How important is this document called the Project Charter? I must admit that I have not seen such a document nor have I written one so far in all the organisations that I have worked for. Conventionally, it is supposed to contain quite a few bits of information, but I feel that the most important sections that should be shared with all members of the project team are the Statement of Work and the Business Case
The Statement of Work describes the expected deliverables of the project while the Business Case illustrates whether the project is viable from a business perspective. With these two documents, the members of the project team will know what they are striving to achieve and should get the bigger picture of what their “small” individual tasks are contributing towards.
At the fundamental, the reason why establishing a charter is important is to ensure the people working on the project remembers what is important.
It may seem trivial, but it’s very easy for people to get caught up in rushing to meet deliverables… but having the deliverables drift off target without realising it.
In other words, doing the task right, but not doing the right task? I think almost every one is guilty of that at one point or other… 😉