Personally, I consider the project charter, known to be one of the most important tools in project management . It is not for nothing that there is the proverb of project managers “Tell me how your project starts and I will tell you how it ends.
The project charter is at the very beginning of the project. In the PMI world, it is created by a manager who is higher in the hierarchy than the project manager or the team. In reality, I’ve never seen it created by someone outside of the team; this can of course change in the future, if higher company levels are also responsible for project management.
As a rule, it is created by the initiator of a project, or by the project manager himself, because even if it is important for all stakeholders, it is actually impossible for the project manager to create a project without a project charter. Regardless of who creates it, the upper management should be informed about what is in the project charter, if possible even sign the project charter, if it is so formal in a company. I’ve heard many project managers say they don’t do anything without a signature; but that doesn’t work in every company.
The project charter should be so broad that it does not have to be changed during the project. It can / should contain the following points:
- Who is the project manager and what decision-making authority does he have?
- What are the goals of the project? How do you measure whether the project is successful?
- Why is the project being carried out?
In addition, I think the following points make sense:
- Stakeholders
- Assumptions (eg “We assume that quality assurance can test modules from us at any time, regardless of whether the overall product is not yet finished.”)
- Restrictions (e.g. “The end product must be ready by the end of the quarter.”)
- A first version of the WBS
- A first risk analysis
- budget
- Team with all contact addresses
- Communication channels
The project charter formally gives the project manager the authority to use resources for a project. It also officially creates the project; unlike many other projects, it doesn’t come about because someone thinks it has to be done, and then other stakeholders have to live with the result. A project charter also regulates what they can and cannot expect from the project for everyone involved right from the start.
With the Project Charter, the wheat is separated from the chaff right at the beginning of a project: It probably rattles a little right at the beginning when the various stakeholders have to synchronize their needs in black and white; But this is nothing compared to the problems that you only get later, when this comparison between the stakeholders is carried out in the middle of the project.
A Simple Project Charter Is Created In These 4 Steps
Contents
Step 1: Define The Reason For The Project
Why should the project be implemented? Why is it important to you? What’s the business case?
How does this project help you achieve your long-term goal (year / 5 year / vision)?
Step 2: Create A Vision Of The Result
If the project is really successful, what does it look like? How does that feel?
Who will this help? What will be easier for you after this project is completed?
Step 3: Brainstorm
Write down every conceivable step that you need to implement the project here. Think about sub-projects as well as every detail of what you have to think about in the process.
Think of all shareholders of the project with their influence on it and how you deal with it.
Step 4: Organize And Plan
From the brainstorm, you can now derive a structure for the project in which you:
- Identify the main points arrange them in order
- sort the details too
- making rough scheduling
- Define where the boundaries of the project are. Can you make it a little smaller if necessary? Or divide into a first phase and a second phase?
What Is Scrum?
If you want to answer the question “What is Scrum” in a nutshell, then I find the following Scrum definition appropriate. Scrum is not a dogmatic method, but a framework that offers a team and participating stakeholders guidelines and orientation points for their cooperation and communication. The Scrum method is constantly being further developed by www.scrum.org and is documented in the current Scrum Guide. The last update of the Scrum Guide took place at the end of 2020.
What Are The Scrum Principles?
Before I outline the structure of the Scrum Framework in detail, I will go into a few essential Scrum principles. Because these essential agile principles and values are the foundation on which agile work in general and Scrum in particular succeeds. That means, without an appreciation of these basic guiding principles, you cannot possibly work successfully with the Scrum method.
Vision: This means that every Scrum Team follows a long-term goal that serves as an overarching point of reference.
Value orientation: Scrum teams measure their results on the value achieved for customers and companies.
Transparency: goals, decisions and upcoming tasks are freely accessible and known to all those involved and stakeholders.
Focus: A consistent prioritization of the tasks to be done ensures a high focus.
Autonomy: The Scrum Team is an autonomous team that works in a self-determined and self-organized manner.
Process loyalty: The Scrum process is non-negotiable. Because the process gives a team security, lowers the overhead costs through a high level of standardization and at the same time contributes to a high level of transparency.
Feedback: Customers, users and stakeholders are closely and regularly involved in the Scrum process and contribute to continuous improvement with their feedback. In addition, the Scrum Team improves its collaboration through regular retrospectives.