Falling Back in Love with the Project Charter

As someone who teaches project management at the graduate level, I often find myself moving quickly through the "introductory" tools of the profession—scope statements, stakeholder registers, project charters. After all, my students are future leaders, already thinking about agile transformations, earned value management, and strategic portfolio alignment.

But recently, while revisiting core documents with my class, I found myself unexpectedly falling back in love with one of the most essential and underappreciated tools in the project manager's toolkit: the project charter.

It was The Project Management Tool Kit by Tom Kendrick (2013) that reminded me why the project charter deserves more attention—not less—at the graduate level. Kendrick doesn’t treat the charter as a checklist item or administrative requirement. He presents it as a strategic control document, one that establishes authority, aligns stakeholders, and serves as a living reference point throughout the project lifecycle. In doing so, he elevates its importance in ways I had admittedly started to overlook.

Why the Project Charter Still Matters—More Than Ever

So, what caused this renewed appreciation?

For one, I started looking at the project charter through a strategic lens rather than a procedural one. The charter is not just about initiating the project; it’s about establishing purpose, authority, and accountability. According to the PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition (Project Management Institute, 2021), the project charter formally authorizes a project and gives the project manager the authority to apply organizational resources. That’s foundational—especially in large or matrixed organizations where ambiguity can stall decision-making and delay progress.

Kendrick builds on this by positioning the charter as a baseline for control. When changes in scope, timeline, or budget arise (as they always do), the charter provides a reference point for evaluating whether those changes are justified. It reinforces project governance by defining who has decision-making authority and how changes should be escalated and approved.

Alignment, Not Assumption

One of the most common pitfalls I see in student projects (and in real-world consulting engagements) is misalignment of stakeholder expectations. Kendrick highlights how the charter can serve as an early and critical tool for stakeholder engagement. By clearly outlining the project's purpose, objectives, and constraints up front, the charter becomes a tool for consensus-building. It gets everyone, sponsors, team members, clients, on the same page before execution begins.

This early alignment pays dividends. A well-crafted charter reduces the risk of mid-project confusion, scope creep, or duplicated effort. It also supports stronger communication because all parties share a single source of truth for why the project exists and what success looks like.

Risks, Roles, and Responsibility

In addition to scope and objectives, the project charter captures preliminary risks, assumptions, and constraints. While this is not a substitute for a full risk management plan, Kendrick argues that acknowledging high-level risks early prepares the team for what may come and encourages proactive mitigation.

Equally important, the charter defines roles and responsibilities, clarifying who is accountable for what. In classroom teams and client-facing projects alike, I’ve found that unclear roles are often the root of frustration and inefficiency. The charter resolves that tension before it begins by making authority and responsibility explicit.

What a Strong Charter Includes

To be effective, a project charter should include the following elements (PMI, 2021; Kendrick, 2013):

• Project title and high-level description
• Business justification or strategic alignment
• Measurable project objectives
• Scope overview and major deliverables
• Assumptions, constraints, and high-level risks
• Timeline or key milestones
• Initial budget estimate
• Key stakeholders and their roles
• The name and authority of the project manager
• Sponsor authorization and sign-off

These components ensure the charter is more than a formality. It becomes a foundation for governance, communication, risk planning, and team cohesion.

Rediscovering the Basics

Teaching this material again and watching my students wrestle with the precision required to write a good charter, reminded me of something critical: mastery in project management doesn’t mean moving past the fundamentals. It means using them better. The charter is not a simple document. It is a strategic declaration. It sets the tone for disciplined execution, promotes shared understanding, and gives the project legitimacy in the eyes of the organization.

So yes, I fell back in love with the project charter. And I hope more project leaders do the same—not because it is basic, but because it is powerful.

Happy Thursday, my fellow project charter enthusiasts,
–srt

P.S.
Before I am called a heathen (or other) for suggesting a project charter is necessary for all project management methodologies, let me stop you. I believe that while not every project management methodology formally requires a project charter, most benefit from some version of it. Traditional and hybrid approaches rely on charters for authority, alignment, and governance, while agile methods often replace them with lighter-weight vision statements or product briefs. In frameworks like Lean Six Sigma, the charter is a standard tool used to define the problem and scope. Regardless of the methodology, a well-crafted charter—or its equivalent—serves a critical role in clarifying purpose, aligning stakeholders, and establishing accountability from the outset.

References
Kendrick, T. (2013). The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right. AMACOM.
Project Management Institute. (2021). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Seventh Edition. PMI.