What is a Project Charter? The Complete Guide
Project charters provide a guiding light for any new initiative. So, whether you work as a project manager or operations professional, you’ll need to become a pro at writing these documents.
Besides providing you with the authorization to begin projects, project charters help you sell your project’s viability to stakeholders. This document will also help get your entire team on board with your plans and deadlines.
In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about project charters. We’ll cover:
- What is a project charter?
- The Benefits of Creating Project Charters
- How to Write a Project Charter
- The Anatomy of a Project Charter
- Project Charter Examples
- Mistakes to Avoid When Creating a Project Charter
The Benefits of Creating Project Charters
“The project charter is such an important document that a project cannot be started without one,” says Rita Mulcahy, a renowned project manager, trainer, and author. This document can keep your team on track to achieve your project objectives on deadline.
Here are other benefits of creating a well-written project charter:
- You’ll decide on a project budget.
- You can define the project outcome.
- You’ll avoid scope creep and meet your deadlines.
- You can get stakeholders’ buy-in for your project.
- You can set the expected start and end dates of the project.
- You can clearly explain how your project goals align with organizational objectives.
Next, we’ll explore best practices for writing a project charter.
How to Write a Project Charter
When writing your project management charter, it’s important to get it right from the onset. “You shouldn’t change a project charter after its approval,” says Mary Beth Imbarrato, author of The Project Roadmap. Last-minute changes can make stakeholders question the project’s feasibility.
This step-by-step guide will help you write a great project charter from the get-go.
1. Gather insights from your project team.
Talking to your team members is essential when creating project charters. Your colleagues can help you set realistic project timelines. They can also help you uncover the goals, scope, and risk mitigation plans for the project.
“You should set aside time for your team members to discuss the project, how they want to approach it, and what’s their current bandwidth,” says Will Yang, Head of Growth at Instrumentl. “Doing this ensures your project team is on the same page.”
2. Store the charter in a central location.
To foster collaboration, store your project charter in a central hub so team members can comment on and edit it.
This gives everyone a sense of ownership of the project. Programs like Google Drive and Dropbox offer co-editing capabilities.
3. Keep the project charter brief.
You may be tempted to capture every …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog
