Management Plaza PRINCE2 Course Review: How Good is it?

In this video, I look at what PRINCE2 is and review the PRINCE2 Foundation and PRINCE2 Practitioner training offered online by Management Plaza.

🔗 Management Plaza

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PRINCE2

PRINCE2 is a project management methodology, that has a strong focus on good governance and management rigor.

🔗 Management Plaza PRINCE2 Courses

Therefore, it has a lot of information about roles and responsibilities, documentation, and structured process. But it is not about theory. It is a practical, structured way of running projects, that you can use for projects of any type and size. So, if you’re involved in projects, PRINCE2 will be a helpful resource for you.

We have a video that answers the question ‘What is PRINCE2?’ in more detail, along with plenty of resources on our website about PRINCE2. 

Management Plaza

Management Plaza is run by Frank Turley and Nader Rad – who is one of the official reviewers of PRINCE2 and PRINCE2 Agile. Both Frank and Nader are Project Management experts with a passion for communicating. And you’ll find interviews with each of them on this channel. I’ve discussed PRINCE2 with Frank and the new PMBOK Guide 7^thEdition with Nader (because he was one of the 12 core authors). And I have spoken to both of them about P3.express – the lightweight open-source project management methodology that they co-created.

Management Plaza Offerings

The Management Plaza site opens up with a listing of their course offerings, which cover:

• PRINCE2 (at Foundation and Practitioner level) and also PRINCE2 Agile
• Agile Methodologies: 
  • PSM I (Scrum Master) from Scrum.org
  • PSPO I (Product Owner) from Scrum.org
  • PSK (Scrum + Kanban from Scrum.org
  • EXIN’s Agile Scrum Foundation
  • DSDM’s Agile PM Foundation
• ITIL4 Foundation – the Axelos IT Service Management methodology, taught by Ivor McFarlane, one of the founders of ITIL

Frank and Nader have a very similar philosophy to my own, in how they teach, train, and share knowledge. That’s why I am confident in recommending their courses so highly. 

Theirs is not a set of dry ‘voice over PowerPoint slides’ videos. In fact, their style is very much like my own. Frank and Nader talk directly to you, and illustrate the ideas with clear and simple graphics.

Management Plaza is a certified partner of Axelos (the owners of PRINCE2). They are also an accredited training organization (ATO) of PeopleCert (the examination company), and this course has been accredited.

Management Plaza PRINCE2 Training Programs

The Management Plaza site offers resources for PRINCE2:

• Foundation
• Practitioner
• Agile (which I’ll look at in another video)

You can start your training and certification with PRINCE2 Foundation, and then, if you want, you can proceed to the higher level of PRINCE2 Practitioner. 

The aim of the Foundation level is to learn how projects can be managed in a structured and effective way, and to become a productive member of such projects. PRINCE2 Foundation doesn’t have any prerequisites.

PRINCE2 Practitioner is the advanced level of PRINCE2 project management methodology. At the Practitioner level, your aim is to become knowledgeable enough to tailor and implement PRINCE2 in projects.

For PRINCE2 Practitioner, you need one of these certificates before you can take the Practitioner exam: 

• PRINCE2 Foundation
• The PMI’s PMP® or CAPM®,
• The International Project Management Association’s 
  IPMA-D, IPMA-C, IPMA-B, or IPMA-A. 

However, this is only for the exam; when it comes to your training, you need to take the PRINCE2 Foundation (or do self-study) before taking the PRINCE2 Practitioner course.

You can also study PRINCE2 Agile, and I may look at the mPlaza PRINCE2 Agile course in another video.

What You Get in the Management Plaza PRINCE2 Courses

Both programs offer a self-paced online course that you can use in your own time and come back to again and again. You’ll have 12 months of access. Let’s start by reviewing the materials Management Plaza offers for each program:

PRINCE2 Foundation

1. The package most people will want is the full training package, with the eLearning course, exam simulator, and voucher for the official PeopleCert exam. It also comes with Management Plaza’s astonishing Pass Guarantee (more later)
2. If All you need is the exam, then Management Plaza will also throw in their exam simulator and training manual.
3. But, if you have your exam booked and you’ve done your training, but want one more resource, you can also buy the exam simulator on its own

PRINCE2 Practitioner

1. The package most people will want is the full training package, with the eLearning course, exam simulator, and voucher for the official PeopleCert exam. The course allows you to follow one of two versions, a Standard and Extended version). The extended version adds additional discussion onto many of the videos and you can chop and change as you go through. You’ll also get Management Plaza’s two case study sample projects (more later).
2. If All you need is the exam, then Management Plaza will also throw in their exam simulator.
3. But, if you have your exam booked and you’ve done your training, but want one more resource, you can also buy the exam simulator on its own.

Both Programs are Fully aligned with the 6th edition of PRINCE2 (latest edition). So, let’s look inside each course. We’ll start with the Foundation course.

A Look at the PRINCE2 Foundation Course

The package you get includes:

• A three-day live course equivalent, with 57 lessons and 21 contact hours (21 PMI PDUs)
• French and English language versions – with French or English subtitles
• Integrated flashcards, quizzes, and educational games to help you learn
• A PDF training manual and printable handouts
• Two full sample exams
• The Management Plaza exam simulator
• Access to ask questions of your trainers (Frank and Nader)
• And, the Management Plaza Pass Guarantee

Let’s talk about the Management Plaza PRINCE2 Foundation Pass Guarantee…

You would be eligible for our Pass Guarantee if you have:

1. Purchased the course and exam from Management Plaza.
2. Completed the course, and your real exam was not more than 12 months after the start of your course and not more than 6 months after finishing your course.
3. Taken at least 6 simulated exams, have a score of at least 75% in your last 4 attempts, and your real exam was not more than 10 days after your last simulated exam. If your score in the last 4 attempts is not higher than 75% or your last attempt is more than 10 days before your real exam, you can simply take more simulated exams until you satisfy this condition. There’s no limit to the number of attempts.

If you meet the above conditions and you fail your exam, we will pay for your second exam. In addition, we will have a session to review your performance and come up with a plan for your success in the second attempt.

A Look Inside the Course

You can hop inside the course and see what it’s like for yourself, of course, because…
Did I not tell you?

The first 18 lessons are FREE!

With each lesson, you’ll get an introduction and then the video. There is a full video index, and quizzes with answers when you are ready. And, if you need to ask a question, you can.

The table of contents for the whole course

It is organized in three iterations of learning:

1. A high level introduction
2. The Principles and Processes of PRINCE2
3. A deep dive into each of the seven themes

A Look at the PRINCE2 Practitioner Course

The package you get includes;

• The extended version is the equivalent of a seven-day live course, with 66 lessons and 48 contact hours (48 PMI PDUs)
• It’s in English– with English subtitles
• Quizzes to help you learn
• Two sample projects to help you understand how to apply the concepts practically
• Printable process model posters
• Four full sample exams
• The Management Plaza exam simulator
• And, access to ask questions of your trainers (Frank and Nader)

A look inside the course

You can take a look at this course for yourself, of course, because…
Did I not tell you?

The first 20 lessons are FREE!

With each lesson, you’ll get an introduction and then the video in a standard or extended version, with subtitles you can toggle on or off.

There is a full video index, and some guidance about the PRINCE2 Manual.

The Table of Contents

There’s a lot, but it is extremely well structured – as you’d expect! We can see that the course covers the PRINCE2:

• Principles
• Themes
• Processes

And then has two sample projects.               

1. The Pen Project has a 100-page PDF download with loads of helpful resources
2. The Trello Project has four 20 minute videos to walk you through the case study

Conclusion to Our PRINCE2 Course Review

PRINCE2 is an excellent grounding for experienced project managers who want to learn a structured approach to planning and delivering your project. It is excellent in high-governance environments where you need high levels of:

• Accountability
• Oversight 
• Organization
• Structure
• Reliability 
• Compliance
• Process

Although PRINCE2 is hybrid in that it is agnostic on Predictive vs Adaptive development, it is clearly best suited to predictive projects. However, there is also PRINCE2 Agile, which adapts these ideas to adaptive environments. And I plan to make another video on Management Plaza’s PRINCE2 Agile training. For the time being, I will link to our video on What is PRINCE2 Agile, in the description.

My conclusion is simple, though. If a PRINCE2 qualification is right for you, I strongly recommend the PRINCE2 training resources Management Plaza offers.

The links are affiliated. So, if you buy through them, then Management Plaza will make a small payment that will help support this website and my YouTube channel.

Other PRINCE2 Resources on this Website

You can access all of our PRINCE2 courses and resources (free and paid) from our roadmap and resource guide: I Want to Study for PRINCE2

What Kit does a Project Manager Need?

I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list. I added my own. 

Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs

Note that the links are affiliated.

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For more of our videos in themed collections, join our Free Academy of Project Management.