PRINCE2 2009 Launch event

My primary involvement in the 2-year project to refresh PRINCE2 has come to an end. The ceremonial conclusion to the project was at the official launch on 16th June in London.

It was a great event, with more than 150 people in attendance and more than 10,000 hits of the website where it was streamed as a live webcast.

If you missed the event you can watch it from the best management practice website...

http://best-management-practice.tv/live-event

There is also an interesting review of the launch from the 'Girls Guide to Project Management Blog', including analysis of the 'goody' bag that was handed out to the attendees...

http://www.pm4girls.elizabeth-harrin.com/2009/06/prince22009-the-launch/

For me the event was a fantastic opportunity to say thank you to all those people who had participated in the refresh project. Although I've had a high profile as the lead author it has truly been a team effort and it has been a pleasure to have been the public face of the team. The team involved:

• Participants in the public consultation
• Participants in the 'Reference Group' who created the mandate for change
• The Project Board
• Participants in the design review
• Participants in the pilots
• Quality Reviewers
• Change control panel
• The TSO marketing and production teams
• The authoring team (Bob Patterson, Sue Taylor, Nigel Bennett, John Edmonds, Graham Williams and of course me!)
• Our mentor (Colin Bentley)
• Our Project Manager (Anne-Marie Byrne)

The networking event after the official launch was really useful too. One of the guests was Dave Purves - a former PRINCE2 examiner. It was Dave who taught me PRINCE2 back in 1997. So I guess he has a lot to answer for in the Murray household for being so enthusiastic about PRINCE2 that I went on to base a consulting career on it, culminating in being appointed as lead author - thank you Dave! It is often said that you never forget good teachers and trainers and it is very true on this occassion.

While I'm doing 'thank yous', I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the other lead authors of MSP (Rod Sowden), P3O (Sue Vowler) and the Portfolio Management Guide (Crag Kilford) as the informal nework we have built between us not only helped with the integration of the OGC products but also on sharing lessons on undertaking projects of this nature. One final thank you I'd like to make is to Jennifer Stapleton who instigated the development of DSDM (and therefore the Agile approach to projects). It was her fond account of the work she did in developing a method that gave me the inspiration to apply to be Lead Author for PRINCE2!

I'm in Holland today where this afternoon I will be presenting the PRINCE2 2009 updates to the Dutch PRINCE2 User Group. There will be 250 people attending today, making the Dutch User Group the largest of its kind globally! So while my authoring work has finished, my PRINCE2 work continues.

Over the coming months I will keep this blog running to explore different aspects of the revised method and the experiences of people using it. So, watch this space!