Empowering your Project Manager

You have a project and wish to engage a project manager for delivery. One of the first documents that should be prepared by the project sponsor is the Project Charter. Usually in the excitement to commence work, sponsors typically overlook this important step and focus on engagement contracts. These can be general and may not contain sufficient information or authority for the project manager. Some project sponsors may be reluctant to commit funds or fully authorise their project managers and instead become heavily involved in directing the project. In other cases, confusion and lack of clarity leads to loss of energy and delays in getting the best possible start to planning the project.

A project charter formally authorises the project manager whilst committing organisational resources for the project. While a project charter will be tailored for the project’s complexity, some typical elements are:

• Description of the work to be accomplished;

• How the business need will be satisfied by the project;

• Alignment of the project with organisational strategy;

• Boundaries of the project (system) – constraints, exclusions and assumptions;

• Organisational processes to be used. Your organization may have specific project management processes that need to be used;

• How do we know the project has been a success? And importantly who determines this?

• Some of the key risks, issues and opportunities from the project sponsors perspective;

• Available budget for the project;

• Important milestones from sponsor;

• Related projects that have inputs or will use outputs;

• Business case for the project;

• Available organisational resources and a high level division of responsibility (e.g. RACI); and

• Quality and regulatory requirements.

Having a project charter, even though it’s a relatively simple step to develop, is a vital instrument for empowering the project manager. Importantly, it is a critical first step to getting a project the best possible start. - Roshan Pattni.