(This post contains affiliate hyperlinks. Please read my full disclosure.
Logical Model for Training Company
Product reviewed: PRINCE2 Agile(r), Bundle (includes exam fees, self-paced online training and support, and mock exam).
This training company also offers other products, including PRINCE2(r), PMP Prep, and other online PM courses such as How to Estimate, Recovery of Troubled Projects and Project Governance. You can see the entire list here.
Trainer: Simon Harris
PRINCE2(r), a complex topic, can be learned online. When I took my refresher course to recertify, I studied mostly online. Then, I took a one-day crash course before the exam. It was hard.
Simon Harris is on an aggressive mission to not only get you through the exam, but also to help with your projects in real-life. I met him while he was reviewing his training. It’s obvious that he is an expert in his field.
He is a trainer for many years and has a dry sense humor. He is also a PRINCE2 (r) examiner which gives him insight into how to help students pass the exam. He’s also a programmer by birth, but he has moved into project management after a stint at the UN.
Simon is a great trainer and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him. He can help you pass the exam. The trainer is a big difference when you purchase a training course online or in-person.
What I Thought about the PRINCE2 Agile(r), Online Training
It’s perfect content-wise. It covers everything. If you have this course, I doubt you would need to purchase the manual. You can also download the slides and course materials. This allows you to follow along on paper, or take notes on the screen if you prefer.
This course will introduce you to Agile and PRINCE2(r), so even if you have never worked in an Agile environment, it’s okay. During the training, you’ll learn everything.
It is a comprehensive, in-depth course. You can start at the beginning and go through the videos sequentially. (I like the fact that they are so short, it makes it feel manageable.) You won’t ever encounter an abbreviation/term that you don’t already know.
I cannot show any slides because every slide I tried to screengrab had a copyright notice at the bottom. Simon’s floating head introduces a topic. During the course, you will see his friendly face almost every day.
The course has a common theme. It’s about how to apply what you’ve learned at work. The case study is a part of that. You can put your learnings into practice by working through this case study about cheese farmers.
It’s much more interesting than it sounds, I swear.
Quizzes are another way to ensure you are following along and grasping the key concepts. They can also be used to practice for the inevitable exam.
Challenges in the Course
You must understand the course in order to get the most out of it. It wasn’t as simple as clicking through and feeling comfortable to navigate. You should definitely watch the video to learn how to navigate the content.
Simon is constrained by how the course source material is laid out. AXELOS is very particular about how the subject has been trained. However, calling a module “Ss33 s222 ML” didn’t feel natural. Even though it makes sense in context of navigation overall. I could not skip around or get lost in the abbreviations quickly.
I was so busy learning about PRINCE2 Agile(r), that I didn’t have the brain power to figure out how to interpret the module title. They are likely to be related to the manual. If you have that (I didn’t), it might make more sense.
This isn’t a major problem overall.
Other thoughts:
Some of the slides are too busy. They are required as part of formal training materials, which I find a bit disappointing. They are fortunately available.
