How To Create a Project Charter

Summary

This PM Perspective video offers a comprehensive guide to project charters, explaining their purpose, necessity, and content. It emphasizes the charter's role in introducing projects, aligning team objectives, and obtaining project planning approval. The video advises keeping charters concise, ideally under five pages, to ensure readability and utility. It also provides a step-by-step guide on drafting a charter, including involving the team for alignment and clarity. The presenter encourages viewer engagement and offers a free project charter template for download, promoting further learning and application.

Takeaways

• 📜 A Project Charter is a foundational document used to introduce a project to team members, align on key project aspects, and gain approval to proceed with planning.
• 👤 It serves as a crucial tool for new team members to understand the project's objectives, scope, and their roles.
• 🔍 The Charter is not meant to be overly detailed, ideally being 5 pages or less to ensure it is read and utilized effectively.
• 🤝 It is created in the early stages of a project and is used to align team members on the project's vision and goals.
• 📊 The Charter includes measurable objectives that provide clear targets for the project team to achieve.
• 🗂️ It outlines the scope of the project, detailing what the project team is responsible for and what is outside their remit.
• 👥 The document lists key team members and their roles, ensuring clear communication and responsibility pathways.
• 📅 It includes tentative key dates and milestones, providing a preliminary timeline for the project's progress.
• 💵 Cost estimates, both one-time and ongoing, are outlined to give an initial financial overview of the project.
• 🚧 The Charter identifies constraints, assumptions, risks, and dependencies that could impact the project's success.
• 🤝 Involving the entire team in the creation of the Charter through a facilitated session can enhance alignment and team building.
• 💻 A draft Charter is created, reviewed, and signed off by the project manager and sponsor, formalizing the project's initiation.

Q & A

What is a project charter and what are its purposes?

A project charter is a document that introduces people to the project, helps reach alignment on important project aspects, and obtains approval to proceed with project planning. It serves as a high-level guide before detailed planning begins.

Why is it important to have a project charter, even if it's not required by the organization?

A project charter is important because it helps align team perspectives on project scope and objectives, which is crucial for project success. It provides a clear understanding of what the project team is expected to accomplish and how.

How detailed should a project charter be?

A project charter should not be overly detailed as it is created before detailed planning. It should be concise, ideally no more than 5 pages, to ensure it is read and utilized effectively.

What information should be included in the background section of a project charter?

The background section should include information that provides context for the project, such as industry trends, company challenges, or strategic directions that justify the project's necessity.

How should the scope section of a project charter be written?

The scope section should describe the end product's attributes and the team's actions at a high level, defining the project boundaries and responsibilities, and clarifying what the team will not do to avoid confusion.

What constitutes a measurable objective in a project charter?

A measurable objective is one that can be scientifically proven, such as increasing sales revenues by a specific percentage within a defined timeframe, rather than vague statements that are open to interpretation.

Why is it beneficial to involve the project team in the creation of the project charter?

Involving the team in the creation process facilitates alignment of perspectives, ensures everyone has a shared understanding of the project, and can serve as a team-building exercise, making the process more valuable than the document itself.

How should the project charter be drafted after gathering team input?

After gathering input, the project manager should draft the charter, circulate it for feedback, incorporate the team's suggestions, and then send it out for formal sign-off, typically from both the project manager and the project sponsor.

What is the significance of including key dates or milestones in a project charter?

Key dates or milestones, although initial estimates, provide a general timeline that the team is aiming for and can influence the approach to project execution, highlighting the importance of timing in project planning.

How should constraints, assumptions, risks, and dependencies be addressed in a project charter?

These elements should be explicitly listed to clarify external factors, conditions relied upon for success, potential obstacles, and prerequisites for project deliverables, respectively, to manage expectations and identify potential project challenges.

Where can one find a free project charter template as mentioned in the video?

A free project charter template can be downloaded from PMPerspective.com by accessing the resources/templates page, joining as a member, and navigating to the initiation phase for the template.