.

3. Plans

PRINCE2® guides you towards creating plans that answer the questions stakeholders want to know: What are we doing?

How are we doing it?How much will it cost?When will it be ready?

The plans involved in PRINCE2® are:

The project planThe stage planThe exception planThe team plan.4. Quality

PRINCE2® talks a lot about quality. It sets out how to define product quality, how to measure it and the process for controlling it. This section also covers the idea of having a product register to track what is being created.

When I did my PRINCE2® course, this section was really valuable because quality is theoretically understood, but not always acted on at work. This practice helped me understand how to create a quality focus that wasn’t all about simply writing a quality plan.

5. Risk

Risk management is a core practice across many project management methods, and PRINCE2® gives you a practical approach to putting it front and center.

PRINCE2® fits in with the Management of Risk® guidance, also from Axelos. The risk method draws on that so the whole family of methods work together. It provides an approach to do risk assessment and then plan management actions to ensure the risk is adequately addressed. You’ll record your risks is a risk log.

6. Issues

This used to be the theme of Change, but PRINCE2 uses the terminology of 'issue' to mean anything that affects the project, and that could be a problem (i.e. an issue), an 'off-specification' defect or a change. Often issues lead to changes anyway and there is a similar process of analyzing and decision-making that we follow for both.

That said, change management is a big thing in project management. This relates to the authorization of change requests, not organizational change management (user adoption, training, etc).

There’s a whole process to follow that allows changes to be proposed, analyzed and acted on as necessary. And of course we have to push issues through a process that allows the project team to address them as well.

7. Progress

What’s the point of a project if not to make progress towards delivering the solution? You manage the project’s progress actively to ensure everything goes to plan.

The progress practice helps you control the project. This practice talks about having decent project reporting, tracking and monitoring performance, tolerances, issues, changes and risks, knowing when to escalate and being able to deal with deviations.

PRINCE2® processes

People tend to think of PRINCE2® as quite a process-heavy method, and when I first did my exam, I felt the same. However, there is a lot of emphasis on tailoring, and the latest version is very flexible.

The processes are really not that complicated to understand or to do, and they are simply about having enough governance to make sure the project is properly under control. You will find them very intuitive once you get going and understand the jargon.

The core processes in PRINCE2® cover the whole life cycle and are:

Starting up a projectDirecting a projectInitiating a projectControlling a stageManaging product deliveryManaging a stage boundaryClosing a project.Starting up a project

This process looks at whether the project is worthwhile and viable. The project brief gets created and the project board decide whether to go ahead.

Directing a project

Directing a project had a whole separate PRINCE2® book in the 6th edition, and I wonder whether there will be a new guide for project sponsors released in due course. Directing gets a process of its own. It’s the process that the sponsor and project board go through to make decisions and provide that governance layer.

It’s the activities that provide the parallel management and steering level that run alongside the work the project manager is leading.

Initiating a project

Once the project passes through the Start up phase, you move into initiating. This is where you dig into the work that needs to be done and you start planning.

There’s quite a lot of documentation that PRINCE2® suggests you create during this stage because the plan is created and you decide how to do risk management, communications, project controls, change control, quality and more.

Controlling a stage

This process helps you monitor and control the work throughout the stage. It’s the day-to-day effective project management that falls into this process.

You review progress, monitor that against the baseline you set and correct any deviations.

Managing product delivery

This process is what you use when you are ready to complete a product delivery. As you can imagine, these processes often overlap and happen in parallel, so PRINCE2® doesn’t exactly offer you a start-to-finish step-by-step approach. It’s far more flexible than that.

You might use this process several times throughout the life cycle as you need to get stakeholders to accept products as you go.

Managing a stage boundary

Stage boundaries are the points at which you move the project on. This is the process you use moving between project stages. It’s basically the approval for moving on to the next chunk of the work.

The project board review progress so far, look at the business justification and make the call as to whether the work continues.

Closing a project

Finally, there is a process around closing a project. It covers how to wrap up the work and ensure the loose ends are tidied away, making sure the products are delivered to the required standard and handed over effectively to the users.

It covers verification of the product, making sure the required support is in place and ensuring open actions and issues are addressed. You’ll also review the project’s performance and assess the benefits.

Becoming PRINCE2® certified

There are two levels of PRINCE2® certification: Foundation and Practitioner.

There is the ‘ordinary’ flavor of PRINCE2® and then there is also Agile Foundation and Agile Practitioner.

You’ll need to choose a training course and study with an accredited provider. I recommend studying with a PRINCE2® exam simulator because taking practice questions are key to not flaking out in the exam. I did loads of past papers when I took it, and they really helped. Once you re ready, take the exam(s).

Typically, the full Foundation/Practitioner certification course is 5 days, including both exams. There are no prerequisites for enrolling for the Foundation course. You can also take the course online with plenty of different format options.

However, I would say that some project management experience will make it easier for you to do the training and get through the exam, because it is intensive.

The course I took (and the format most in-person courses take) is to do the knowledge-led content over 2.5 days and then take the Foundation certificate exam on the Wednesday afternoon. Then spend Thursday and Friday morning on Practitioner content and exam prep, with the Practitioner exam on the Friday afternoon.

In other words, you can get PRINCE2® certified in a week with no prerequisites, which makes it a good option for people who don't have years of experience.

You will need to maintain your certificate with a subscription service or take the exam again when it expires.

Ready to get certified? Check out the AXELOS-accredited PRINCE2® Practitioner course led by Frank Turley offered by Management Plaza.

[lasso ref="prince2-link" id="26308" link_id="275555"]Summary

PRINCE2® is one of the project management methodologies open to you. It’s a flexible, effective method for leading an entire project. Where will PRINCE2® take you?

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: PRINCE2: The project management method explained

12 Tips for PRINCE2® Practitioner exam success

PRINCE2 Foundation was the first project management certification that I took. Then I went on to Practitioner.

The exams for each were tough, but not impossible. PRINCE2 is one of the most popular project management frameworks around the world, with thousands of certified professionals globally. It’s totally within your reach.

But I get it. The thought of doing an exam is stressful, even if you have taken a solid Practitioner training course and mentally prepared.

It doesn’t have to be tough. You can make it through the exam with the right preparation. In this article, I’ll share my 12 top tips for exam success.

1.    Use an exam simulator

The easiest way to go into any exam with maximum confidence is to take mock exams and do a lot of practice questions.

I recommend using an exam simulator for that because the style of the question and the formatting of the answers more closely matches your experience in the test.

A PRINCE2 Practitioner simulator (this is the one I recommend) will get you in the right frame of mind to answer the scenario-based questions. It’s a huge help with exam techniques such as managing your time and using the ‘mark for review’ option.

Sample exams help you get used to unpicking what they actually mean and what answer is being sought. Once you can interpret the exam questions, you’re away!

[lasso type="grid" category="prince2-practitioner-resources" link_id="288930"]2.    Do partial exams

I was working full-time when I took my course and exam, and I expect you are too. If you aren’t working, you probably have other commitments.

So it’s hard to fit in the time to do a full 2.5 hour sample paper.

Do partial exams instead. Pick an area you want to study. The Mplaza exam simulator gives you the option to do 12 questions on a particular topic. Review the questions you got wrong, using the helpful references to understand what the right answer should have been. Review the references to go deeper into that topic.

Honestly, I would review the references even if you got the correct answer, because if you are anything like me sometimes your response was a total guess!

3.    Aim for 80%+

Aim for consistently scoring 80% or above on your mock exams.

That sounds a lot given the pass mark for PRINCE2 7 Practitioner is only 60% (it was only 55% in the 6th edition exams), but you need that level to give yourself confidence that you adequately understand the content.

If you get a question wrong, find the relevant reference in the manual and highlight the text. Make sure you get an exam simulator that gives you the references to the source material as well as a helpful explanation of why you were wrong.

4.    Tab your book

Foundation is a closed book exam so you have to work from memory only. The good news is that Practitioner is not!

The PRINCE2 Practitioner exam is open book, which means you can take the (print) manual into the exam with you.

But it’s a big book. Flicking through it to find the answers is time-consuming so make it easy for yourself. Use colored tabs.

Tabulating your book is allowed. Extra sticky notes with lots of notes on and loose sheets of paper are not.

5.    Write in your book

Make the most of being able to take your manual into the test. Make your notes in the book!

There is plenty of space inside the cover or on key pages (and you are allowed to annotate your book). Highlight what you need to highlight. Draw out any tables or process diagrams that would act as a quick reference on exam day.

Note: PDF versions were allowed during the open book examination in the worst of the pandemic, but that is no longer the case. It’s print manuals only now.

6.    Don’t rely on the manual

You need to have pace in the exam to get through the questions. There are 70 questions for PRINCE2 7th edition exams, and the examination lasts 2.5 hours (150 minutes). That’s just over 2 minutes per question.

Trust me, you won’t have time on exam day to look up everything. It pays off to learn by rote.

Ideally, practice timed tests without referring to the manual so you get used to having confidence in your own ability. You don’t want to feel like you have to rely on your manual all the time.

It might also help to read some other recommended PRINCE2 books for background and to round out your knowledge.

7.    Study with diagrams

The 3 most useful diagrams are these:

Product map: outlines where products are created and updated and by whomTimeline diagram: shows processes and stage boundaries over the lifecycle of a projectProcess model: shows interactions between processes and who is involved.

Have these diagrams handy while you are revising so you can see how everything links together in the project scenario.

You can create them yourself as part of your revision process, or good ones are included in the Management Plaza PRINCE2 Practitioner training.

Ask your training provider if they have diagrams you can use.

8.    Schedule your exam at a sensible time

I did Foundation and Practitioner in a week.

It is possible to cram and take both exams, but I’m not sure I’m a better project manager because of it. I studied with the intent of passing the exams, not learning the material to deliver successful projects.

Schedule your Practitioner exam about a month after your training, so you have time to digest the material and get enough exam practice in.

9.    Download the tech and get ready

Download the .exe installer from ExamShield, not the app store package. You want the ‘real’ software installed on your machine ready for the online exam.

Get that all set up as far in advance as you can because being blocked by the anti-virus is no fun just before you settle down for the test!

Try and do some online exam practice beforehand, as there is no answer sheet like there was in my day: it’s all on the screen.

10. Answer every question

Here’s one of my top study tips: You are not penalized for a wrong answer. If you don’t know the answer, just guess.

Mark the question for review and come back to it later. Remember, the pass rate is only 60% for both Practitioner and Foundation exams. If you are consistently scoring 80% or more, you have a little wiggle room to play with.

11. Don’t panic!

I have taken professional exams on and off throughout my career, but if you’ve been out of education for some time, you might not have sat a timed test for many years.

And so the panic sets in!

Don’t stress about it. It’s just a test. You don’t have to tell anyone you are doing it, so no one will judge if you don’t get through the exam paper.

This is another area where having an exam simulator and doing plenty of practice will help you build your confidence for test day. Think about what makes you calmer: is it music? Is it walks in the open air? You won't be able to do those on exam day but you can factor them into your routine before the exam to help you destress a little.

Try to cultivate a positive attitude. It really isn't that big a deal.

12. Be consistent

Studying for the exam is a slog. These Practitioner exam tips will help, but ultimately the biggest thing you can do is put the time in.

The good thing is that once you’ve dedicated a chunk of your life to study, you don’t have to take the exam again.

I know your PRINCE2 certification does expire, but most employers are not going to care much about that in real life… you can always say you will re-certify if it’s a must-have for them!

Put some time in to consistent studying. Make a revision plan. And just do it.

Your next steps

If you’ve got this far, it’s because you’re ready to prep for the exam. Get your official manual tabbed, marked up, and ready. Get your simulator fired up.

And go!

You’ve got this!

 Here are some popular resources that will help you take the next steps to becoming a PRINCE2 Practitioner:

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: 12 Tips for PRINCE2® Practitioner exam success

Best PRINCE2 books for 2025 (including PRINCE2 Agile books)

The PRINCE2® certification exam is tricky to pass because of the style of objective testing and the number of questions you have to answer.

But PRINCE2® itself is not a difficult method to learn – and the official manual is actually pretty easy to follow and understand. The latest manual, that came out in 2023 (you'll hear this called PRINCE2 7) edition is even easier to read, and I feel like I can say that with some confidence as I was one of the reviewers for the text.

When I did my Foundation and Practitioner exams, I only used the two official PRINCE2® handbooks:

:arrow: Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®

and the partner book:

:arrow: Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® (which is out of date now, and not necessary to read).

To be honest, I didn’t think about buying any other books at the time, as those were enough alongside the course material from my training provider.

As an aside, the PRINCE2® training provider I recommend for is MPlaza. Their materials are great.

However, there were a wide range of books available to help you understand the core practices (these used to be called themes), principles and processes of PRINCE2®. At the time of writing (December 2023), there really aren't that many guidebooks to PRINCE2 7th edition as it is so new, but there are some, which is more than I can say for when I first looked in September 2023 when there were zero.

The lack of choice shouldn't be a problem for you as the manual is all that you need to pass the exam. It is readable, if a little dull, but it will give you everything you need to be exam-ready. I would supplement it with a PRINCE2 exam simulator to test your skills at test taking, but the knowledge is all in the book.

If you are studying for your exam and wondering what to read to supplement your learning, here are my recommendations. Keep scrolling, as my favorite study guide is the last one on the list.

1. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®

I think you should read the original guidance. It’s written in a very accessible way. If your training provider does not provide it, it is worth investing in. Not least because Practitioner is an open book exam and you can tab and annotate your manual to help you in the test.

Make sure you get the 2023 (latest) version, known as PRINCE2 7.

It is expensive – see if you can put it on your business expenses but is the best PRINCE2® book and you can pass the exam with just this one.

Buy Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® on Amazon

This is my ebook version of the PRINCE2 manual2. PRINCE2 Agile®

Are you taking the Agile version of PRINCE2®? This is the book for you. It’s the official AXELOS handbook.

The book covers agile basics, PRINCE2® basics and has a useful section on what to fix and what to flex.

The second part of the book is the guidance, tailoring and techniques that are core for the exam. It looks at how to apply the principles, themes and processes in an agile way and explains how to manage product delivery.

Part 3 looks at areas of particular focus for PRINCE2 Agile® like the Agilometer and how to manage communications, releases and contracts. There are plenty of diagrams and I found it OK to read, not too dry.

Keith Richards is one of the authors and that gives me immense confidence in the quality and applicability of the text. I’m sure the other authors are great too, but I don’t think I know any of them! I hadn’t realized that Keith was behind this book.

Buy PRINCE2 Agile® on Amazon

3. PRINCE2 7 Made Simple

Ian Lawton is a PRINCE2 trainer and he's got plenty of experience explaining complicated principles to delegates on his courses.

The downside of this book is that it looks self-published, and some of the reviews talk about the grammar and spelling errors, but if you can look past those, then the content itself is accurate and well put together.

Buy PRINCE2 Made Simple on Amazon

4. PRINCE2 Agile®: An Implementation Pocket Guide

There are hardly any PRINCE2 Agile® exam prep guides around.

This book by Jamie Lynn Cooke is available as an Audible ebook and on Kindle as well as in paperback format. However, it is not an exam prep book for the agile test. Instead, it is a guide to implementing PRINCE2 Agile® in your own environment.

It covers the important things to know for agile success, how to switch from ‘ordinary’ PRINCE2® to the agile version, merging all the methods together and other topics that allow you to get agile going in your organization.

It’s something to read before you take a training course, to give you a bit of background on the terminology and context, especially if you already sat the ‘vanilla’ Practitioner exam and are now adding agile to your toolkit.

Buy PRINCE2 Agile®: An Implementation Pocket Guide on Amazon

5. PRINCE2 7 Foundation Companion

This book by Beate Friedrich is a study guide for the Foundation exam. Normally, people do both the Foundation and the Practitioner exam quite close together -- if you are going to make the effort to study for one, you may as well study for both, right? That's what I did anyway.

This book is relatively straightforward to read, but for me it was very similar to the official manual. If you struggle with the language in the official manual, you might find this one easier to get your head around, but broadly the books are laid out in the same structure.

This book does have exam study advice at the back, which the official manual does not. It's not an expensive book if you get the Kindle version, so worth a read if you feel like having someone else explain the concepts will get you through the materials more quickly.

Buy PRINCE2 7 Foundation Companion on Amazon.

6. Mastering PRINCE2 7: An In-depth guide to key terms and concepts

Mastering PRINCE2 7 by Charles Crawford is a huge book, coming in at 429 pages. I would say (although I haven't got my PRINCE2 manual here to check) that it's longer than the official guidance! Why would you need an extra, heavy read for your exam prep?

The benefit of this book is that it is full of real life examples and practical applications. If you are struggling to see how PRINCE2 comes to life, then this book will help you work out how to put the concepts into practice.

It's a gigantic glossary of terms with best practices and implementation tips, but you have to be pretty dedicated to get through the whole thing. Best for dipping in and out when you need a refresher of the core concepts or vocab.

Buy Mastering PRINCE2 7 on Amazon.

7. PRINCE2 7th Edition Exam Prep

PRINCE2 7th Edition Exam Prep by Charles Crawford is completely dedicated to helping you pass the exam. It's simple, clear, easy to read and it steps you through the things you need to learn to pass the exam.

It also covers study strategies and key takeaways. As with the book above, it's a huge read, but you wouldn't need any other book (apart from the official manual, which I don't think you can get away without looking at).

If you feel like you need another book to sit alongside your manual, and you are taking the Practitioner exam, this is the one to get.

Buy PRINCE2 7th Edition Exam Prep on Amazon.

How to choose PRINCE2® books

The most important consideration, whatever PRINCE2® book (or books) you end up buying, is to make sure they are aligned to the latest version of the manual. There are still old versions of several books floating around out there, so double check that you aren’t getting the 2017 or 2009 version by mistake.

Next, think about what other materials you are going to get as part of your training course. If you are self-studying, it’s more important to have the right reading material. However, too many books to read just gives you more to do, and I think that time is probably better spent doing practice exam questions.

Good luck with your test!

If you are looking for some other suggestions for project management books to read, you can check these out:

Books by Elizabeth Harrin (that’s me!)Best books on project collaborationBest leadership books for project managers8 must read books on stakeholder management10 best books on change management

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: Best PRINCE2 books for 2025 (including PRINCE2 Agile books)

MPlaza PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator review

Are you looking at the Mplaza PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator? The right exam simulator can boost your confidence on test day and help you focus your study time on the topics where you need the most revision.

I’ve spent several hours reviewing the exam simulator from Management Plaza (MPlaza) and I can confidently say that it’s great.

In this PRINCE2 Practitioner Mplaza exam simulator review, I’ll tell you:

Whether the software is worth the hype (spoiler: definitely!)Why it’s a good choice for project management studentsHow long you’ll need to spend on practice exams before taking the real thing.

There really aren’t that many sources of PRINCE2 sample questions, and you do have to be careful about the quality. The Practitioner exam questions are not written to trip you up, but they are tricky.

Exam practice was the thing that helped me pass my exam, and I recommend you spend some of your study time going through mock exams and past question papers to get a feel for how the questions are written and how the answer mechanism works.

Who is the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam simulator for?

This simulator is for project management students working towards the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam. You will have taken the Foundation exam already or you might be working towards doing them both in a similar timeframe, which is what I did. I took them both in the same week.

The simulator is a good choice for people who have the time and discipline to self-study.

Note: If you are studying for Foundation as well as Practitioner, I recommend you get the PRINCE2 Foundation Exam Simulator as well. The questions are fundamentally different in structure and content, so it is worth making sure you are ready for both tests.

How the simulator works

The questions are designed to test your knowledge of PRINCE2 and prepare you for the PRINCE2 Practitioner exam.

The software includes:

270 root questions, equivalent to 4 exam papersInfinite Exam SimulatorTM formats those into 320 variations so you have to pay attention to the detail as each time you see a question it could be slightly different!Explanations for each question so you can learn from what you got wrong15 sections per test that mirror the structure you will find on the real exam.Access to a trainer via email if you have any questions.

You get access to the simulator for 12 months. In my experience, that will be more than long enough, and it’s comparable with other project management exam simulators. The deadline helps focus the mind… otherwise you might never get round to taking the test!

All the questions are aligned to the latest edition so are fully up-to-date.

[lasso ref="amzn-managing-successful-projects-with-prince2-6th-edition-2022" id="34466" link_id="289597"]FeaturesFeatureDemo versionFull versionNumber of questions12270 root questions, 320 variationsDuration25 minutesFull exam is 2.5 hours but you can also review sections for a shorter testStructureNothing specific15 sectionsResults savedNoYesPass mark60%60%Flag for reviewYesYesTimerYes, counts downYes, counts downExplanationsYesYesPenalty for wrong answersNoNoCoaching availableNoYesHow to use the simulator for exam practice

I suggest you practice each section until you consistently get marks around 80-85%. You only need 60% to pass the test, but it’s good to have a really solid grounding in the topic. This is the best approach for learning the course content and testing yourself.

When you are ready, move on to taking full exams, again aiming for 80%+ as a pass mark.

Use the PRINCE2 exam simulator in the weeks leading up to your test. Expect to do at least 4, preferably 6 full exams.

The PRINCE2 exam has 68 scenario-based questions, so you need to be able to quickly read the scenario and draw conclusions from the text. You have 150 minutes to complete the test.

If you do 6 full exams, that’s 15 hours of exam practice, which sounds a lot. It sounds like a huge amount, to be honest, but it’s worth it to know you are massively increasing your chances of success on your first attempt.

If you have bought the tool, you might as well use it to the max!

Free exam simulator trial: test before you buy

I think it’s important to know what you are buying.

The Practitioner simulator is not a standalone software tool. It’s accessed via the Mplaza website. Many other simulators are ‘separate’ software that you log into and use, but that isn’t the case here. I’m indifferent to the set up, to be honest. It’s handy to have it all in the browser, but it does feel less like the experience you get on test day because it’s not the same look and feel as you get on the exam.

On the Mplaza website you can take a free trial of the simulator to see what you are getting before you buy.

It only has 12 questions but it’s enough to give you a feel for what the product is like and whether it will be suitable for your needs.

Practice answering the questions without referring to the PRINCE2 manual. You can take the (printed) manual into the exam with you, but there is not a lot of time. I wasted time looking for answers when I could probably have managed to answer them from my brain without checking.

Pros

The main advantage of prepping for your exam with this particular set of test questions is that you get a detailed explanation of the answer. The straightforward language gives you exactly what you need to understand why the response you chose was wrong (or right, if you just guessed!).

Some other simulators just give you a page reference to their training material or the PRINCE2 manual, which is not as helpful. Even knowing the reference doesn’t mean you’ll get why you were wrong. Explanations take the mock exams to the next level.

You do also get the reference to the lesson to review and the relevant section of the manual.

The other advantages of the MPlaza PRINCE2 Practitioner exam simulator are:

Access from anywhere. There’s no software required, you just use it in a browser window.See where you are going wrong and learn from your mistakes, so you can revise only the topics where you need additional time.The exam is online so you get used to using a similar interface.The access to a real trainer. OMG, that is game-changing!

There is a lot to learn with PRINCE2 so the simulator is perfect for getting going and structuring your self-paced study time.

Cons

I don’t think you can pass the exam with the simulator alone. You also need a PRINCE2 Practitioner training course (I recommend this training, also from MPlaza).

You’ll need to make time to get the best out of it, which means putting together a study plan and being disciplined. If you can’t do that, you’ll never get round to using it.

Recommendation: Should you buy this simulator?

I recommend this PRINCE2 Practitioner exam simulator.

Of all the PRINCE2 simulators I have looked at, it is by far the most robust. It’s backed by a great time of experts, gets you access to real humans for help if you need it and it’s hard to find a negative review.

Students love it, and I do too. Let me know how you get on!

I should let you know that I am so impressed with Frank that I’m an affiliate for the Mplaza products, but I only recommend products I have tested out and am confident in.

[lasso ref="prince2-sim" id="26237" link_id="289559"]

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: MPlaza PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator review

The best PRINCE2 exam simulators

I remember studying for my PRINCE2® exam and taking plenty of sample papers and mock tests. They were all on paper back then, and learning to deal with the style of questions and the time management required to get through the exam was as important as knowing your way around the manual.

These days, the best exam prep I can suggest for PRINCE2® certification is to use online exam simulators. They replicate what you will see on the real test on your big day.

TL;DR: The exam simulators I recommend are from Management Plaza, an AXELOS accredited training organization that specializes in PRINCE2® training materials, led by experienced project management trainer, Frank Turley.

What to look for in a PRINCE2® exam simulator

There aren’t that many PRINCE2® simulators on the market but it is worth making a careful choice. Here are some decision-making factors to take into account when choosing an exam simulator for your PRINCE2® test:

Fully updated to the latest PRINCE2® materials (obviously)Detailed explanations for each question so you can see what to revise nextLots of questions so you can test yourself and track your progressPrice: the exam fee and training is expensive enough without having to pay a lot for additional study materialsPRINCE2® Foundation exam simulator

The Foundation exam is tough but not impossible. It tests your knowledge of the PRINCE2® method to a standard that allows you to work with (or as) a member of the project team in a PRINCE2® environment. If you know the manual well, you won’t find the exam too tricky. Having said that, I do know people who have failed it because they got overwhelmed by the exam experience.

(Yes, really, I do know someone who failed the Foundation!)

That’s why exam prep is important at all levels: don’t kid yourself that the Foundation is easy because panic can set in. Doing a practice exam or several is good prep to help avoid that because it trains you in what is to come.

Sample exam question from the demo version of the Foundation simulator

There are 860+ PRINCE2® Foundation Exam questions in the simulator which is a huge bank from which to test yourself.

What I like about it is that you get an explanation per question at the end of each exam, so you can see what topics you need to revise.

The real exam at Foundation level is:

Multiple choice60 questions36 marks required (so a pass mark of 60% for the 7th edition)60 minutes longClosed book – no notes allowed!

The Foundation mock exam simulator mirrors all of that – you’ll have to be conscious of not looking at your notes but you’ll get the same exam experience and pass mark in the simulator so it’s a true test of what you can achieve in the time.

My results from the Foundation demo. Can you beat me?

Management Plaza has a free trial of the simulator available, which gives you 12 questions to work through in 12 minutes. That's enough to see the format and style of the PRINCE2® Foundation mock exam. You can use the free trial to test the questions (I managed 83%, can you beat me?). It’s a good way to check this is the right product for you.

Want to look into online course options? Check our how-to here to choose the right PRINCE2® course for you.

[lasso ref="prince2-foundation-simulator" id="26240" link_id="275320"]PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator

The Practitioner Exam is aimed at project managers and you need to meet certain educational prerequisites before you can take it. The easiest way to tick that box is to take the Foundation certificate first.

The exam is:

Objective testing format (i.e. super hard multiple choice questions)70 questions long split between principles, practices and processes150 minutes long (no breaks)42 marks required (so a 60% pass mark)Open book (i.e. you can take your official manual in but no other notes)

The fact that the pass mark is so low – 60% – for each of the exams shows that it’s tough to pass. But it is good that they publish the pass mark (something PMI does not do for their exams).

The PRINCE2® Practitioner Exam Simulator has been created to meet the same standards. The questions mimic what you can expect to see in terms of format and difficulty. There are 270 questions which is equivalent to 4 exam papers. That should give you plenty to work through.

You can also flag questions for review so you can come back to them at the end of your test if you have time.

There is also a free trial so you can test out some PRINCE2® Practitioner practice exam questions. However, it doesn’t have the coaching feature so you don’t benefit from the full power of this product. The main benefit I think is the helpful commentary for each question so you can see what you should be studying next.

[lasso ref="prince2-sim" id="26237" link_id="275321"]How simulators work

The simulators for both Foundation and Practitioner certification are online tools. Click to start the exam and watch the time count down. This is unnerving, but useful – I got a shock when the timer turned orange as a warning I was in my last few minutes. I managed to finish before the timer bar turned red though.

The practice tests have a simple, user-friendly interface where you click the correct answer. When you finish the test, you get to see your exam result straightaway on the screen.

You get 12 months access, so that should be plenty of time to complete your studies and sit the exam.

How to use them for your studies

The simulators are designed to sit alongside classroom courses, although you can buy a package of training with the simulator included (which makes it even better value).

Do a mock exam, then note the correct answers where you weren’t 100% sure, and make sure you understand why those were correct. We all guess sometimes, and sometimes we get lucky. Just take a bit of time to review why your guess was correct.

Then take a look at the PRINCE2® example exam questions that you got wrong and review the answers. Read the explanations and make a note to study those topics further before you take the next test.

BenefitsWill definitely help with time management during exam day and a great way to boost your confidenceExplanations to point you in the direction of topics to revise when you get questions wrongLoads of positive student reviews in the private Facebook groupFully compatible with Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2® current exam specificationsThey have a free online PRINCE2® Practitioner exam simulator you can testReally cheap in comparison to the value you get!DrawbacksThere are no exam modes: you can’t test yourself only on the principles, for example. It’s a full exam or nothing.Not enough to pass the exam alone: you will also need a course or formal training of some kind to help you get through the testIs 4 exams enough for you? It definitely is if you are doing the 5-day course variant of PRINCE2® (like I did) but you might feel like it isn’t enough if you are self-studying via distance learning over several monthsOnly 12 months access. I found a simulator on Udemy with only 300 questions but lifetime access. Frankly, I don’t think this is much of a drawback. If you can’t study for and pass the test in a year, it’s not a priority for you.Summary

These are a good, robust PRINCE2® exam simulators that will help you prepare for the test. I have met the knowledgeable team behind them and I know they are keen to offer students the best possible learning experience.

If you want to get through the exam on the first attempt, I would highly recommend using a simulator and taking practice questions as part of your prep.

Try a demo to give yourself first-hand experience of the environment and let you see how the various features of the simulator come together.

This article first appeared on Rebel's Guide to Project Management and can be read here: The best PRINCE2 exam simulators