PRINCE2 Agile Practitioner cheat sheet

PRINCE2 Agile combines PRINCE2 governance (principles, themes, processes) with agile delivery; PRINCE2 governs, agile delivers.

Agile is defined by iterative/incremental delivery, embracing change, and fixed timeboxes with variable scope rather than fixed scope.

The Agilometer assesses six project characteristics (flexibility of what is delivered, level of collaboration, ease of making releases, ability to work iteratively, tolerance for disruption, team skill level) to calibrate how agile a project can be.

PRINCE2 Agile maps agile roles onto PRINCE2: the delivery team corresponds to the Team Manager level; agile product ownership maps to Project Manager/Project Board accountability for 'what' and 'why'.

Seven PRINCE2 principles must always be applied; agile practices are tailored around them, never replace them.

The 'Hexagon' shows six PRINCE2 Agile focus areas: agility, common language, customer collaboration, self-organisation, exploration, and frequent delivery.

Agile behaviours in PRINCE2 Agile: transparency, collaboration, rich communication, self-organisation, and exploration.

Fixed vs variable: PRINCE2 Agile fixes time, cost, quality and scope at the project level, but allows scope to flex within tolerances at the delivery level.

Transparency requires visible information radiators (burn charts, task boards) so that anyone can see progress and impediments.

Self-organisation means the delivery team decides how work is done; the Project Manager/Board retains accountability for what and why.

Timeboxing: work is constrained to a fixed period (e.g., a sprint), and scope is adjusted to fit the timebox, not the reverse.

MoSCoW prioritisation ranks requirements as Must, Should, Could, Won't; Musts should not exceed roughly 60% of effort to protect contingency.

Retrospectives are a technique for continuous improvement; lessons are captured and fed into PRINCE2's Lessons Log.

Daily stand-ups are short, timeboxed coordination events focused on progress, next steps, and impediments.

Rich communication uses face-to-face and visual techniques; colocation or collaboration tools reduce miscommunication.

Servant leadership: the agile leader removes impediments and shields the team rather than directing tasks.

Tailoring is itself a PRINCE2 principle; PRINCE2 Agile tailors themes and processes to suit the agile context rather than applying them rigidly.

Business Case: developed iteratively; the 'Lean Startup' approach (minimum viable product, pivot-or-persevere) informs the Business Case throughout.

Organisation: roles are combined or shared where appropriate; the Project Board may include a supplier/customer representative and the Team Manager role may be shared with the delivery team lead.

Plans: the project plan is high-level; stage plans align to release/agile delivery; sprint/iteration plans are team-level and detailed only for the near term (rolling-wave planning).

Quality: agile quality techniques (definition of done, acceptance criteria, testing throughout) replace detailed upfront quality planning; quality is built in, not inspected in.

Risk: risks are managed continuously; the Risk theme uses the same PRINCE2 approach with more frequent review and team-level risk ownership.

Change: change is expected; the Change theme uses a lightweight approach, with the product backlog as the change mechanism and tolerances governing escalation.

Progress: progress is measured via burn charts, velocity and frequent delivery of finished products rather than percentage-complete of documents.

Processes: Starting Up a Project and Initiating a Project are compressed; Controlling a Stage aligns with agile delivery cycles; Managing Product Delivery uses timeboxed iterations.

AgileSHAPE is a separate agile framework for non-project work (ongoing operations); it is not part of PRINCE2 Agile delivery, though both share agile principles.

AgileSHAPE uses the 'AgileSHAPE' cycle: Discover, Define, Deliver, and Evaluate/Embed, with work organised into iterations and a 'shape' mindset.

The PRINCE2 Agile health check assesses the six focus areas (agility, common language, customer collaboration, self-organisation, exploration, frequent delivery) to identify improvement areas.

Health checks are diagnostic, not pass/fail; results are used to tailor the approach and inform lessons.

Frequent delivery means delivering usable products early and often; the definition of 'done' must be agreed and met for each increment.

Customer collaboration: the customer is involved throughout, providing feedback on increments and prioritising the backlog.

Agility in PRINCE2 Agile means the ability to respond to change; the Agilometer score informs how much agility to build into plans and controls.

Common language: PRINCE2 Agile uses a shared vocabulary (e.g., 'product', 'timebox', 'backlog') to align governance and delivery.

PRINCE2 Agile = PRINCE2 governance + agile delivery; governance and delivery are complementary, not competing.

Agile principles include iterative delivery, embracing change, collaboration, and delivering value early.

The Agilometer's six factors: flexibility of what is delivered, level of collaboration, ease of making releases, ability to work iteratively, tolerance for disruption, team skill level.

The seven PRINCE2 principles are always applied; agile practices are tailored to support them.

The Hexagon focus areas: agility, common language, customer collaboration, self-organisation, exploration, frequent delivery.

PRINCE2 Agile fixes time, cost and quality; scope may flex within tolerances.

Agile behaviours: transparency, collaboration, rich communication, self-organisation, exploration.

Transparency is achieved through visible information radiators such as burn charts and task boards.

Self-organisation: the team decides how to do the work; accountability for what and why remains with governance.

Timeboxing fixes the time period and adjusts scope to fit; scope is the variable.

MoSCoW: Must, Should, Could, Won't; Musts should be limited (commonly around 60% of effort) to preserve contingency.

Retrospectives drive continuous improvement and feed the Lessons Log.

Daily stand-ups are short, timeboxed coordination events covering progress, next steps and impediments.

Rich communication uses face-to-face and visual methods to reduce misunderstanding.

Servant leadership: leaders remove impediments and support the team rather than assigning tasks.

Tailoring is a PRINCE2 principle; themes and processes are adapted to the agile context.

Business Case: developed iteratively using Lean Startup concepts (minimum viable product, pivot or persevere).

Organisation: roles may be combined or shared; the Team Manager role may be held by a delivery team lead.

Plans: rolling-wave planning; project and stage plans are high-level, iteration plans are detailed for the near term.

Quality: definition of done and acceptance criteria replace detailed upfront quality planning; quality is built in.

Risk: managed continuously with frequent review and team-level ownership.

Change: change is expected; the product backlog is the change mechanism and tolerances govern escalation.

Progress: measured by burn charts, velocity and delivered increments rather than percentage-complete documents.

Processes: Starting Up a Project and Initiating a Project are compressed; Controlling a Stage aligns to delivery cycles; Managing Product Delivery uses timeboxes.

AgileSHAPE is a separate framework for non-project, ongoing work; it is not the delivery method within PRINCE2 Agile.

AgileSHAPE organises work into iterations with a cycle of Discover, Define, Deliver, and Evaluate/Embed.

Health checks assess the six focus areas to identify improvement opportunities.

Health checks are diagnostic, not pass/fail; results inform tailoring and lessons.

Frequent delivery requires usable increments delivered early and often, each meeting an agreed definition of done.

Customer collaboration involves the customer throughout, giving feedback on increments and prioritising the backlog.

Agility is the ability to respond to change; the Agilometer score informs how much agility to build into plans and controls.

Common language provides a shared vocabulary (product, timebox, backlog) aligning governance and delivery.