Good Practice and Standards#

The standards in PRINCE2, APM and Other Standards agree on more than they differ. This page sets out the practices that most of them share, with a table that shows where each one comes from, and a checklist for a valuation control project.

Practices that recur#

Good practice in project management#

Practice

What it looks like

Where it appears

Clear objectives and a business case

A short statement of the problem, the benefit and how it will be measured. Reviewed at each decision point, and the project is stopped if it no longer makes sense.

PRINCE2 (continued business justification), APM, Scrum (the product goal)

Named ownership

One sponsor who owns the outcome, one accountable owner for each deliverable, and agreed roles. A RACI table for larger projects.

PRINCE2 roles, Scrum roles, APM governance

Stakeholder engagement

A list of the people affected, how they are involved, and how they are kept informed.

APM, PMBOK, Scrum (sprint review)

Staged delivery and decision points

Short stages or sprints, with a decision at the end of each one.

PRINCE2 (manage by stages), Scrum (sprint)

Fit the method to the work

Choose waterfall, agile or a hybrid by the nature of the work, and keep the process no heavier than the risk needs.

PRINCE2 (tailor), Agile Manifesto

Risk and issue management

A live log of risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies (a RAID log), with owners, ratings and actions.

PRINCE2, APM, PMBOK

Change control

A defined way to request, assess and approve changes to scope, time or cost. In agile, changes go to the backlog and the product owner decides.

PRINCE2, Scrum (product backlog)

Quality defined up front

Acceptance criteria and a Definition of Done, agreed before the work starts.

PRINCE2 (focus on products), Scrum

Regular, honest reporting

A short report with progress, forecast, risks and decisions needed. Report on the real status, not the hoped-for one.

PRINCE2 (manage by exception), APM

Benefits tracked after delivery

A measure of the benefit, a baseline, and a review after go-live to check it was delivered.

PRINCE2, APM

Lessons learnt

Recorded during the project and at the end, and used by the next one.

PRINCE2, Scrum (retrospective)

The RAID log#

The RAID log is the most useful single tool in most projects. Its four headings are:

  • Risks: things that might happen, and that would affect the project. Each has a probability, an impact, an owner and a response.

  • Assumptions: things that are taken to be true. If one is wrong, it becomes a risk or an issue.

  • Issues: problems that have already happened and need action.

  • Dependencies: work or decisions from outside the project that it relies on.

A RACI table#

A RACI table says who is Responsible for doing the work, who is Accountable for the result (one person only), who is Consulted before and who is Informed after. For example:

RACI for a new IPV data source#

Activity

Valuation control lead

Market data

Technology

Model validation

Agree the data source and contract

A

R

C

I

Build the data feed

C

C

A / R

I

Set tolerances and methodology

A / R

C

I

C

Approve the methodology

R

I

I

A

Go-live decision

A

C

R

C

Measuring a project#

Whatever the method, a project needs a small number of measures, reviewed regularly.

Measures for waterfall and agile projects#

Question

Waterfall measure

Agile measure

Are we on time?

Milestones achieved against the plan. Float.

Burndown against the release goal. Sprint goals met.

Are we on budget?

Spend and forecast against the budget. Earned value for larger projects.

Cost per sprint multiplied by the forecast number of sprints.

Is the work good enough?

Defects found in test. Acceptance by the user.

Stories that meet the Definition of Done. Defects that escape.

Are we getting the benefit?

Benefits review after go-live.

Measures of use or outcome after each release.

What could go wrong?

Risk register and RAID log.

Impediments raised, and the RAID log.

A project checklist for valuation control#

Before a project starts:

  • the objective is stated in a sentence, with a measure that shows whether it has been met

  • there is an owner who can accept the result, and a sponsor who can fund it

  • the control or regulatory driver is named, for example SOX, prudent valuation or an audit finding

  • the approach (waterfall, agile or hybrid) is chosen, with a reason

  • the RAID log has been started

During the project:

  • the plan or backlog is kept up to date, and changes are approved by the owner

  • every deliverable has acceptance criteria, and the evidence is kept

  • any change to a model, a data source or a methodology is approved by the right committee. See Governance: Model Risk, Accountability and Data

  • risks are reviewed at a regular meeting, with someone named for each action

At the end:

  • the result is accepted, and the evidence is kept where audit can find it

  • the benefit is measured against the baseline after a period of use

  • lessons are recorded, and the procedures and documents are updated

Standards that apply to the change itself#

A valuation control project is also a change to a controlled process, so it comes under the firm’s change management and governance rules:

Project management standards say how to run the project. These rules say what the project must prove before its result is used.