Project Management Methodologies: PRINCE2 and Waterfall Analysis

This report provides an overview of project management methodologies, with a focus on PRINCE2 and Waterfall. It defines methodology and its role in project management, compares and contrasts PRINCE2 and Waterfall methodologies, highlighting their similarities and differences. The report also discusses how these methodologies relate to the project lifecycle and considers factors influencing the choice of methodology, such as organizational goals, stakeholder involvement, risk, complexity, and project size. The conclusion emphasizes that each methodology has its pros and cons, and the selection depends on the organization's ability to efficiently manage its working structure.

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ROLE OF METHODOLOGIES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This aims of this report is to understand what methodology is and the role related to it in
project management. This report provides discussion related to different types of
methodology, similarities and dissimilates between them and then finding out which
methodology is the best fit for an organization.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Role of methodology in project management........................................................................3
Comparison between Methodologies.........................................................................................4
Waterfall Methodology..........................................................................................................4
Prince2 Methodology.............................................................................................................5
Dissimilarities between Prince2 and Waterfall Methodology................................................6
Similarities between Waterfall and Prince2 methodology.....................................................6
Project Management Methodology........................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Methodology can be defined as a systematic and theoretical research of procedures or
techniques that is associated with the field of study. It contains the theoretical research related
to method’s structure and certain guidelines that are related to knowledge branch.
Discussion
Role of methodology in project management
Projects Management helps the company to handle their assignments systematically,
effectively and in an organized fashion. Project management provides strategic, tactical and
operational benefits to the organization.
Benefits related to Strategy-
The type of methodology help organization to gain trust from clients and other organization
that they can manage large projects (Caratelli et al., 2017).
Tactical Benefit-
At tactical level, methodology give the opportunity to outside managers to achieve full trust
regarding the validity of assessments (Chauhan, Rana & Sharma 2017).
Operational benefit-
At operational level by use of methodology the delivery organization empowers project team
so that they can do right thing at right time.

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Comparison between Methodologies
Waterfall Methodology
This type of methodology is considered to be the oldest methodology. It was started
by Dr. Winston Royce in the year 1970 to solve the issues related to growing complexity on
development of software. This methodology is sequential and is heavily requirement based.
The feature of waterfall methodology-
1. Specifying the requirement of customers
2. Designing, Planning and Concept
3. Construction of physical product
4. Testing
5. Ongoing maintenance.
Why should one choose Waterfall Methodology-
Easy to implement: This type of model is easy to use and understand.
Documentation: The focus that is given in gathering and understanding the requirements
makes Waterfall model highly reliant in documentation process.
Efficient: Waterfall management requires investing time in the earlier stages of the project to
ensure that the needs and requirements are meet. This helps in saving time and effort in
correcting problems in later stages of the project.
Why Waterfall methodology should not be chosen
Risk is higher: Rigidity of methodology means that if an error is found or needs any
change one should start the project from the very beginning. This increases the risk of failure.

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Front-heavy: This entire Waterfall process depends on the understanding and analysis
of requirements correctly. If the requirement changes then it had to be started over again.
This lack in flexibilities is a poor choice for very long and complicated project.
Prince2 Methodology
Prince2 is an official project management methodology from the UK government.
It is based on 7 principles, 7 techniques and 7 themes.
1. Continue justification of business
2. Learning from experience
3. Defining responsibility and roles
4. Managing of stages
5. Focus is on product
6. Managing of exception
7. Suits the project environment
Why one should choose Prince2 Methodology:
Prince2 methodology focuses on documentation. This focus on documentation help in
reduction of risks. Prince2 methodology is suited best for huge and complex projects having a
fixed requirement.
Why Prince2 methodology should not be chosen:
The focus is extensively on documentation which means that changes is hard to
accommodate. If there is a change in requirement then redo of the documentation is needed,
which hampers the project greatly.

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Dissimilarities between Prince2 and Waterfall Methodology
Prince2 Methodology is a bit complex in nature because it requires comprehensive
documentation, so it mostly suited for complex and large projects having fixed requirements.
On the other hand, Waterfall Methodology is simple to implement, and it is best suits in
manufacturing and construction that create physical products (Kerzner & Kerzner 2017).
To find the best methodology is a big challenge as no methodology can serve every purpose.
Similarities between Waterfall and Prince2 methodology
Both Waterfall and Prince2 methodology, an iteration and module is not passed until
it’s done, and experts will tell that done means done.
Project Management Methodology
Methodologies are chosen based on,
Organizational goals and strategy
Stockholders
Risks
Complexity
Size of the project and cost

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Stakeholders
Key business drivers
Conclusion
In this report the discussion was related to different types of methodologies. After the
analysis of the entire report the conclusion comes out that every methodology has some pros
as well as cons, so it is difficult to find out which methodologies is best suit for an
organization. It depends on the intelligence of the organization which methodology they
choose so that they can manage their working structure efficiently.

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References
Caratelli, S., Sconocchia, T., Arriga, R., Coppola, A., Lanzilli, G., Lauro, D., ... & Ferrone, S.
(2017). FCγ chimeric receptor-engineered T cells: methodology, advantages,
limitations, and clinical relevance. Frontiers in immunology, 8, 457.
Chauhan, B. D., Rana, A., & Sharma, N. K. (2017, September). Impact of development
methodology on cost & risk for development projects. In 2017 6th International
Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and
Future Directions)(ICRITO) (pp. 267-272). IEEE.
Joslin, R., & Müller, R. (2015). Relationships between a project management methodology
and project success in different project governance contexts. International Journal of
Project Management, 33(6), 1377-1392.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Mousaei, M., & Gandomani, T. J. (2018). A New Project Risk Management Model based on
Scrum Framework and Prince2 Methodology. development, 9(4).
Schmitz, K., Mahapatra, R., & Nerur, S. (2018). User engagement in the era of hybrid agile
methodology. IEEE Software.