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“Projects are tricky, that is why many fail; however, a good project charter is a valid solution to help your team and organization deliver projects successfully.” (McKeever, 2006). Based on many research studies, projects start slowly and fail quickly and one of the most significant reason is poor beginning.

Imagine you’re embarking on a road trip to a far-off destination. Before you hit the road, what’s the first thing you’d do? Plan, right? You’d map out your route, check your vehicle, pack essentials, and set a budget. Starting a project is the same. It requires careful planning, and that’s where a “Project Charter” comes in. It lays out the purpose, objectives, scope, stakeholders, and resources needed for the journey ahead.

So, what happened if we would not develop a project charter before a project starts! While it’s difficult to quantify the exact percentage of failure for projects lacking a charter, PMI’s research indicates that projects with well-defined charters are more likely to succeed.

In fact, without a project charter, a project can suffer from diseases such as “Scope Creep” where the scope keeps expanding beyond what was initially planned, “Lack of Clarity” where team members may work towards conflicting goals, “Poor Stakeholder Engagement” where stakeholders may feel disconnected from the project, leading to lack of support and increased project risk, “Inadequate Risk Management” where projects may be ill-prepared to handle unforeseen challenges, “Communication Issues” where communication breakdowns are more likely to occur, leading to misunderstandings and project failure.

Although all of the above facts are undeniable, in my opinion, the most important reason for setting a project charter is to have a reference, which makes us not lose the right path towards project goals by constantly referring to it during project execution.

An important question that may have occurred to you as a project manager is whether Small Projects also need a charter. In order to answer this, we have to define small projects. According to Rowe, S. F. (2007), a small project generally has short duration, 10 or fewer team members, a small number of skill areas, a single objective, a narrow scope, a single decision maker, no political implications, straightforward deliverables, and costs less than $75,000. She mentions in her paper that “even for smaller projects an abbreviated project charter or project charter “lite” can be used. It consists of project objectives, stakeholders, project scope, major deliverables, assumptions, constraints, risk factors, dependencies with other projects, and acceptance criteria.”

In conclusion, a project charter is like laying the foundation of a building before construction begins. It sets the groundwork, defines the parameters, and ensures that everyone involved is working towards a common goal. So, the next time you’re about to kick off a project (even a small project), remember the importance of drafting a project charter — it could be the difference between a smooth journey and a bumpy ride!