10.3 Tailoring the Practices

Why Tailoring Matters

PRINCE2 is a method designed to be tailored to the project. A two-person, low-risk project inside a single department does not need the same formality as a multi-million-pound, regulated, multi-supplier programme. Tailoring is the act of adapting the method — and specifically the practices — to the project's scale, complexity, and risk, so that the controls are proportionate and the overhead is justified.

A useful framing: PRINCE2 should be just enough, not as much as possible. Over-applying the method to a small project wastes effort and discredits the method; under-applying it to a large project loses control. Tailoring is how the project finds the right point on that spectrum.

The Key Change in v7: No 'Minimum Requirements'

A significant change in PRINCE2 v7 is the removal of the concept of minimum requirements that appeared in earlier editions. Previously, the manual listed mandatory elements for each practice that had to be present regardless of tailoring. In v7, that fixed floor is gone. Instead, each practice is tailored through the techniques used to apply it — the specific ways the practice's activities are carried out. The practice's purpose remains, but the technique used to achieve it is chosen to fit the project.

This is a common exam point. A question may ask whether a particular practice can be omitted on a small project. The v7 answer is that the practice is never omitted — its purpose is always served — but the technique used to serve it can be very lightweight. For example, Quality on a small project is not omitted; it is applied through informal peer review rather than a full Review Workshop with a full Review Report.

Tailoring Principles

Four principles guide valid tailoring:

1. Retain the practice's purpose. Whatever the practice exists to achieve must still be achieved. Risk must still be identified, assessed, and controlled; quality must still be assured; progress must still be monitored. The technique changes; the purpose does not.
2. Scale the formality. A small project uses lighter techniques; a large project uses heavier ones. The decision is driven by scale, complexity, and risk, not by personal preference.
3. Combine management products where sensible. On a small project, several management products may be combined into a single document to reduce overhead — for example, the Risk Management Approach may be a section within the PID rather than a standalone document.
4. Document the tailoring. The tailoring decisions are recorded in the relevant management approaches and in the PID, so that the project team, the Project Board, and any auditors understand what is being done, what is being combined, and what is being omitted.

Examples of Valid Tailoring

The table below shows practices and how they might validly be tailored on a small, low-risk project.

The consistent thread is that the purpose is preserved. Risks are still identified and controlled, just in a lighter register. Quality is still reviewed, just by a peer rather than a panel. Issues are still captured, just in a single log. Progress is still reported, just in one combined note.

Invalid Tailoring: Removing Purpose

Tailoring becomes invalid when it removes the practice's purpose. For example, deciding that a small project "does not need a Risk Register at all" is invalid tailoring, because the Risk practice exists to identify, assess, and control risks, and having no record of risks defeats that purpose. Deciding that "the Project Manager will decide quality informally with no record" is invalid, because the Quality practice exists to assure fitness for purpose, and an unrecorded personal judgement provides no assurance.

The exam presents scenarios that mix valid and invalid tailoring and asks you to distinguish them. The test is always the same: does the tailored technique still achieve the practice's purpose? If yes, it is valid; if no, it is invalid.

Documenting Tailoring

Tailoring decisions are documented in two places. First, the relevant management approach (for example, the Quality Management Approach) records how that practice is being applied on this project. Second, the PID summarises the overall tailoring so that the Project Board can see, in one place, how the method has been adapted. This is important because the Project Board approves the PID, and in doing so approves the tailoring — the board explicitly accepts that, for example, quality will be assured through peer review rather than formal workshops.

Common Exam Scenarios

1. Valid vs invalid tailoring. The scenario describes a technique ("the Project Manager keeps risks in her head") and asks whether it is valid. It is invalid, because the Risk practice's purpose is not served.
2. Combining management approaches. The scenario describes a small project that combines the Risk Management Approach into the PID. This is valid, provided the purpose is preserved.
3. Documenting tailoring. The scenario asks where the tailoring decisions are recorded. The answer is the relevant management approaches and the PID.