PRINCE2.com Blog

What makes PRINCE2 such a successful methodology (when it’s used properly) is that it understands that projects, like journeys, are best managed in stages. And although, it’s the Project Board that decides on the number of stages, project managers need to understand the process in order to deliver what the board and the project need.

1. One step at a time. Just as your journey plans could go awry if you tried to do everything in one go, so your project would stall or crash if you tried to do everything in one stage. The Board therefore bolts together reasonably sized units of work that fit naturally together.
2. Money, cash, dosh… Call it what you will, it’s one of the key controls used by the Project Board. So while it sets aside money for the whole project, it will likely only authorise cash for one project at a time. If the Board determines that 5 million is the most it will authorise for a stage and one particular stage will cost 8 million, you will be asked to break up the stage into two smaller ones.
3. Tick, tock. While you may be happy to drive a project on for six months to complete a stage the Board may well feel it’s sensible to pull things over every three months to check progress.
4. Gambling on the future. If the project journey is high risk through dangerous territory, you can bet your carburettor that the project board will, quite understandably, be jumpy. The most likely result will be that they’ll divide up the project into as many stages as necessary to lower the risk.
5. You! Projects are about people and you’re one of the most important there is on a project. If you’re a Formula 1 project manager then the Board will entrust you with longer, expensive stages knowing that you’ll deliver. If you’re Formula 3 standard then you won’t blame them for wanting to keep a close watch on the project. This can even be to your benefit as it means that you’ll be able to check in with them from time to time when you’re not sure about something.

If you think that there should be more factors to help the Project Board decide on stages, you’ve obviously got a project management brain, because you would be right!  There are other elements and aspects to understand because PRINCE2 isn’t a question of ticking things off on a list. To find out more come along to one of our free seminars before signing up for one of our popular, guaranteed pass, interactive courses.

Useful Links

• Check out our Downloads page which has loads of forms, discussions and case studies for current and potential project managers.
• ILX Group delivers PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget the guaranteed pass offer.
• The APMG has a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience provides cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• ILX Connect can help companies implement PRINCE2 training.
• ILX Consulting provides everything from maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management. It has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a businesses and organisations.

Once you might have been hard pressed to find women as managers – who used to come in one size only – male! That’s no longer the case but it’s still true that fewer women than men stride the boardrooms of the UK and the world.  The times, though, they are a-changing. Research suggests that women have the leadership qualities that business and project management in this century may well demand.

1. Role model for the future. There is a school of thought that suggests that had women held senior positions in the noughties the credit crunch might never have happened. Women, they say, think before they act. They don’t take risks lightly. They take decision making seriously and so make better decisions and so give greater confidence. We’ll never know what would have happened if women had been at the helm but we do know that these are helpful qualities in the modern project world buffeted as it is by the winds of global events. For women PMs who can gain the confidence and support of local or global team members, executives, users, suppliers, and others, must have a better chance of project success.  
2. Inspirational leader. Take any great explorer in history and there’s one quality you’ll find: the ability to inspire a shared and lasting vision that persuades people to follow them into unknown seas. The same is true – some claim – of women leaders in general as they can motivate, influence and appeal to people to follow them. Attributes that any PM would value and, more importantly, attributes that any man or woman can acquire. PRINCE2 gives you the hard skills that help you understand elements such as the quality review technique which can assist you to lead. APMP instils soft skills such as leadership, communication and conflict management that help manage the people that help keep the project on track.
3. Communication expert. We all know the stereotype of women loving to chat. But actually, research shows that they’re good listeners too (though some men may disagree!). And it is through this informal, casual, exchange of ideas and information that women are thought to pick up on the good and bad vibes in an organisation that help them steer business away from stormy weather. Whatever the truth of it, one thing is for sure, man or woman, the PM also needs to remember that PRINCE2 communication doesn’t only take place by the coffee cart but also via more formal means such as reports, registers and logs.
4. Conflict manager.  Since projects are about people in one way or another, it’s no surprise that differences can occur. What may be more of a surprise, however, is that these differences can benefit a project. If a team member, for instance, highlights concerns about a particular approach or action, the whole team can reflect on it, re-evaluate any potential risks and adjust course to ensure a better outcome. The trick is to manage the process so that conflict is constructive rather than destructive. Which is where women come in. They are thought to possess the qualities required for conflict resolution, valuing communication, collaboration, inclusiveness and fairness. As a result people they work with feel cared for, and people who feel cared for give their best. It is worth noting, however, that there is research that shows that men and women both have positive and negative qualities when faced with conflict.
5. Negotiator. Sometimes project management feels as if it should be called project negotiation as there’s so much of it! PM’s negotiate with customers, suppliers, executives and sponsors about everything from budgets and timescales to technology and personnel. Researchers have discovered that when women have good information, when they care about an issue and when they are working for others they negotiate results that can exceed those of men. Whatever the truth of all these gender differences, perhaps the one thing to remember is that everyone has qualities to celebrate.

Useful Links

• Fascinated by the role of women in the workplace? The Institute of Leadership and Management report will take you through the many layers of thought and discussion about gender and work in detail.
• Women are thought to epitomize Transformational leadership and more information. See if you agree.
• If you’re wondering how women are doing in business then this FT report will make riveting reading along with the latest survey on women in boards.
• Want to know how APMP and PRINCE2 fit together? Here’s the long version and here’s the 60 second version.
• Want to know about APMP? We’ve got almost everything you’ll need to know.
• ILX Group delivers PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget the guaranteed pass offer.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel! We’ve got a bunch of free and useful downloads to help you manage projects.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience provides cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• ILX Connect can help companies implement PRINCE2 training.
• ILX Consulting provides everything from maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management. It has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a businesses and organisations
• The APMG has a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options.
• For definitive information about PRINCE2 the Cabinet Office is the place to go on everything from the history of the methodology to all the Best Management Practice products in its portfolio.

How many times have you said: I wish I’d never started… the conversation, the idea, the project? We can’t help you with the first two but we can help you third by taking you through the Starting up a Project process so that you have a better chance of initiating viable projects. For the full picture visit PRINCE2.com.

• Deciding if the project is a go-er.  Imagine you’re redoing your garden. The purpose of the Starting Up a Project process in this situation would be to help you make sure that your plans to create your own Versailles were realistic and worth the effort before you started the Initiate a Project process.
• Thinking tough. In life and in projects it pays to hang tough early so you don’t have to deal with difficult problems later on. The objective of the Starting Up process is to make sure that you’ve thought through a bunch of things like having a sound and solid business justification for initiating your project, defining the scope of your ambitions, and much more of the same.
• Lessons from history. Any good gardener will tell you that the secret to success lies in learning from other gardens, from experts and from other sources of information such as blogs. It’s the same for project management. PRINCE2 encourages you to learn from other projects and other sources both in and outside the organisation. Learning lessons well will have a positive effect on everything from the Business Case to the project team.
• Finding the face that fits. One of the critical objectives of the Starting Up a Project process is creating the right roles and putting the right people in them. Sticking to our garden analogy you first need, a head gardener (the executive) and a foreman gardener (project manager). The executive’s role is to represent the interests of the stakeholders and make decisions accordingly.  The foreman’s role is to run things on a day-to-day basis him. After that, you would build a team whose members had defined roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and so on.
• Answering the big “why” question. It can’t be said often enough that the Business Case where you answer the “why do we want to do this?” question is critical in any project. It has many elements. It looks, for example, at project objectives, reasons behind it, funding and background information like feasibility studies. This is also an opportunity to determine things like the customer’s quality expectations and key milestones.
• Taking the right approach and writing the brief. Is it more cost-effective to develop it ourselves or to buy it in from outside? Is it better to modify an existing product or create a new one? These are some of the questions that this step helps you answer while you think things through in terms of resources, security and legality and the like. Oh and the project brief should be just that – brief! It outlines the current status of the project, desired outputs and outcomes, the scope and… well, instead of just reading about it take a look at a sample brief for Ace Software on our Free PRINCE2 Downloads page.
• Planning for Initiating a Project. When you’re planning a garden it can sometimes feel as if you’ve spent ages planning it and that you’ll never get down and dirty and do anything. It’s worth stick with it, though, for planning can make the difference between success and failure for any project. Jobs to do in this period include reviewing the lessons log, evaluating the time needed to create the stage plan, reviewing and analysing any risks and, finally, getting approval to initiate the project.

Useful Links

• ILX Group delivers PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget the guaranteed pass offer.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel! We’ve got a bunch of free and useful downloads to help you manage projects.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience provides cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• ILX Connect can help companies implement PRINCE2 training.
• ILX Consulting provides everything from maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management. It has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a businesses and organisations
• The APMG has a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options.
• For definitive information about PRINCE2 the Cabinet Office is the place to go for information on everything from the history of the methodology to all the Best Management Practice products in its portfolio.

All you wanted to know about APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners in 60 seconds – ish!

If you’ve heard about the APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners but are still vague about it and don’t have time to plough through pages of information, check out our quick and easy guide to see what you’ve been missing.

1. What is APMP? A nationally and internationally recognised knowledge-based project management qualification from the Association of Project Management that complements the PRINCE2 Practitioner methodology from the Cabinet Office.
2. What is APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners? A qualification that helps PRINCE2 Practitioners gain the complementary knowledge contained in APMP that will improve their project management performance.
3. What’s the main difference between the two qualifications? PRINCE2 tell you what needs to be done, when it must be done and what to do tailor it to your particular project. APMP tells you how to do everything and gives you the requisite soft skills.
4. What are soft skills? Amongst other things, they help you influence, communicate, manage, delegate and motivate all the people involved in the project. Companies now recognise them as characteristics possessed by the best of the best project managers.
5. Who is APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners for? Anyone with PRINCE2 Practitioner and preferably with two years of experiences. Perfect for project managers, project office personnel, project team members and newly appointed project officers.
6. How will it help me as an individual? It’ll give you the complete package: you’ll get general project management knowledge as well as method and governance to deliver the successful projects that companies want. As a result, it improves job security and career opportunities. Look out for “APMP qualified” in job ads.
7. Why should organisations encourage employees to study it? Companies can be sure that their well-rounded project professionals can lead and handle any project thrown at them because they the knowledge as well as the tools to improve project success.
8. What does studying for the qualification involve? The APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners syllabus covers only those areas in the APMP syllabus that you haven’t already studied in PRINCE2 so that you don’t waste time duplicating knowledge or skills.
9. What topics does the exam cover? Areas covered include: context of project management, planning and strategy, executing the strategy, techniques, business and commercial, organisation and governance and people and profession.
10. What does the exam consist of? You will sit a two-hour paper in which you must answer six out of ten questions on 25 topics. Each question is worth 50 marks and the pass mark is 55%.

Useful Links

• Let David Atkinson, Fellow of the APM and APMP trainer take you through the course options so that you have a planned approach to your learning and to improving your project management success rate and career.
• Visit our dedicated APM website for full information about all courses.
• Try our free APMP for PRINCE2 Practitioners e-learning game.
• Take advantage of loads of free resources at the APM Training Download Centre.
• For full details about the Association of Project Management follow this link.
• Email: sales@ilxgroup.com
  Tel: +44 01270 611 600
  Web: www.ilxgroup.com.

Want to get practical and profitable business benefits from attending seminars? Here are some tips to follow to make sure that you time and money is well spent.

• Analyse your needs. Ask yourself and other colleagues and departments about current challenges and future projects. Then shortlist the seminars that will address the issues.
• Ask what tangible benefit you get.  Some seminars provide essential information, some are informative discussions and some are interactive and provide insights to help you transform policies and practices to improve success such as a health-check for your company.
• Do your research. Dig into the company and the individuals holding the seminar to find out if their level of expertise is up to what you’re looking for.  
• Plan your seminar visits. If you’re like us there are usually two or three seminars on at exactly the same time that you want to go to. If you can’t split the seminars between the team then you can always stick your head into all three, exchange cards and contact names and then take away any surveys or offers like a health-check to do later.
• Pre-register when you can. Some conferences insist that you pre-register and others let you roll along. On the whole, whenever you can, it’s a good idea to pre-register your interest so that you can find out extra information, be first in line for discounts and so you can build an early relationship with the seminar holders.  
• Before the seminar. Read around the subject, list questions you want answered, if you’re going as a team make sure everyone knows their tasks and that you arrange a debrief afterwards.
• In the seminar, link the subject to your situation. Make sure that you link what you’re hearing to the challenges that you’re facing in your company. Ask the speaker to explain how his company’s ideas or products or services can help you achieve your business goals.
• Network, network, network! If a conference is running free seminars then take advantage for they’re a great way of making contacts and of getting free advice and benefits that seminar holders may be persuaded to give out.
• Take action after the seminar. Gone are the days when you just went to conferences and seminars and exhibitions for the fun of it (if they ever existed). Treat the seminar as a business opportunity now’s the time to arrange meetings with speakers so that you can investigate what they’re offering. Remember, companies may well look favourably on business that comes to them directly from an event.
• Find the exhibition stand. Many seminar speakers at conferences will come from an organisation which will have a stand. It’s worth visiting it to try out any products that they have recommended so that you have a clear picture of what they’re offering.

If you haven’t already done so, then put Thursday 26th January 1100hrs in your smartphone or diary because we’re running a seminar at the Learning Technologies show in London. See us in Theatre 4 on level 1 for a presentation that we think will put your company on the road to project success. And don’t forget to visit us on Stand 73, level 1 in the free exhibition itself!
Useful Links

• ILX Group delivers free PRINCE2 seminars in the UK, Australia, Europe and South Africa.
• ILX Consulting provides everything from maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management. It has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a businesses and organisations.
• ILX Connect can help companies implement PRINCE2 training.
• The APMG has a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience provides cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

The winter holidays! A season for giving, for partying and also a season for regrouping to make sure next year is a good one. We’ve put together some games, books and apps that we hope will help you in 2012. Happy New Year from all of us!

1. Lose the flabby and befuddled holiday pounds that your brain gains eating and drinking in the holidays with a few mind-sharpening games suitable for your iPhone or your iPod Touch.
1. PRINCE2 Foundation Snakes and Ladders and Managing Successful Programmes Foundation Snakes and Ladders are two fang-tastic (!) games that test your Foundation level knowledge in both (screen shots from the PRINCE2 game). They’re also a great way of interacting with other PRINCE2 and MSP students for they come in multiplayer and/or group play options and you can post your results on social networking sites to see who really knows their stuff!
    
2. Managing Successful Programmes Foundation Inca Treasure e-Learning Game is a clever and challenging game that really whips your skills into shape. As you move through the game, it throws you questions chosen randomly from the Foundation e-learning course and then hits you with some “super” level questions that you have to answer correctly to capture the ultimate prize. Perfect for would be Indiana Joneses out there!
2. Whether you’re working at the office, lounging on the beach or whizzing down ski slopes this winter, find a few moments to catch up on your reading to get ahead of the game. Here’s a selection of books available now and in 2012.
1. The official PRINCE2 books that take you step by step through the methodology can be found on special offer here. The £99 or EU €119.02 bundle includes: Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 Manual – hard copy, Directing PRINCE2 Projects with PRINCE2 Manual, PRINCE2 Pocket book and an A3 poster of PRINCE2 Process Model.
   
2. Illustrating PRINCE2: Project Management in Real Terms, Susan Tuttle, eBook, 226 pages, IT Governance Publishing, out January 2012, ISBN 9781849283267, around £24.95. Landing in our shops on 10th January, Susan Tuttle hopes that this book will give you a clear grasp of PRINCE2. She has chunked the methodology and has aimed to give clear explanations and provide practical illustrations in each chapter.
3. PRINCE2 Study Guide, David Hinde, paperback, 600 pages, John Wiley & Sons Inc, out March 2012, ISBN 9781119970781, £29.99. The author’s intention is to provide a comprehensive tutorial on preparing for PRINCE2 exams through, amongst other things, providing clear explanations for using the methodology to handle everyday project challenges.
4. Brilliant PRINCE2, Stephen Barker, paperback, 256 pages, Prentice Hall, out May 2012, ISBN-10: 0273750534; ISBN-13: 978-0273750536, from £16 upwards. A book for all seasons this one, as it aims to provide everything you need to know about PRINCE2 whether you’re studying or just starting out and want to use it the right way.
5. The Virtual Project Management Office: Best Practices, Proven Methods, Robert L. Gordon and Wanda Curlee, paperback, 232 pages, Management Concepts Inc, September 2010, ISBN 978-1-56726-327-5, around $45 and can be found for £20 or upwards in the UK. Once a vague idea for the future, the virtual office is well and truly here so this timely book offers some useful ideas and practices to deal with our modern way of working.
6. The New Social Learning, Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, paperback, 216 pages, ASTD Press and Berrett-Koehler, August 2010, ISBN 978- 1-60509-702-2. If you’re an individual or a company trying to understand the benefits of social learning for project management training then this book could give you an insight into that world. Forward-thinking companies provide social learning opportunities through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to complement the formal classroom and e-learning courses that they provide.
3. Have an “Appy” New Year with some serious and not so serious apps for your smart phone.
1. Project Excuses HD by Wurzelkraut, updated 23 June 2011, £2.99. This is definitely one that’s not to be taken too seriously! Great fun though and we couldn’t resist at this time of year. Compatible with iPad – iOS 4.0 or later.
2. Project iQ by Higher Level Systems Ltd, English language, released 21 October 2011, £1.49. This aims to be the must-have tool that will help you prioritise project proposals based on their importance to the business and their chances of success and create a graphical representation of both. Compatible with iPad – iOS 4.3 or later.
3. ProjectWise Explorer for the iPad by Bentley Systems Inc, English language, released 10 September 2011, free. This little app is worth a look by anyone who works out in the field and wants secure access to files. Compatible with iPad – iOS 4.0 or later.
4. Projects by Thomas Blackburn, English, French, German, Polish and Spanish languages, updated 18 December 2011, £3.99. The application aims to allow you to manage multiple projects and tasks easily and on the move. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – iOS 3.1.2 or later.
   
5. ProjectCalc by Lewis Johnson, English language, updated 14 December 2011, £2.99. This iPad app aims to calculate project costs for clients or yourself quickly. Compatible with iPad – iOS 4.0 or later.
6. Project Stakeholder by Frank Williamson, £2.99, English language, released 15 July 2011. An app for those who need to identify and manage individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by the proposed outcomes of an activity or project. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad – iOS 4.2 or later.
4. Finally, if you’re thinking of studying PRINCE2 or even if you’ve recently passed it then the PRINCE2 Process Model (A3 double sided poster) is a handy reference guide to stick just above your desk next to your year planner.

As 2011 comes to a close we thought this was a good moment to review some of the things to do when closing a PRINCE2 project. It’s not the definitive guide, for that you’ll need to find a course that will give you the real-world-based training that creates successful project managers.

1. What’s the point of the Closing a Project process in PRINCE2? One of the great strengths of PRINCE2 is that it has a beginning and an end – a little bit like the opening and closing of the Olympic Games. The idea is to give everyone a fixed point when acceptance for the project is confirmed and when original or modified objectives have been achieved.
2. Why do you need a fixed point of closure? Take one look at projects that don’t have controlled closure and you’ll see why! Either things grind to a sudden stop or they drift endlessly on, without ever reaching a successful conclusion and with people almost forgetting the point of the project; imagine if in the Olympics the marathon went on, and on, and on…
3. What’s the objective of the process? There are five main objectives and they involve, amongst other things, verifying user acceptance of the products, reviewing performance against baselines and dealing with issues and risks.
4. When should you be planning closing activities? Do this as part of the Stage Plan for the final management stage. Remember that there’s work to be done in preparing input to the Project Board before it can authorize closure and that the Executive should inform corporate or programme management that the project has closed.
5. What are the five activities in the Closing a Project process? They are: prepare a planned closure, prepare a premature closure, hand over products, evaluate the project and recommend closure.
6. What must the project manager prepare? Projects are based on results so the PM must ensure that everything has been achieved and delivered. Action points would incorporate: updating the project plan with actual’s from the final stage and confirming that the project has delivered and acceptance criteria have been achieved. Don’t forget that the Product Checklist records major products and key delivery dates.
7. What is involved when products are handed over? Quite a lot! Bear in mind that handover can be in phases or as one massive operation at the end and that things can get complicated if premature closure is involved. Broadly speaking, the actions recommended here are: preparing follow-on action recommendations to include any uncompleted work, issues and risks; checking that the Benefits Review Plan incorporates post-project activities that will confirm those benefits that you can only measure when products have been put through their real-life paces; examining the Configuration Management Strategy to confirm how products will be handed over.
8. How do you prepare for premature closure? No-one wants to close a project before its due date but sometimes that’s the best option and the aim should be to do it as quickly and as efficiently as possible to avoid wasting valuable resources. Tasks include updating the issue register and seeking approval to give notice to interested departments that resources can be or are to be released early.
9. What might you need to consider when working through the acceptance and handover process? There’s so much we could put here. But two of the many things worth remembering are that you may need to get a legal sign off where lawyers have to approve, or have approved, documents or that you may need to get sign off from suppliers before your company will pay them.
10. How do you evaluate your project so that you do better next time? This is a key strength of PRINCE2 for evaluation helps you understand what happened in the project and how well you delivered so you can repeat successes and avoid failures. The actual tasks are pretty logical, like reviewing the original intent of the project, reviewing approved changes and producing an End Project Report to show how team and project performed. Don’t forget to look at on-going product and business risks.
11. What’s involved in recommending project closure? As the project manager you’re the one who can confirm if the project can be closed. Once done, the closure recommendation needs to raised to the Project Board. Actions required here consist of such tasks as telling interested people or organisations that the project is finishing, closing all the logs and registers and archiving and securing all information.
12. Finally, what do you do for the team? While you’re busy going through the Closing a Project process it’s easy to forget the people behind it, but projects are about people so some kind of end-of-project event – especially if it’s been a long slog – will show everyone they’re appreciated. Think closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, then take it down a few hundred notches and you’ve got the perfect end!

Useful Links

• Whether you’re just starting down the PRINCE2 route or whether you’re an experienced hand, it’s always good to catch up with the latest case studies and techniques and a good place to start is the PRINCE2 Downloads page which has a wealth of information for project managers.
• ILX Group delivers PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget the guaranteed pass offer.
• The APMG has a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience provides cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• ILX Connect can help companies implement PRINCE2 training.
• ILX Consultancy provides everything from maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management. It has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a businesses and organisations.

Just as behind every successful sports team is a great manager so behind every top project team is an effective project manager. But how do you get the most out of your team? Here are some tips to help.

1. Begin with the story. We’re not talking bedtime stories, of course, but business stories that can be just as inspiring and memorable. They’re commonly used to woo customers but can be very useful for pulling in employees to connect them to your organisation. The narrative can take many forms and include any amount and kind of information depending on circumstances. You may want to share the company’s vision, highlight what makes the project special, outline employees’ roles within the organisation, and so on.
2. Get specific. Once you’ve linked both project and team to the company story, you can explain the case for the project outlining why it’s desirable, viable and achievable and therefore worthy of investment. It’s helpful to spell out things like the project outcome and benefits.
3. Set targets. In recent years the idea of setting targets has got a bad name because of fears about living in a “target culture”; yet defining goals can be useful. They’re a good way of motivating people, giving direction and getting good team performance. Be sure that you think through the targets so that they are, for example, clear, measurable and time sensitive.
4. Balance the project, team and the individual. Just as it’s no good putting a square peg in a round hole, so it’s no good expecting meticulous people to be creative or asking ideas people to perform detailed tasks. In the chapter on Organisation PRINCE2 advises that as a project manager you should make sure that you know the characteristics and personality of the team to put them in the role in which they’ll deliver the goods.
5. Train for the project. Matching personalities to roles is not enough. You need to work out team members’ strengths and weaknesses in terms of skills and knowledge. This will help you provide appropriate learning that may include anything from teaching processes and standards to explaining project background and project goals as outlined in PRINCE2 to even giving them out-of-comfort-zone skills in areas such as finance. Remember that you don’t have to organise training on your own; the best learning companies provide 360^o support by offering consulting services to make training effective.
6. Give them growing room. We’re long past the days when employees had a job for life or stayed with a company for life; people will leave at some time or other. Strange as it may seem, this makes it even more important to urge them to develop their skills and offer opportunities to develop their careers. In this way you’re more likely to get the best out of the whole team and to keep the best team members for longer.
7. Empower your team. People tend to respond to the attitudes of their leaders. If you have low expectations of your team members, you can be sure they’ll dumb down to meet them. If you have high expectations they’ll willingly rise to the challenge. So create the right atmosphere by boosting involvement in the decision making process, welcoming contributions, respecting opinions, stimulating debate and supporting independence in self-starters.
8. Make them feel safe. Stuff happens. And since projects are about change and change involves risk – stuff can happen a lot. So a good manager will understand that and be prepared for risk and be supportive of people’s mistakes. One of the best ways of getting ready for risk is to aim to reduce, detect and control it – in other words to manage it using methodologies like PRINCE2 or Management of Risk. One of the best ways of being supportive is to understand the adverse effects of tiredness, stress and over-heavy workloads and do your best to minimise these problems.
9. Communicate. Whether through set departmental meetings, through chance encounters at the coffee cart or through daily chat on social media, use appropriate opportunities to communicate information, demonstrate the project’s on-going feasibility, encourage perseverance, show appreciation and award rewards; we all like being valued.
10. Create team spirit. If you’re in a tug-of-war it’s no help if half your side are loafing about or arguing amongst themselves or polishing their egos. To keep everyone on side: share goals and updates; clarify roles and responsibilities; establish structures that foster personal and team transparency and accountability; promote an atmosphere of trust and respect; show how every team member is a link in a chain that holds the team and the project together. Do this and they’ll all be prepared to take one for the team if the time comes.

Useful Links

• For a complete picture of PRINCE2 and what it can do, head to the Cabinet Office website. Please see note below about the change from the OGC to the Cabinet Office.
• The PRINCE2 Downloads page has a wealth of information for every project manager.
• ILX Group deliver PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget our guaranteed pass offer for Foundation level courses.
• The APMG provides a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options if you’re not yet PRINCE2 certified.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience may be the perfect option for those with an eye for cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• If your company wants to implement PRINCE2 training ILX Connect would be a great option as it will help them through the process.
• ILX Consulting takes the concept of support to the next level. From maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management, it has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a wide range of businesses and organisations.
• Note : The OGC website ceased to exist on 1st October 2011. Any new information can now be found on the Cabinet office website: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/. All information formerly on the OGC website will be available on the National Archives website: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100503135839/http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp. Queries or questions should be sent to website@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk.

At a time of deep budget cuts, all spending needs to be justified and conference attendance cost is no exception. So we’ve come up with some simple tips to help you judge and justify which project management conferences you should attend.

1. Why go? Sounds an obvious point to consider but it’s amazing how often people don’t think this through. You should initiate a process which helps answer the question: how will the conference help me, the team and the organisation achieve objectives?
2. What’s the scope? Pin down conference organisers. Find out about the theme and the objectives; if they aren’t clear about what the conference will accomplish, how can you determine what you will achieve from it? Checkout the topics, the speakers and the general and special interest group workshops.
3. What are the exact benefits? A good way to determine this is to ask specific questions. Here are a few to start you off. Will the conference develop your understanding of best practices? Will it equip you with an understanding of the latest project management tools? Will it illustrate lessons learned from ground-breaking projects?
4. Who benefits and who loses out? Will it be you alone, will it be the team or the whole organisation that reaps the benefits of attendance? Consider any costs to other departments and the organisation as a whole. For instance, you should anticipate and manage colleagues’ concerns about dis-benefits such as production lost owing to staff attending a conference.
5. What are the monetary costs? What with travel, hotel rooms, registration and the usual extras, conference costs can soon mount up. Estimate costs beforehand to assess them against likely benefits in order to find out whether it’s worth the investment. Doing so will allow you to argue your case more effectively.
6. Are there alternative ways of achieving the same ends? Deliberate on the best ways of getting information or building relationships with professionals. On the one hand, links with lead thinkers may be best built through on-going conversations via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, project management websites and blogs. On the other, rapport may sometimes be made stronger through personal meetings in neutral territory.
7. Present a report. The best way to arrive at an answer and to sell it to the boss is to think through the whole process in a forensic way on a case-by-case basis and to prepare costed reports for conferences that you think are worth attending.

Useful Links

A Selection of Upcoming Conferences

• itSMF UK Conference and Exhibition 2011, 7 – 8 November, Novotel, London West
• BPUG Annual Members Conference, 23 – 24 November 2011, Doubletree By Hilton, Milton Keynes Stadium
• Project Conference 2012 (Microsoft), 19 – 22 March, 2012, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
• Change Management 2012, Monday April 16 – Tuesday April 17 2012, Radisson Admiral Hotel – Toronto Harbour front, Toronto, Ontario
• 12th Annual ICPMA Conference (International Construction Project Management Association), 31 May – 1 June 2012, Porto, Portugal

General Information

• For a complete picture of PRINCE2 and what it can do, head to the Cabinet Office website. Please see note below about the change from the OGC to the Cabinet Office.
• The PRINCE2 Downloads page has a wealth of information for every project manager.
• ILX Group deliver PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget our guaranteed pass offer for Foundation level courses.
• The APMG provides a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options if you’re not yet PRINCE2 certified.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience may be the perfect option for those with an eye for cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• If your company wants to implement PRINCE2 training ILX Connect would be a great option as it will help them through the process.
• ILX Consulting takes the concept of support to the next level. From maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management, it has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a wide range of businesses and organisations.
• Note: The OGC website ceased to exist on 1st October 2011. Any new information can now be found on the Cabinet office website: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/. All information formerly on the OGC website will be available on the National Archives website:
  http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100503135839/http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp. Queries or questions should be sent to website@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk.

Season of mists and many conferences as it is in this part of the northern hemisphere, we thought we’d pass on some tips that would ensure you get your money’s worth from project management conferences wherever you are in the world.

1. Make the case for attending. At a time of scary budget cuts you’ve got to be able to justify paying out hundreds of pounds to attend a conference. Assess the benefits, costs, and so on. Scan the conference website, follow its Twitter feed and consult colleagues in the office and online to gauge its value.
2. Outline the outcome you want. It’s too easy to drift at conference so make sure that you establish specific goals before you go by asking yourself some questions. What do you need to get from the conference? What does your team need? What does the company need?
3. Time to schedule. Until we know if those CERN guys are right about “neutrinos”, we’re stuck with time travelling forwards so plan which presentations, meetings and workshops to attend. Factor in free periods to take up unexpected offers and get a seating plan if possible to plot an escape route if a presentation is irrelevant – an aisle seat at the back is usually a good spot!
4. Do your homework. Assess the quality of the speakers and exhibitors. Work out who you want to engage with and what level of connection you want to make. Conference-based social media, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn groups on project management will give contact and background details so that you can communicate appropriately with them.
5. Build bridges for communication. Avoid the anonymity of the conference crush. Use social media to introduce yourself and to forge a relationship before the event in order that you can suggest meeting for coffee, cake and, of course, a chat at the event. Look up old contacts and cultivate new ones: sit with strangers, talk in the elevator – mingle. ILX will be at this year’s APM Conference showing how training and development can improve project success, call us to arrange a meeting or just drop by and say hello.
6. Converse with a purpose. Focus on three or four topics of conversation in face-to-face encounters. Keep an ear out for emerging developments and an eye out for relationships that you may want to get involved in. Jot down salient details of all encounters; you’ll be amazed how much stuff can go in one ear and out the other.
7. Conference questions. Don’t be a wallflower in the conference hall; get yourself seen and heard by following these tips. Write down your question, keep it short, keep it to the point and keep it friendly; sit in an aisle seat so that you can catch the eye early of the people with the microphone and so that they can get to you easily.
8. Sign up and get involved. General workshops and special interest group sessions are great forums for meeting new people, holding serious discussions, learning new techniques and exchanging stories. Better still build your reputation by offering to be a presenter, facilitator, moderator or even panellist where you can share your views and experiences at the same time as publicising your company’s merits.
9. Don’t miss out on demos. These can be fun, informative and a great way of trying the latest gadgets and programmes. On the ILX stand at this years 20^th October APM Conference will be Debbie Sharples and Steve Webster – here we will be showcasing our e-learning solutions, including updates to our exclusive ‘Getting Started with APMP’ e-learning. Visitors will have the opportunity to sample our e-learning products, whilst also being able to discuss any learning requirements with our dedicated ILX representatives. You will find us at Stand 7, where visitors will also be able to benefit from a number of exclusive offers.
10. Include your team. Budget restrictions may mean that your whole team can’t go to a conference but thanks to social media like Twitter, there’s no reason they can’t join in to some degree and share the benefits.
11. Review the event. A post-conference call or meeting with the whole team can help you thrash out lessons learned, what you would do differently another time and whether the conference was worth the money.
12. Be prepared. Like all good scouts it pays to be prepared so you don’t forget the obvious. Before the conference, pack pens, paper, notes, mobile phones, iPads, laptops (with the right chargers!) and business cards. Sort out somewhere to store the cards and any hand-outs you may get. At the conference, keep a running list of key ideas, insights, action items and contacts for you and for your final report to your team. After the conference, deliver on promises to contact or report back to people and thank people for any help they have given. Enjoy!

Useful Links

A selection of upcoming conferences

• APMG China Annual Conference 2011, 14 October 2011,  Shanghai, China
• APM Project Management Conference 2011, Thursday 20 October, The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London, EC1Y 4SD
• PMI® Global Congress 2011—North America, 22–25 October 2011, Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA
• itSMF UK Conference and Exhibition 2011,  7 – 8 November, Novotel, London West
• BPUG Annual Members Conference, 23 – 24 November 2011, Doubletree By Hilton, Milton Keynes Stadium
• Project Conference 2012 (Microsoft), 19 – 22 March, 2012, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
• Change Management 2012,  Monday April 16 – Tuesday April 17 2012, Radisson Admiral Hotel – Toronto Harbour front, Toronto, Ontario
• 12th Annual ICPMA Conference (International Construction Project Management Association), 31 May – 1 June 2012, Porto, Portugal

General Information

• For a complete picture of PRINCE2 and what it can do, head to the OGC (Office of Government Commerce). Please see note below about changes to the OGC website.
• The PRINCE2 Downloads page has a wealth of information for every project manager.
• ILX Group deliver PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner e-learning, classroom and blended learning to suit every situation. Don’t forget our guaranteed pass offer for Foundation level courses.
• The APMG provides a slew of useful information about PRINCE2 accredited training options if you’re not yet PRINCE2 certified.
• The PRINCE2 e-learning experience may be the perfect option for those with an eye for cost-effective, rich and collaborative training that includes a blog, a forum and social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
• If your company wants to implement PRINCE2 training ILX Connect would be a great option as it will help them through the process.
• ILX Consulting takes the concept of support to the next level. From maturity assessments and organisational health-checks, through ITIL, MSP and PRINCE2 implementation, to programme and project performance management, it has a proven record of delivering tangible improvements in capability, productivity and customer satisfaction to a wide range of businesses and organisations.
• Note: The OGC website will cease to exist from 1st October 2011. Any new information will be published on the Cabinet office website: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/. All information currently on the OGC website will be available on the National Archives website:
  http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100503135839/http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp.  Queries or questions should be sent to website@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk.