PRINCE2 7 Foundation · Study lesson 05
Responsibility and useful products
Make both the expected result and the accountable people clear.
9 minute study lesson · Principles · Original learning material
What you will understand
- Explain defined roles, responsibilities and relationships.
- Connect product descriptions and quality criteria to a product focus.
- Distinguish activity completion from acceptable delivery.
The idea
A team can work hard and still disappoint everyone if each person imagines a different result or expects somebody else to make the decision. Two principles address that problem together: define roles, responsibilities and relationships, and focus on products. Clear products make responsibilities concrete; clear responsibilities ensure that requirements, production, checking and acceptance actually have owners.
A role states a set of responsibilities and the authority needed to carry them out. A person may hold more than one compatible role, and a role may require several people to contribute. The important issue is that accountability and working relationships remain understood. A list of names without decisions, boundaries and interfaces leaves the team guessing who can commit resources or accept work.
Project governance needs business, user and supplier interests represented. Business asks whether investment remains justified. Users explain what is needed and how products will support benefits. Suppliers bring the expertise and resources needed to create those products. These are interests, not simply departmental labels. One individual may understand several perspectives, but none of the perspectives should disappear from decisions.
A product is something the project must provide; it can be physical, digital or intangible. A product focus begins with its purpose, composition and required quality before describing the activities needed to create it. This helps a team estimate, identify dependencies and agree what completion means. A training capability or operating procedure can be a product just as a piece of equipment can.
Quality criteria translate expectations into something that can be judged. They should be sufficiently specific, with an agreed way to check them and appropriate responsibility for checking and approval. “The instructions are good” leaves room for disagreement. A criterion that first-time volunteers can complete a stated task using the instructions provides a clearer basis for a suitable test.
Keep the distinction between producing, checking and accepting a result. Being responsible for writing a guide does not necessarily give authority to approve its operational suitability. Completing a workshop or spending the planned hours does not demonstrate that the agreed product exists. When requirements change, assess and authorise the change through the agreed controls rather than quietly redefining success after delivery.
A result needs an owner
| Question | Example of clear agreement |
|---|---|
| What is needed? | An accessible ticket-booking service. |
| Who represents its use? | The senior user represents the affected user needs. |
| Who will create it? | The supplier team accepts agreed delivery responsibilities. |
| How will we judge it? | Check the stated requirements and agreed acceptance evidence. |
An original fictional example
A mountain rescue group prepares a radio handbook
A rescue group commissions a handbook for seasonal volunteers. The writer promises twenty pages, while the operations lead expects volunteers to make a correct emergency call without supervision. Nobody has agreed who will check the result.
The decision
Describe the handbook’s purpose and measurable usability criteria. Name the producer, the people performing the checks and the authority accepting it. Confirm how volunteer and technical perspectives will contribute.
Why it makes sense
Page count describes volume, not fitness for use. Clear products and responsibilities turn an ambiguous writing task into an agreed result with appropriate evidence and decision ownership.
A common confusion
The mistaken idea: If every activity has an owner, product acceptance is automatically clear.
The distinction: Activities need ownership, but the result, its criteria and acceptance authority must also be agreed.
Who owns the decision, and what evidence makes the product acceptable?
Points to remember
- Represent business, user and supplier interests.
- A product can be intangible and still have clear quality criteria.
- A person’s job title alone does not define their project authority.
Your takeaway
Agree useful products and the responsibilities around them. Clear quality evidence connects the team’s work to a result that the right people can confidently accept.
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