The Deep-Space Oddity Project

Managing projects is an exciting profession that offers plentiful opportunities for having good fun.

But studying project management methodologies can bore one to death. Learning materials and study aids tend to be on the dry side. They often have a mind-numbing effect on the learners, making preparation for certification exams a torture.

But finally, PRINCE2 Fiction offers a promise of dawn in this gloom.

It is a new type of study aid that combines a fictional plot and life-like characters with the explanation of PRINCE2 concepts and nuances. And it is the nuances that make PRINCE2 what it is, right?

You can view it as a mammoth case study that provides a walk-through of an abundance of PRINCE2 concepts.

The first PRINCE2 Fiction novella is titled "The Deep-Space Oddity Project".

It is set in a fictitious UN department that follows protocols to monitor deep space for movement of alien spaceships, flare-ups of galactic hostilities and similar creepy stuff. Happily for some, and disappointingly for others, none of the latter kind of oddities had been reliably documented so far. But it also deals with more common occurrences involving space rocks, black comets, energy bursts, gravitation-field bubbles and anti-matter splashes.

Disasters of galactic magnitude tend to strike in the wee small hours of the night. A previously unknown asteroid is hurtling towards Earth from behind the Kuyper Belt. It is shortly after 4 a.m. on a soot-black November morning when Hannah Rielke, Executive Director of the UN Office for Deep Space Incidents rises up to the challenge.

Oh, it can't be that bad, was Hannah織s first thought. If it were, Pentagon would have by now taken over the case. As long as the issue stays in civilian hands, it's all right, no reason to leave planet.

A UNODSI Project Team is formed to prepare a policy response to this alien threat. For seasoned PRINCE2 Practitioner, that織s duck soup.Or so it seems until the project gets blown off the rails by a bold policy inititive that goes against the prevailing winds.

'It does tend to make the whole thing a tad complicated', grudgingly acknowledged veteran PRINCE2 project manager Filip Krol when quizzed by Hannah on how to resolve the conundrum. An understatement, as responding to the corporate supremo called for subtlety in his choice of words.

This novella is a study guide aiming to aid PRINCE2 learners in their preparation for certification exams.

It breathes life and thrill into PRINCE2 concepts making for an engaging and entertaining read.

How can PRINCE2 Fiction help PRINCE2 learners?

Putting it in a nutshell, it aims to engage learners and make studying fun. The novella is written in a lively and conversational language. Its plot includes a mild splash of suspense. And a generous dash of humour. PRINCE2 concepts are explained through dialogues and "war stories". Such presentation makes them sticky and easier to understand and remember.