Project Charter
The formal document that defines a project, the reason for doing it, and the high-level details needed to accomplish it. The output of the initiation phase.
Explanation
A charter clarifies the what, why, and who of a project so everyone — sponsor, team, stakeholders — agrees before any work begins. It ensures benefits outweigh costs and acts as the reference doc throughout the lifecycle. It can evolve, but every change should be intentional.
Distinct from a project proposal: a proposal persuades stakeholders to start; a charter formalizes the project after the decision is made. Proposal comes first in initiation; charter comes later.
Typical contents
- Introduction / project summary
- Goals and objectives (often using smart-goals and okr-framework)
- Business case / benefits and costs (fed by cost-benefit-analysis)
- Project team
- Scope (in / out)
- Success criteria
- Major requirements / key deliverables
- Budget
- Schedule / timeline / milestones
- Constraints and assumptions
- Risks
- OKRs
- Approvals / sign-offs
Application
Draft the charter toward the end of course-2-project-initiation, after you’ve talked to stakeholders, scoped deliverables, and run a CBA. Get the sponsor’s signature before moving into planning. Revisit and update it when scope or triple-constraint assumptions change.
Connections
- cost-benefit-analysis — feeds the business case
- smart-goals okr-framework — for the goals section
- triple-constraint — scope/time/cost baselines
- stakeholder-analysis — identifies sign-off parties
- course-2-project-initiation