PRINCE2, AGILE, SCRUM – are they connected?

As some of you are aware, apart running projects, I also teach. The two areas I mainly specialise on are ITIL and Prince2. I do enjoy bringing real world experiences into the classroom. It adds a lot of credibility to the messages you are conveying but also adds to your standing, as a tutor and mentor, in the eyes of the delegates. They do not want someone to quote the book and roll out the banter week in week out. They want to learn what does and does not work in reality or, as is the case over 90% of the time, what do you have to alter or tweak.

Teaching is bit like Marmite. You either love it or hate it and likewise delegate’s reactions towards you can be similar – they either take to you or they don’t. You do occasionally get the odd delegate who doesn’t like anyone. They sit apart from the others, they don’t speak unless spoken to and generally they are avoided by all – sometimes even the tutor finds it easier to stay quiet too. That’s life folks! However you do get the odd delegate who wants everyone to know them. In particular how much they know in relation to others. Are they insecure? Are they corporate bullies? Who knows? However they do lie in wait in the classroom – hoping to “put someone in their place” or better still make the tutor look stupid or lacking in knowledge. Such people do exist and sadly yours truly met one a few months ago.
“How does Prince2 relate to Agile?” “Where is Prince2 in relation to Scrum and XP projects?” “Have you seen any lessons we should be aware of?”

Three questions fired at me without drawing breath. A little sardonic smile at the end of the tirade!

Now I had a small dilemma. On these topics, I knew a little, but not a lot. Waffling is always out of the question.  So I write the three questions on the whiteboard and say as all people when they feel caught in a corner “I’ll come back to you with an answer”.

So off they go and have a go at the main Organisation question. I’ve got 40 minutes and an internet connection. What more do I want? What I found was the following.

Prince2 has been the dominant project management method in the UK  for a number of years and one of its strengths is its emphasis on control. One key control is the product description where you define what you want producing before any work is performed. That does not work for everyone as it can impose a rigidity that is alien to the way a lot of people work. Software development prefers a more “agile” approach. Outcomes are defined in advance yet the route that is taken to achieve those outcomes may need to be very flexible. An example that is often quoted in support of Agile is the Toyota Prius. Toyota didn’t set about designing a hybrid-engined car. Instead they set about designing a car that could achieve 55 mph. The route they took in achieving that outcome was to develop the Prius. So the story goes.

So what is Agile? Agile is the term associated with the DSDM project delivery framework. DSDM stands for Dynamic Systems Development Method. Since 2006 this method has become free to use. DSDM is an Agile project framework, with guidance, to achieve on-time and on-budget delivery to satisfy a business objective. In a nutshell DSDM looks at the product delivery side of a project in more detail and allows for greater flexibility. Prince2 as we all know does not. Prince2 deliberately avoids any detailed discussion on the mechanics of product delivery.

So how do Prince2 and DSDM fit together? On the face of it they are a natural fit. Both approaches make use of product descriptions and in terms of their organisational structures (Project Board-Project Manager- Team Manager) they are very similar. Such similarities also cuts down on duplication. DSDM adds to Prince2 in the following ways.

DSDM introduces scope tolerance mechanisms. Time, cost and quality are fixed – there is no tolerance available. Which may turn traditional thinking on its head, but in reality are these not fixed in the mind of the customer already? What DSDM does offer is flexibility in terms of the features (scope) being delivered in the products via Prioritised Requirements List (PRL) which in turn is controlled through the use of techniques such as “MoSCoW” and “timeboxing”.

DSDM promotes iterative and incremental product development. On projects where the final project product is complex, this is essential. This means that DSDM can deliver parts of a project sooner in the project but also can deliver ROI (return on investment) earlier than may be considered in a Prince2 project.

DSDM organisational team structure goes lower down than the Prince2 equivalent by adding additional customer and supplier roles which operate at the production level. These additional roles map quite easily into the Prince2 organisation.

The DSDM style of delivery encourages greater collaboration which in turn enhances the speed of communication between the roles as well as providing for a greater understanding of what the products are to deliver. This is described as enabling an Agile ethos. This ethos may not sit well with traditionalists but it does deal with the fact that detail emerges during a project which will prompt change that is handled dynamically within the project. This detail and change requirement will not have been foreseen at the outset of the project. However, is this not what happens in reality?
DSDM provides a more effective communication engine. Facilitated workshops are used throughout to create fast lines of communication, understanding and ownership. The supporting documentation is more graphic than text based with the intention of simplifying messages and reducing misinterpretation.

So Agile or DSDM is a complement to Prince2. It addresses issues of product creation that are not covered – indeed avoided – by Prince2.

So what is SCRUM? Well as a rugby term it is defined as “the mechanism in a game of rugby for getting an out of play ball, back into play”. If one considers the ball to be a project or a product, you can quickly see the connection. In method terms, SCRUM is, at its simplest, an implementation of DSDM. SCRUM operates at the Team Manager level and prescribes a number of roles which specific responsibilities such as Product Owner, SCRUMMASTER, Team Member. Scrum adds guidance in product production where Prince2 does not.

XP projects? Well, these are another form of Agile implementation. XP stands for Extreme Programming and closely associated with software development andit advocates frequent “releases” in short development cycles. Just like SCRUM it is intended to improve responsiveness to changing customer requirements – an inevitability in all projects.

So in a nutshell, Prince2 offers great control at the project level. Agile brings direction and freedom and “agility” at the production (team) level – an area Prince2 avoids in detail. SCRUM and XP are implementations of the Agile approach at the team level. This may be too simplistic for some peoples taste, but it demonstrates how the concepts relate to each other.

I got back to my delegates with the summary. Mercifully no further questions came back, but he has made me buy a book on Agile.

Resources Used:
http://www.dsdm.org
http://www.best-management-practice.com/gempdf/DSDM_White_Paper_v2.pdf
Agile project management: running PRINCE2 projects with DSDM Atern (Paperback) by Keith Richards ISBN 0113310587
Agile Project Management with Scrum (Microsoft Professional) (Paperback) by Ken Schwarber ISBN 073561993X

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