What are the 7 PRINCE2 Principles?

The Projects IN Controlled Environments or PRINCE2 Principles are a set of guidelines on which PRINCE2 is based; these principles give a structure to ensure that projects are managed and delivered efficiently and to the required high standard.  

These principles are best derived from years of experience in Project Management across all sectors. They provide leadership principles that include business case sustainability, role and responsibilities overview, and knowledge gained from prior experience.  

Employing these principles in Project Management ensures that organisations enhance their reliability, stability and compliance in managing their projects, producing value for upholders. 

Table of Contents 

1) What is PRINCE2? 

2) Seven Principles of PRINCE2 

   a) Continued business justification 

   b) Learn from the experience 

   c) Defined roles and responsibilities 

   d) Manage by stages 

   e) Manage by exception 

   f) Focus on the product 

   g) Tailor to suit the project environment 

2) Conclusion 

What is PRINCE2? 

PRINCE2, also known as Projects IN Controlled Environments, originated in the United Kingdom and is well acclaimed worldwide. It offers a clear structure of principles, themes, and processes that define the Project Management Life Cycle and its practices.  

Flexible and scalable, PRINCE2 is a methodology that allows managing projects in an organisation and delivering projects according to various scopes, time, and financial constraints to provide the set outcome.

Seven Principles of PRINCE2 

These are the seven PRINCE2 Principles which you need to learn to become efficient in Project Management:

1) Continued business justification 

This principle highlights the need to achieve organisational objectives within a project’s life cycle. It means that Project Managers must periodically review ongoing projects to determine whether they are still viable and provide sufficient value to warrant further investment. 

2) Learn from the experience 

In this process, it is essential to identify successful and unsuccessful measures to ensure further project success. This principle demands that organisations establish ways of documenting and utilising experience to improve Project Management practices and decisions. 

3) Defined roles and responsibilities 

There is a clear understanding of everyone’s responsibility during the project, and it also encourages proper working relationships among the personnel. This principle focuses on clarifying and defining who does what to minimise confusion and promote awareness of who is responsible for which tasks. 

4) Manage by stages 

Sometimes, the project can be divided into phases or sub-phases to ease control, monitoring, and decision-making. This principle states that the project should be divided into stages, with each successive stage having its goals, products, and inspection events. 

5) Manage by exception 

Allowing Project Managers to work within a framework and make decisions within these boundaries. This helps address problems and manage resources optimally. This principle ensures that authority is delegated while still having overall control. 

6) Focus on the product 

Emphasising Project Management on successfully delivering quality products or results that will satisfactorily meet stakeholders' expectations is crucial in ensuring successful project delivery. This principle emphasises identifying and managing all aspects of the product to meet the project objectives. 

7) Tailor to suit the project environment 

This principle states that each environment is unique and requires organisations to use PRINCE2 methodologies and processes for their environment in the most useful, efficient, and sensible manner necessary. 

Conclusion 

There are PRINCE2 Principles that are the basis for successful management. These principles provide the definition of project roles, management in stages, exception management, focus on products and PRINCE2 tailoring. Thus, correctly applying these principles will help achieve positive project results consistent with the strategic goals and stakeholder expectations. 

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