Prince2 is, by far, a traditional project management model. According to its description, Prince2 has a very formal structure, with a clearly defined project organization and specific stages, roles, activities and deliverables. Its formality and strict structure can be noticed already in the pre-project phase, when the project manager not only has to put together a significant amount of information for creating the Project Brief but also has to plan in detail the Initialization stage.
Moreover, it is a model focused entirely on the managerial process/activities: the “collaboration” between the management and the board has a protocol-like structure, with request-authorization patterns at every stage and the value is created by delivering the project within the agreed scope, time plan and costs. As expected, there is no flexibility regarding the plan: this is more or less “set in stone” from the early beginning, the output of every stage is evaluated against it and, in case deviations occur, efforts are usually made to restore the project on the “meant to be” trajectory.
Also, it is a model heavily relying on documentation at all stages. As an example, during the Initiation stage only, the project manager has to prepare, besides the project plans and business case, four extra documents related to strategy; same goes on at team level where the team manager has to deliver checkpoint reports after team’s regular meetings).
So, as summarized above, the differences between Prince2 and Agile project models are obvious. In Prince2 there is no rush to make it quickly on the market and no place for the customer in the picture: the focus falls entirely on the established requirements irrespective of the value that these create for the customer. Moreover, Prince2 is a very closed, business centric model, with a strong focus on the managerial activities performed (planning and controlling) but not on learning from mistakes, on being adaptable or innovative. Besides, the tasks and the end product have a central role while the development teams’ role is rather limited and marginal.