Chart(er) Your Destination

When planning a vacation to a destination we haven’t been before, what is the first things we do?  I would assume most of us go online and map out our destination.  We also plan the experiences we hope to gain during our time away from home.   Most of us have a limited amount of resources for our vacation.  This is a problem.  How do we pull off the vacation successfully within the constraints of time, budget, and needs/desires of our family?

Most of us when faced with planning a vacation go through the thought process above, but may not think that way at work.  We go about our business how we always have, doing what we do the way we know how to do it.  As a young fresh engineering graduate, that described me.  I did my job, but only gave a cursory thought to finances and other constraints of my employer.  It lead to a frustrating existence. Sometimes what I thought were great ideas were summarily dismissed because of implementation time, costs, etc… Discussing my frustration with a senior engineer, he asked me if I had a charter or a project plan.  When I said that I did not, he explained the basics to me and told me that the best way to be successful at work is to treat every decision you make as if you were spending your own money. You need to chart(er) your destination.

When I thought about it, it did seem that when we use our own resources, time, etc… we are more focused in using them wisely. From that point on, I began to think more deeply about how my decisions impact my employers.  But it did not sink it until I developed several six sigma project charters and managed the related projects.  Projects charters that were less well developed led to projects that were for the most part, less successful.  Clearly completing a charter was not enough.  It had to be a quality charter. 

While there are several key elements to a project charter, I thought I’d mention just a few elements that many project charters seem to be challenged by with.

Problem Statement: 

Often, the reasons for why the project is being considered is not well thought out.  Is it someone’s pet project? Is there any data or evidence that there is a real problem? There should be obvious pain to a customer, stakeholder, etc… If not, move on.

Project Goal: 

Once the problem statement is documented, ask “What does success would look like?”  Ask your customers/stakeholders questions. What needs to happen?  By when?  I like using the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound) for developing goals.  I often see charters with goals that are not measurable or without a completion date in mind. While project goals and schedules can and do change for various reasons, not having an initial realistic goal and schedule based on the information at hand is a recipe for failure or sub-optimal performance.

Project Constraints:

Often there may be regulations, technology platforms, etc… that limit or constrain the direction of a project.  Constraints are something that must be known up front so that time is not wasted in a working toward a solution that will not be acceptable in the end.  The issues I normally see with constraints on project charters are that the constraints are not explored fully.  Were potential constraints discussed up front?  Were the constraints validated?  Constraints will, by definition, limit your avenues for success. They must be challenged to ensure that the constraints are truly lines in the sand that must not be crossed.  Often, constraints are documented based on the current situation and not discussed at a sufficient level of detail.  Understanding the details of the constraint may create additional opportunities for successfully completing your project.

Project Problem Statements, Goals, and Constraints are the elements that I see most often lacking in practice. What charter elements do you feel are potential detours or roadblocks to successful project completion?