How many times have you heard your customer complain that the product you have delivered doesn't meet their expectations?

This is as a result of not addressing their expectations early enough in the project to get it right. You can learn how to do this with 5-day PRINCE2 Practitioner Training.

But customers also bring problems too! They often don’t seem to know what they want.

It is your job as a project manager to work with your customer to establish their quality expectations and then to create some measurable criteria against which you can deliver something fit for purpose.

Where Do We Start?

At the beginning... of the project.

During the early stages of the project – Starting Up – you should be talking to your customer about the solution:

• What they hope it will do
• How it will work
• What it will look like

These initial expectations will be little vague and may require some prompting and input from you to gain clarity around what the expectations mean.

As a project management consultant I have bumped up against a number of PM methods … or ‘methodologies’ as we are being more and more encouraged to call them. I’ve used PRISM, PROMPT, PMI PMP and PRINCE but, of them all, my favourite is PRINCE2 … ‘the project method is formerly known as PRINCE’.

Image by Yves Lorson from Kapellen, Belgium - Prince

But I have a problem. When I hear a new project manager say, “I’ve just been appointed to run my first project so I’ve got to go on a PRINCE2 course,” I shudder. There are a couple of reasons for this perverse behaviour and it’s nothing to do with the temperature.

As a project management consultant I have bumped up against a number of PM methods … or ‘methodologies’ as we are being more and more encouraged to call them. I’ve used PRISM, PROMPT, PMI PMP and PRINCE but, of them all, my favourite is PRINCE2 … ‘the project method is formerly known as PRINCE’.

Image by Yves Lorson from Kapellen, Belgium - Prince

But I have a problem. When I hear a new project manager say, “I’ve just been appointed to run my first project so I’ve got to go on a PRINCE2 course,” I shudder. There are a couple of reasons for this perverse behaviour and it’s nothing to do with the temperature.

Within the Managing Product Delivery phase of the PRINCE2® framework, there are three distinct stages regarding the Work Package that must be completed and documented.

In our post 'Getting Work Done with PRINCE2' our trainer Claudine explains Work Packages in relation to the Controlling a Stage process. In this post we will outline the Managing Product Delivery aspects of Work Packages and the actions necessary for successful completion.

You can learn more about work packages in PRINCE2 on our PRINCE2 Training.

Purpose of Process

It is important to understand what the intended results of the Managing Product Delivery process are:

• To set out and decide upon the requirements with the Project Manager
• To do the work
• To keep the Project Manager updated on progress
• To sanction the completion of the work
• Make the Project Manager aware of the completion of the work

The reason it is important to know the purpose of this process is because if at any point there is contention or an issue that must be addressed, everything has been documented and carried out according to a set structure and so can be easily accessed and acknowledged.

So, you have had your plan approved and now the work needs to begin.

But have you have ever foundyou'vehanded work over only to have it run late, or receive something back that is not at all what was asked for?

How do we avoid this and ensure that work is carried out as planned?

PRINCE2® Processes

ThePRINCE2approach is to use two processes, the Project Manager uses'Controlling a Stage'to hand over the work and the Team Manager will use'Managing Product Delivery'for the development of the product. These are two separate processes because the Project Manager is responsible for managing the work of the project, not doing it! So having a separate process acts as a “firebreak” between the project manager and team manager or team.

The process starts when the Project Manager discusses the work to be done with a Team Manager or team to authorise the work package.

During this discussion, some aspects of the work need to be agreed:

Within the PRINCE2® framework, the relationship between the corporate/programme management and the project management is important to define, especially with regard to progress. In this post, we'll explain the roles that corporate/programme management (hitherto c/p management) must fulfill and clearly set out the responsibilities of the project management in terms of notifying and updating c/p management on the progress of the project.

You can learn how to apply PRINCE2 to your projects on our PRINCE2 Practitioner Course.

Philosophy

For c/p management, it's about spending as little time as possible involved in the project whilst still maintaining overall control. This is termed 'management by exception'. Effectively this means that the c/p management approve the initial project plan and it's constraints, and then receive weekly or monthly updates (or whatever interval is appropriate for the time-frame) from the project management. So long as everything is running within the approved constraints, there should be no need for regular face-to-face meetings.

If the project does go outside of these pre-approved parameters then it is the c/p management's prerogative as to whether a review meeting is necessary.

Aside from overall approval of the direction and parameters of the project, the c/p management has other responsibilities to ensure the project runs effectively:

Turning simple photos into Warhol-style Pop Art is a great way to impress people with your Photoshop skills. If you're fairly new to Photoshop, you'll find that following this tutorial helps you learn and understand more about cut-outs, layers, groups, colours and scaling.

Coming on our Photoshop course will teach you these kinds of techniques, along with useful keyboard shortcuts and what to do when things aren't going to plan! We also offer Advanced Photoshop training and courses in InDesign and Illustrator.

There are 3 main tasks when turning a photo into Pop Art: preparing the main image; duplicating and arranging it; and adding colour.

Turning simple photos into Warhol-style Pop Art is a great way to impress people with your Photoshop skills. If you're fairly new to Photoshop, you'll find that following this tutorial helps you learn and understand more about cut-outs, layers, groups, colours and scaling.

Coming on our Photoshop course will teach you these kinds of techniques, along with useful keyboard shortcuts and what to do when things aren't going to plan! We also offer Advanced Photoshop training and courses in InDesign and Illustrator.

There are 3 main tasks when turning a photo into Pop Art: preparing the main image; duplicating and arranging it; and adding colour.