The Charter: Selling Your Project Alex S. Brown, PMP Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, USA Session TLM 02
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 3 rd 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 • “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 highlevel • 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 welldocumented • 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 startup” • 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?
Contact Information Session TLM 02 Alex S. Brown, PMP Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, USA alexsbrown@alexsbrown. com http: //www. alexsbrown. com
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