A project charter is the document in which you record, at the end of the Define phase of a Lean Six Sigma project, what the project is about: the problem, the goal, the scope, the team and the sponsor. It is the agreement between project leader and sponsor, and the compass for the rest of the project.
Where does the project charter come in?
A Lean Six Sigma improvement project goes through the five phases of DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. At the end of Define, the project leader, usually a Green Belt or Black Belt, delivers the project charter.
In the tollgate review at the end of the phase, the project leader explains the status in a short presentation and asks the sponsor for permission to move on to the next phase. In later phases the charter remains a living document: if something becomes clearer, you update it.
The ten components
The image at the top of this article shows a completed example. A project charter contains:
- Problem statement: what goes wrong, where, since when and how big is the problem?
- Goal statement: what do you want to achieve, measurably and with a date?
- Scope: what is in the project, and what is explicitly out?
- Team: who takes part, and in what role?
- Business case: what does solving the problem deliver, for example in money, time or customer satisfaction?
- Schedule: when is each phase finished?
- Constraints: what limits must the project stay within, such as budget or available time?
- Risks: what could already get in the project’s way?
- Sponsor: who commissions the project and makes the decisions?
- Process owner: who is responsible for the process, and will take over the improvement?
And of course the project has a name, preferably one with a bit of humour.
A sharp problem and goal statement
The problem and goal statements are the heart of the charter, and the hardest to get right.
A good problem statement describes what is wrong, where, when and how big, without naming a cause or solution yet. A good goal statement is measurable and time-bound, and doesn’t name the solution either: you only look for that in the Analyse and Improve phases. A SMART goal helps.
Completing the charter
In the Define phase you are hard at work as project leader. It often turns out that the problem as first described doesn’t quite cover it. There is a different, or slightly more complicated, problem behind it.
The key is then to choose the right problem and focus on it. Tackle one problem at a time: that is the start of continuous improvement. Other problems can come later.
When reviewing the charter, ask yourself: would I invest in this project myself? Can I explain it well to the sponsor? And can I justify colleagues spending time on it? Those questions help you stay sharp.
Drawing up a project charter is covered in depth in the Green Belt training course.