PRINCE2®, Curtains and Taxis

Graham Devine, Training Consultant at Maven Training and a regular contributor to this blog, shares with us the stories of two recent events he took part in. They both show how PRINCE2® is everywhere (and to think that Graham once wrote a post stating that PRINCE2® was Dead …)


Event 1
The situation is me in a taxi going from my hotel to a client’s training venue to start a PRINCE2® Practitioner course….

DRIVER – “Morning mate, where we goin’?”
ME – I give venue address and directions
Pause
DRIVER – “What are you doing today then Sir?”
ME – “I’m a trainer, going to start a course with a client”
Pause
DRIVER – “What’s the course about?”
ME – “Oh, it’s a Project Management professional method…well known in some circles…the client wants to use it to become better at managing changes to its work”
Pause
DRIVER – “Is that PRINCE2® then sir?”
ME – slightly taken aback…taxi drivers with knowledge of PRINCE2® is unusual….”Er, well, yes…it is actually…”
DRIVER – cutting in…”We used it in my last job in the Post Office you know, me and some of my colleagues were involved in many PRINCE2® projects….”
We arrive……

Event 2
My wife, bless her, recently started curtain design & making classes at the local Adult Education Centre (we’ve just moved house you see, and she has always fancied doing her own bespoke interior furnishings)

ME – arriving home….”Hi dear….how was your day? Curtain class fun today?”
WIFE – “The kitchen blinds are nearly ready to be put up and I’ve just started the door curtain too”
ME – “That’s good…perhaps we can put the blinds up on Saturday”
WIFE - “Yes. The girls (that’s the curtain making girls in her class) and I went out for a coffee and a sandwich after our class – they are a hoot you know. I got talking about us and what you do dear…..”
ME – “Oh yes….that’s nice….” I wasn’t really listening intently I’m afraid, I was already in my mind working out dimensions for curtain battening and thinking what size masonry drill to use on Saturday…(that’s boys for you!).
WIFE – continuing….”…three of the girls know all about PRINCE2® you know, two of them have partners who are city-based Project Managers and the third took a PRINCE2® course for professional certification because she is a consultant….”
ME – I’m thinking what the odds are of four people in a group of eight curtain making ladies knowing PRINCE2® intimately!

Conclusion
The presence of Project Management knowledge and its application has seen tremendous rise in the last few years and PRINCE2® has been the preferred ‘method’ for most – top tier organisations have known about the benefits of a structured project management approach for years, the middle tiers are well past 50% ‘uptake’ and the SME chunk is catching up.

PRINCE2® as a qualification and appropriately project management skilled staff is now a ‘must have’ competence for many organisations and individuals.

Freelance, consulting and contracting workers especially, know that they have to have the qualification on their CV – if not then they know they will not get past the first filter ‘cut’ for jobs or contracts.

If PRINCE2® is indirectly supporting 50% of the domestic revenue of households (based on my small curtain making sample group) and a taxi driver knows of it, then there must be something in it!