How to Write a Project Charter

Adriana Girdler

What you need to know about writing a top-notch project charter Are you creating a project charter and need to know all the key elements …

What you need to know about writing a top-notch project charter

Are you creating a project charter and need to know all the key elements to include? A project charter is a critical document in project management and if you’re leading projects, you need to know everything to include on your project charter so that you can set your project up for success.

Why you need a project charter

You may have heard the saying before that “failing to plan is planning to fail.” This could not be truer, and this is where a project charter comes in. When you create a project charter, you’re laying out what the project is all about so that everyone on your project (sponsors, team members, stakeholders) are on the same page.
A project charter is your go-to document throughout the project. When people start challenging you, you can direct them to the project charter to remind them of the agreements that were previously made at the beginning of the project.

For these reasons, every project MUST have a charter… It’s simply a non-negotiable!

Look at existing information

The first thing you’ll need to do when creating your project charter is to look at existing information. Hopefully, at the beginning of the project, you got some basic, important information about the project that you can then dump into your charter.

Examples of existing information that you’ll want in your charter include:

  • Project justification and background information
  • Project scope statement
  • Project deliverables and assumptions
  • Project sponsor
  • Steering committee
  • Project timing
  • Priority matrix

Then, you’ll want to move on to collecting the information you still need for your project charter.

What’s next?

I really want you to understand, in detail, what goes into a project charter so that you can create a top-notch one. So, I’ve created a video that explains all the elements you need in your project charter in detail. I’ll also explain the information you still need to find so that you can be crystal clear on how to create a project charter that will lead your project to success.

So, meet me over on YouTube to learn the rest of the project charter essentials!


I really hope that you found this helpful – and if you did, it would mean so much to me if you would share it on your social media.

Meanwhile, if you really are committed to mastering your next project, do consider taking my SLAY Project Management online course where I show you step-by-step how to successfully manage a project, plus you get access to every template you will need, along with detailed video instructions on how to fill them out.

-Adriana

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Adriana Girdler is a project manager, productivity specialist, entrepreneur, professional speaker, facilitator, visioning wizard, and author. As President of CornerStone Dynamics, Adriana is one of Canada’s prominent business productivity and project management specialists—helping both individuals and businesses do what they do, only better. She is a certified master black belt lean six sigma with over 20 years’ experience improving how companies work.

She also holds both PMP (project management professional) and CET (certified engineering technologist) designations. She’s a Tedx speaker, as well as a HuffPost and Thrive Global contributor. She has been interviewed on Global, CBC, CTV, CHCH, 680News Radio, Newstalk 1010, Sirius XM and published in the Globe and Mail and numerous industry magazines. WANT ADRIANA'S FREE ONLINE TRAINING? In 45 min, learn Adriana's 5 project management secrets she use on EVERY project. Sign up for the Free Webinar here: THE FAB FIVE FUNDAMENTALS OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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