PMcrunch

Oftentimes, less experienced project managers and project teams wallow in uncertainty and lack of direction due to the lack of proper project management documentation. I have seen situations where there are lots of desperate sources of documentation but the specific project at hand is not well enough to find. People are working and there will be a deliverable, but it lacks some important details. What can be done to give due clarity and direction to such projects?

The most important document that can be produced for such projects is the project charter. The project charter can firm up the purpose of the project. It has a simplicity that make it acceptable to many who wish to avoid documentation when it is not required. It also has a number of elements that can provide apparent value that will be acknowledged by almost anyone involved with the project. Let’s take a closer look.

The following are a few key benefits that can be realized very quickly with the project charter:

1. Objectives

Sometimes the objectives of the project simply need to be defined more clearly. Everyone thinks he or she knows what the objectives are, but then when asked, he or she fumbles and often team members will state different versions of a somewhat similar objective. Encouraging others to clarify that objective gets everyone on the same page. It is very important, not only to have input from the immediate team and stakeholders but to document that input and get agreement on what has been discussed.

2. Project Organization

I have found on many occasions that people in and around the team do not have a clear understanding of the organization executing the project and of the organizational context of the project. The organizational context especially is prone to misunderstanding. Taking the time in a project charter to put together the organization context often in a format of an organizational chart, provides a document that can be pointed to time and again as downstream considerations on how the project are made.

3. Project Scope

Another area of misdirection that I have observed on many occasions is that team members and other stakeholders do not clearly understand the scope of the project. The biggest evidence of this is when someone begins talking about his or her project and he or she actually talks about a "super project" in which his or her project is contained. For example, someone working for NASA might be working on an important project that is a small part of a new rocket launch initiative. In formal terms, it would be very erroneous for them to state that their project is the rocket launch project. What is important, at least inside the organization, is to define your project carefully as it pertains to the actual work you need to do and deliverables you need to complete.

Here are just few of the advantages of doing a formal project charter. Many organizations and teams that do formal project management will automatically do this. However, in many other organizations, this is not done on a formal basis and oftentimes is the cause for misdirection and lack of clarity. Take the initiative to do your own project charter and gain agreement among all involved if at all possible.

______________________
John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
Lean Six Sigma Training Online