The Charter: Selling Your Project

Alex S. Brown, PMP

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, USA

Session TLM02

Question for the Audience

• How many of you are PMPs?• How many of you know what a

charter is?• How many of you use a charter

for all projects?Questions from Rita Mulcahy’s Sept

23, 2003 presentation, “What Does a PM Really Need to Know?”

What Happens Without a Charter?

Topics for This Session

• Identify your charter

• Charters and organizational strategy

• Negotiate using your charter

• Processes, policies, and procedures for charters

What is a project charter?

• Document issued by sponsor

• Authorizes existence of the project

• Provides project manager with authority

• Provides authority to apply resources to activities

• Should provide ROI and other detail

Definition from PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition

Are They Charters?

• “Go Do It” e-mails or memos• Standard, formal project-profile form• Resolution at a committee meeting• Hallway conversations about the

project• A collection of documents with a

signed cover-letter from sponsor

Authority, Authority, Authority

• “Three A’s” of charters are required

• ROI and other details optional

• Documentation optional (?)

• Charter can be VERY short

Changing Charters

• New charter for each phase• Build on old charter or replace it• Early charters are short and high-

level• Later charters might be full

project plans, with a sign-off• PM may have authority to issue

charters to sub-teams and phases

But My Sponsor Won’t Write a Charter…

• Sponsor “issues” charter, but might not write charter

• Project manager can write it• Ensure sponsor buy-in before

authoring• So long as the sponsor sincerely

authorizes project and project manager, there is no harm

The Charter and Organizational Strategy

Charters Tie Projects to Strategy

• Strategy seems lofty and out of reach for many project managers

• Whether to start a project or not is the most strategic decision in the project lifecycle

• Project managers’ best opportunity to engage in strategic choices is when writing the charter

Tips to Tie Charter to Strategy

• Keep charter short and results-oriented

• Relate project to specific organizational goals

• Specify methodologies and implementation in the plan, not the charter

• Read and reread organization mission statements, and match them to your charters

The Moment of Opportunity

• Project manager can insist on charter at the moment of assignment

• Don’t wait• Don’t give up the chance to

say “No”• Start your project as a

professional, with a charter

Why Charters Appeal to Strategists

• Clear, simple statements of purpose• First drafted before a penny has been

spent• Earliest opportunity to accelerate or

halt the effort• Breakthrough strategies often require

projects for execution

Negotiating Using a Charter

How Do Project Managers Get Resources?

• Persuasion

• Boss

• Own staff and budget

• Sponsor

• The Charter

The Charter Answers Key Questions

• Who gave you the authority?

• How much authority did you get?

• Why is this so important?

• Any negotiator, naysayer, or skeptic will ask these questions

Negotiate Using the Charter

• Write the charter to be action-oriented and specific

• Use the document as proof of authority

• “See, the sponsor wants it done”

• For the tough negotiations, get as far as possible using persuasion and the charter, then pull in the sponsor

Processes, Policies, and Procedures for Charters

Charters Demonstrate Organizational Maturity

• Document decisions to authorize projects

• Clear starting point for planning processes

• Tie projects to organizational strategy and plans

• Control authorization of projects and allocation of resources to them

Sample Charter Process

• Idea

• Opportunity Document

• Chief Officer and other approvals

• Present to executive committee

• Approved opportunities are projects

Benefits of a Formal Process

• Executives decide early• Start-up of new projects is

controlled• Authority is clear and well-

documented• Audit, financial, and governance

controls are satisfied• Portfolio of projects balanced and

prioritized

Areas for Further Study

• Program and Portfolio Management – beyond “project selection” to “project start-up”

• Teaching charters beyond “PM 101” level

• What makes a GREAT charter?

• Use charters to study ROI, organizational maturity, and strategic alignment

Final Questions for the Audience

• How many of you know what a charter is?

• How many of you now recognize that you already have a charter for your projects?

• How many of you are going to improve your project charters when you get back to the office?

Session TLM02

Alex S. Brown, PMP

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, USA

alexsbrown@alexsbrown.com

http://www.alexsbrown.com

Contact Information