The Tale of Staying Agile in the Face of Unexpected Resistance

Twelve months ago a team of PRINCE2 practitioners from the Parliamentary Service left the CC Learning PRINCE2 and MSP conference enthusiastic about applying project management best practice to an organisation that was a bit patchy at managing projects.

Back in the workplace my bright eyed enthusiasm soon changed into squinting cynicism and eye rolling frustration as I learned that every man and his dog knew better than the hoards of international experts who had just redeveloped the PRINCE2 method. As we tried to get traction on our Business Improvement Programme projects, from the top of the organisation down I heard:

• What’s wrong with the project charter we’ve always used?
• Why do I have so many project documents to read?
• Why on earth would you use PRINCE2 – it’s SO over the top!

This is the tale of staying agile in the face of unexpected resistance to a jolly good idea, and of learning to deviate from the PRINCE2 bible with growing confidence and understanding. Not surprisingly, you’ll hear how the Parliamentary Service has landed somewhere in the middle of PRINCE2-based best practice, and a workable solution for our organisation.