PRINCE2 Is Better When Shared: The Power of Project Communities
How lunch and learn sessions can turn PRINCE2 best practice into shared project capability
July 15, 2026
Tomos Jones
PRINCE2 Is Better When Shared: The Power of Project Communities
How lunch and learn sessions can turn PRINCE2 best practice into shared project capability
Article focus How lunch and learn sessions can turn PRINCE2 best practice into shared project capability. |
Project management can sometimes feel like a solo activity, even in organisations that use structured methods such as PRINCE2.
A project manager may be given a deadline, a budget, a team, a set of expectations and a method to follow. They may have attended PRINCE2 training, passed the exam and understood the principles, practices and processes. But once real project life begins, applying best practice is rarely as simple as it looked in the classroom.
Stakeholders want progress. The Project Board want confidence. End users want working products. Suppliers want decisions. Team Managers & teams want clarity. Risks appear, issues escalate, change requests arrive and benefits are questioned. Plans become out of date. At that point, good project management depends not only on knowing the method, but on knowing how to apply it in context.
This is where a community of practice can make a real difference.
PRINCE2 is valuable as a method, but it becomes more powerful when people share how they use it. Best practice should not sit quietly in a manual, a template folder or a training course. It should live in the conversations, decisions and behaviours of the people delivering change.
This article explores how PRINCE2 lunch and learn sessions can help organisations turn individual knowledge into shared project capability.
Community of Practice Cycle
1. Share experience | 2. Discuss challenges | 3. Capture lessons | 4. Improve guidance | 5. Apply learning |
Key message A lesson is not really learned when it is written down. It is learned when future behaviour changes. |
What is a community of practice?
A community of practice is a group of people who come together because they share a common area of work, interest or responsibility. In a project environment, this could include project managers, project support, PMO staff, team managers, project board members, sponsors, business representatives and anyone else involved in delivering change.
The purpose is simple: to learn together and improve together.
A project management community of practice gives people a regular space to discuss what is working, what is not working and what needs to improve. It is not a formal training course. It is not another governance meeting. It is not a place where people are tested on theory.
At its best, it is a practical learning space where people can share real experiences, ask questions, compare approaches and improve how projects are managed across the organisation.
In other words, it helps turn individual knowledge into organisational capability.
Who should attend a PRINCE2 lunch and learn? Project managers, PMO staff, Project support, Team managers, Project board members, Sponsors, Senior users, Business change representatives, Anyone involved in delivering change. |
Why lunch and learn works
One of the easiest ways to create a community of practice is through a regular lunch and learn session.
The phrase is important. It suggests something accessible, informal and practical. It does not sound heavy, bureaucratic or overly academic. People are far more likely to attend and contribute if the session feels useful rather than compulsory.
A lunch and learn session doesn’t need to be long. A simple monthly session of 45 to 60 minutes can be enough to create momentum.
A typical session might include:
- A short introduction to a PRINCE2 topic
- A real project example or short scenario
- A group discussion
- A practical takeaway
- One or two actions to improve how projects are managed
The key is to keep the focus on real project life. People do not need another lecture on what a risk register is. They need a discussion on why risk registers are often created, rarely used and sometimes ignored until something goes wrong.
The value comes from connecting PRINCE2 best practice with the messy reality of projects.
Quick takeaway A lunch and learn works best when it is short, practical and based on real project challenges. |
PRINCE2 and learning from experience
One of the most powerful links between PRINCE2 and communities of practice is the principle of learning from experience.
Projects should not start from a blank sheet of paper. They should learn from previous projects, from similar work, from mistakes, from success and from people with relevant experience. Learning should also happen throughout the project, not just at the end.
Yet in many organisations, lessons are captured but not truly learned.
Which of these three options best describes your current organisation?
- We neither capture nor learn lessons, so we regularly repeat the same mistakes.
- We are good at capturing lessons but fail to do anything meaningful with them. They are simply stored in a document graveyard, such as a forgotten folder, lessons log or SharePoint site.
- We are good at capturing lessons and using them to change future behaviour, from sprint to sprint, stage to stage and project to project.
A lesson's log may be created. A lesson report may be produced. Stage gates and project closure meetings may be held. Everyone agrees that important lessons have been identified. Then the next project starts, and the same mistakes happen again.
This is not because people do not care. It is often because there is no effective mechanism for sharing and applying those lessons.
A community of practice provides that mechanism.
A lunch and learn session can ask:
- What have we learned from recent projects?
- Which lessons are being repeated?
- Which lessons are not being acted upon?
- What should we stop doing?
- What should we start doing?
- What should we do differently next time?
Learning point A lesson is not really learned when it is written down. It is learned when future behaviour changes. |
That is the real opportunity for a PRINCE2 community of practice. It can help move lessons from documents into decisions.
Tailoring PRINCE2: learning what appropriate looks like
Another important PRINCE2 principle is tailoring to suit the project.
This is where many organisations struggle.
Some people apply PRINCE2 too heavily. They create too much documentation, too many controls and too many meetings for the size and risk of the project. Others go too far the other way. They remove so much structure that roles become unclear, decisions are not recorded, risks are not managed and progress becomes difficult to control.
Good tailoring sits between these two extremes.
A community of practice can help people understand what “appropriate” looks like.
For example, a lunch and learn session might explore:
- How much documentation is enough for a small project? For example, how much detail is needed in the project mandate, project brief and PID?
- How should the business case be presented? Does it need to be a formal document, or would a concise slide deck be more appropriate?
- What should a simple highlight report include? Could it be written, visual or even verbal, depending on the project context?
- How should risk management be scaled for a low-risk project? Could a light-touch risk register be enough?
- When and how often should a project board meet?
- How should PRINCE2 work alongside agile delivery? What needs to change, and what should stay the same?
- What controls are essential, regardless of project size?
These are not always questions that can be answered properly by reading a template. They need discussion, judgment, and examples.
Tailoring improves when people share experience. A project manager may explain what worked well on a small internal project. A PMO analyst may explain where governance became too light. A sponsor may explain what information they needed but did not receive. A project assurance role may explain where early warning signs were missed.
Through these conversations, the organisation develops a better understanding of proportionate control.
That is the difference between knowing PRINCE2 as a method and applying PRINCE2 as good project management.
Quick takeaway Tailoring is not about removing control. It is about applying the right level of control for the project. |
Suggested PRINCE2 lunch and learn topics
A PRINCE2 community of practice should be practical from the start. The topics should be relevant to the real challenges people face on projects.
Here are some useful lunch and learn ideas, organised by topic, purpose and discussion question.
Topic | Purpose | Discussion question |
What makes a good business case? | Explore continued business justification and what makes a business case useful rather than simply compliant. | Are our business cases living documents, or are they created for approval and then forgotten? |
How do we write better risks? | Improve risk wording by using clear cause, event and effect statements. | Can we understand the risk well enough to decide what action is needed? |
Change control does not mean change prevention | Discuss how requests for change can be understood, assessed and controlled without blocking useful change. | Are we controlling change, or are we accidentally blocking useful change? |
What does a useful highlight report look like? | Explore the information the project board needs to make informed decisions. | Does our reporting give decision-makers confidence, or does it simply describe activity? |
How much governance is enough? | Discuss proportionate governance, tolerances and the balance between control and bureaucracy. | Where is the line between control and unnecessary bureaucracy? |
What does manage by exception mean in real life? | Explore tolerances, escalation and decision-making in practice. | Do our teams know when they can continue and when they need to escalate? |
What does project assurance add? | Reframe assurance as support for good decisions rather than policing compliance. | How can assurance help the project succeed rather than simply check compliance? |
Lessons learned or lessons recorded? | Review repeated lessons and identify what needs to change in future projects. | What lesson have we recorded more than once, and why has it not changed behaviour? |
The role of the PMO
The PMO is often the natural home for a project management community of practice.
This does not mean the PMO should control every conversation or turn the community into a compliance forum. The PMO’s role should be to enable, coordinate and connect.
Enable, do not control
A PMO can support a community of practice by:
- Organising lunch and learn sessions
- Identifying common themes across projects
- Sharing useful templates and examples
- Capturing recurring lessons
- Inviting speakers or project teams to share experiences
- Helping project managers learn from each other
- Feeding improvement ideas into the organisation’s project management approach
- Creating a library of good practice examples
The PMO has a unique view across the project portfolio. It can often see patterns that individual project teams cannot see. For example, one project struggling with unclear roles may look like an isolated issue. Ten projects struggling with unclear roles suggest a wider capability problem.
A community of practice gives the PMO a constructive way to address those patterns.
Instead of simply issuing more guidance, the PMO can create conversations that help people understand, apply and improve the guidance that already exists.
Keeping it practical, not academic
One of the biggest risks with any community of practice is that it becomes too theoretical.
A PRINCE2 community should not simply repeat textbook definitions. It should help people apply PRINCE2 better in real situations.
A practical lunch and learn might include:
- Reviewing an anonymised highlight report
- Improving the wording of real project risks
- Discussing a recent change request
- Comparing two different approaches to project initiation
- Reviewing how a business case changed during delivery
- Exploring a project where governance was too heavy
- Exploring a project where governance was too light
- Discussing what made a project board decision effective or ineffective
The best sessions are often built around simple questions:
- What happened?
- Why did it happen?
- What did we learn?
- What would we do differently?
- How can others avoid the same issue?
This keeps the community grounded in reality.
People should leave with something useful, not just something interesting.
Quick takeaway The best sessions create practical improvement, not just interesting discussion. |
Psychological safety matters
A community of practice only works if people feel safe to contribute.
If people are worried about being judged, blamed or embarrassed, they will not share honestly. They will only talk about safe topics, successful projects and polished examples. That may create a pleasant meeting, but it will not create deep learning.
Some of the most useful learning comes from projects that did not go to plan.
This does not mean the session should become negative or critical. It means the culture should allow honest reflection.
No blame, better learning
A good community of practice should encourage people to say:
- This did not work as well as we expected
- We misunderstood the requirement
- We escalated too late
- Our risk response was weak
- The project board did not have the right information
- The business case was not reviewed properly
- We overcomplicated the process
- We removed too much control
These are valuable statements. They are signs that people are thinking carefully about improvement.
The aim is not to find someone to blame. The aim is to make the next project better.
Quick takeaway A safe learning environment helps people talk honestly about project reality. |
Benefits of a PRINCE2 project community
A well-run PRINCE2 community of practice can deliver significant benefits.
It can improve consistency because people start to understand what good looks like across the organisation. This does not mean every project becomes identical. It means people develop a shared understanding of the minimum expectations and how to tailor them sensibly.
It can improve confidence because project managers have a place to ask questions and test ideas. They do not have to solve every problem alone.
It can improve governance because project board members, sponsors and project managers can discuss what information is needed for effective decision-making.
It can improve learning because lessons are shared while they are still useful, not hidden away at the end of a project.
It can improve tailoring because people can compare examples and learn from different project contexts.
It can improve the PMO’s influence because the PMO becomes a source of support and improvement, not just reporting and control.
Most importantly, it can improve project delivery because people become better at applying good practice in real situations.
The organisation becomes less dependent on individual heroics and more capable of repeatable, reliable delivery.
Pitfalls to avoid
A community of practice is simple in concept, but it still needs care.
The table below summarises the main pitfalls, why they matter and how to avoid them.
Pitfall | Why it matters | How to avoid it |
Turning it into a lecture | People may lose interest if every session is one person presenting slides for an hour. | Use a short input, then move quickly into discussion, examples and practical application. |
Making it too formal | If it feels like another governance meeting, people may become guarded. | Keep the session structured but informal, with space for honest questions. |
Focusing only on theory | PRINCE2 theory matters, but people need help applying it in real situations. | Use real project examples, anonymised documents and practical scenarios. |
Allowing it to become a talking shop | Discussion is useful only if it leads to learning or improvement. | End each session with a takeaway, action or practical improvement. |
Letting one voice dominate | The community loses value if only one perspective is heard. | Invite contributions from different roles, including project managers, sponsors, PMO and delivery teams. |
Ignoring senior leaders | Project governance improves only when sponsors and boards understand their roles too. | Invite senior stakeholders to relevant sessions and focus on decision-making needs. |
Failing to capture useful learning | Good ideas can disappear if they are not recorded and shared. | Capture key points lightly and turn repeated themes into practical improvements. |
How to get started
A PRINCE2 community of practice does not need to begin with a large programme of activity. It can start small, build trust and grow through consistent, useful conversations.
- Choose a sponsor who supports practical project management improvement.
- Agree a monthly rhythm so people know when sessions will happen.
- Select topics based on real project challenges, not just textbook chapters.
- Invite contributors from different roles, including project managers, PMO, sponsors and delivery teams.
- Capture one or two useful actions from each session and feed them back into templates, guidance or working practices.
A simple 6-month lunch and learn calendar
A good way to start is with a simple six-month plan.
Month | Topic | Focus |
Month 1 | Are our business cases still alive? | Continued business justification and whether business cases are reviewed properly during delivery. |
Month 2 | Risk registers that actually help | Useful risk descriptions, meaningful responses and active ownership. |
Month 3 | Change control does not mean change prevention | How to assess requests for change without unnecessary delay or uncontrolled scope creep. |
Month 4 | What makes a good highlight report? | Progress reporting, tolerances and what the project board really needs to know. |
Month 5 | Tailoring PRINCE2 without losing control | Scaling documentation, governance and controls based on project size, complexity, risk and importance. |
Month 6 | Lessons learned or lessons recorded? | Learning from experience by reviewing repeated lessons and agreeing what needs to change. |
This simple calendar gives the community structure without making it complicated.
A short scenario
Imagine an organisation running multiple projects across different departments. Some project managers use PRINCE2 heavily, with detailed documentation and frequent reporting. Others use very little structure, relying on informal conversations and personal experience.
The result is inconsistency.
Senior leaders receive different types of reports from different projects. Risk registers vary in quality. Some business cases are reviewed regularly, while others are forgotten after approval. Lessons are captured at project closure but rarely reused. New project managers are unsure what is expected. Experienced project managers have developed useful habits, but these are not shared widely.
The PMO decides to introduce a monthly PRINCE2 lunch and learn.
The first session focuses on highlight reporting. The group reviews an anonymised example and discusses what the project board actually needs to know. The second session focuses on risk wording. The group takes several weak risk statements and improves them. The third session focuses on tailoring. Project managers compare how they scaled PRINCE2 for small, medium and complex projects.
Over time, the organisation builds a shared understanding of good practice. Templates improve. Reporting becomes clearer. Project managers become more confident. Sponsors receive better information. Lessons are discussed before they are forgotten.
The method has not changed.
The way people use it has improved.
Conclusion: best practice becomes better when it is shared
PRINCE2 provides a strong foundation for managing projects. It gives us principles, practices and processes that help projects remain justified, controlled, organised and focused on delivering value.
But methods do not apply themselves. People apply them.
A community of practice helps people make better use of PRINCE2 by creating space for discussion, reflection and improvement. Lunch and learn sessions are a simple but powerful way to keep learning alive, share experience and improve project capability across the organisation.
The real value is not just in knowing the method. The real value is in using it well.
PRINCE2 is better when shared because project management is better when people learn together. Start small: choose one project challenge, bring people together for one practical conversation, and use that conversation to make the next project better.
Final thought Best practice should not live only in a manual, a template folder or a training course. It should live in the conversations, decisions and behaviours of the people delivering change. |
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