The Significance Of Agile Project Charter

Simply put, it is a small (typically one page) document that clearly states what problem is to be solved and its solution. It is usually created in the initial stages of a software development project with an objective to balance intentions, align all the stakeholders, and provide consensus on determining success criteria.

The Agile charter may contain vision, goals, measures of success, and optionally other details such as challenges, risks, milestones, and team members.

The vision defines the “Why” of the project. This is the purpose or the reason of project’s existence.

This is the “What” of the project. It states what will be done in the project to achieve its purpose.

The success criteria are a set of goals to use when teams need to work through issues or differing expectations.

Additionally, the charter may contain a chartering elevator statement to provide clarity of the purpose to all the stakeholders.

FOR (target customers)
WHO (statement of need)
THE (product name) IS A (product category)
THAT (key benefit or reason to buy)
UNLIKE (competition)
OUR PRODUCT (differentiating statement)

For book lovers
Who desire a simple way to read to and manage their books
The Kindle is a hand-held device for reading books
That is lightweight, portable, and stores a huge number of books
Unlike other e-readers
Our product integrates with Kindle Store that has over five million e-books available in the US

A well drafted charter (along with constant vigilance of project’s alignment to it) improves the chances of success dramatically.

At Cayzen, we religiously follow standard project management methodologies to ensure delivery of value and project success.

Content strategist