For many years, PMBOK® has been recognized as the de facto standard for project management in the US, with PMI®’s associated professional qualifications such as PMP® being recognized as the gold standard for project management professionals.
Many US-based project managers have never heard of AXELOS®’s PRINCE2® project management methodology or the associated Foundation, Practitioner, and Professional qualifications.
Things might be about to change…
AXELOS, the owners of the PRINCE2 methodology, are making a concerted effort to significantly increase rates of adoption and the number of PRINCE2 qualifications in the US. Not only are they spending significant amounts of marketing dollars on promoting the PRINCE2 method and qualifications, they are also making PRINCE2 training and certification in the US more easily accessible.
In addition, there have been a number of initiatives around Agile that can be seen as an extension of this desire to penetrate the US market to a much larger degree than they have to date with PRINCE2.
PRINCE2 vs PMBOK: which approach is better?
The simple answer here is that both approaches are complementary: they do not compete. PMBOK offers a great source of best practices and knowledge. PRINCE2, on the other hand, with its processes and structures for project management, can really bring coherence and coordination to projects.
It isn’t really about which approach to take. It is more a situation that if you are managing projects you should be using utilizing both PMBOK and PRINCE2 to deliver your projects on time and on budget.
But how do I get started with PRINCE?
The simple answer is to get a copy of the core PRINCE2 publications. Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 is the core PRINCE2 manual, while there is a whole host of supporting manuals available to support PRINCE2 adoption. The core PRINCE2 manual and key supporting guidance are available all together in the PRINCE2 2009 Study and Review Package.
PRINCE2 is about to become mainstream in the US, but will you be ready?
