For many years I worked with a 1 page charter. I then got into a group that had a 17 page charter. Many groups were reluctant to do that. What is wrong with a 1 page charter if you're covering business case, problem statement, objectives, governance, benefits, high level timeline and success criteria? Saving Changes...
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Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Agree, Joshua.
For me the charter is a governance document, representing a decision to start a project and giving authority to the project manager.
The project content should be documented elsewhere, like in a business case and must be refined during the project.
So a short charter with only the essential information that drives the decision is a focused and clear statement. Saving Changes...
Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
A charter should be a one pager. If really needed, ancillary documents could be used. But a 17 pages charter... heck no.
Which information does the sponsor need to see to approve the project? Get his/her requirements. The list will likely include: as is situation, to be situation, what does the problem solve / added value, scope, not in scope, benefits that it brings to the organization, (main) risks, estimation of required resources (material/cost/work), main milestones... Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Absolutely nothing wrong with a 1-pager, so long as contains the information needed. Certainly, the more pages the less likely others will read and reference. Keep it as simple as possible while delivering the most value Saving Changes...
A lot depends on what the governance bodies consider a charter is. If they view it as the key vehicle for initiating a project, then it should be as light as needed to satisfy that purpose. The challenge is when there are multiple stakeholders involved in the formal approval of a project and each has different information needs as that can often result in the growth of the artifact.
I've also worked with some companies where what they called a "charter" was actually closer to a full PM plan. Nomenclature is unfortunately very hard to standardize...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
So deep as the people that you are communicating with expect. The same for each deliverable into the project like cycle. The key is to help people understanding that each document has information at a level that it will impact on your estimations, where estimation is about everything you need to define in your project. So, more deeper mean more time spend on getting data and transform it into information. Saving Changes...
In my experience 1 pager charter is more seen and practiced.
More information might not help much. In some cases I have seen that additional information is marked as attachments. This looks to be a better approach to provide additional based on availability and the one page format can still be covering the essential information. Saving Changes...
Billy TwalaCEO| IKAMVA Strategic InsightsMidrand, South Africa
I concur with the notion that the nature of the Charter, particularly the number of pager of the document, is dependant primarily on the audience intended for. A one-pager is ideal for executive and senior management, who may not be so keen on the how components of the project at inception. There's also a plethora of other document artefacts where a lot of other detail can be elaborated upon. Regards. Saving Changes...
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