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 3 rd Edition

Are They Charters? “Go Do It” s 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 Contact Information