PRINCE2 Foundation Revision: Give People and Communication Their Own Notes

When your PRINCE2 notes are mostly lists, people and communication can become a few words at the edge of the page. Give them a separate revision session. PeopleCert identifies the people element and communication as parts of PRINCE2 Project Management Version 7. Your notes should help you explain their place in the method rather than simply recognize their names.

The activity below is a way to organize your learning. It is not an official assessment template, and the hypothetical workplace situations are not real exam questions.

Start with a relationship, not a label

Choose a relationship within a general project setting: a project team and a sponsor, a manager and a supplier, or a team and people affected by a change. Write what each side needs to understand before work can proceed. Keep the example simple enough that you can describe it without inventing a detailed project.

For instance, a team preparing a handover may know what it built while the receiving group still needs to understand how the outcome will be used. Your note can separate those needs. This is an illustration of a communication question, not a prescribed PRINCE2 answer to a particular scenario.

Now identify what your study resource says about the relevant roles and relationships. Use the official terminology where the terminology matters. If you are unsure of a responsibility, look it up instead of assigning it based on how your own workplace operates.

Give the communication a purpose

For the same relationship, write four prompts: who needs information, what they need, when they need it, and what decision or action it supports. Avoid stopping at “send an update.” The purpose of the information matters more than the name of the channel.

Compare a long status message with a short decision request. Each can be appropriate for a different need. Your revision note should explain that difference rather than claim one message format is always better. Keep the context attached to the example.

Add a question about understanding: how would you discover that the recipient interpreted the message differently? This turns the note into a discussion of communication rather than only distribution. Check your resource before connecting that discussion to any specific method term.

Connect the note to the wider method

After explaining the relationship, ask where the surrounding management work fits. Is the note about a continuing management aspect, a decision during a process, or a principle guiding how the method is used? Consult the syllabus or official material rather than forcing every idea into one group.

If you cannot make the connection, leave a clear question in your notes. “Where does this responsibility appear in the official material?” is useful. A made-up link that looks complete will be harder to correct later.

Review the note alongside your existing terminology notes. If you used a word differently in the two places, find out whether it is a genuine distinction or an accidental inconsistency. Keep one clear definition and preserve any necessary context.

Practise an explanation without notes

Explain the relationship and communication purpose aloud. Then reopen your source and check your language. Did you confuse a role with a person, an update with a decision, or a method term with a familiar workplace phrase?

Record one correction and one question to revisit. On the next session, change the relationship rather than repeating the same example word for word. That gives you a different way to check whether the explanation travels beyond the page you memorized.

See PeopleCert's Foundation Version 7 page for the issuer's scope summary. Examova's PRINCE2 preparation area is an independent additional resource.