Essay Example on Creating a Project Charter: Essential for Project Success

It is important to note that before a project commences, a project charter, which is a document that incorporates the whole project as well as appointing the project manager has to be put in place. However, it would be essential to note that many projects operate without this document. Understandably, the formal way of authorizing project by the performing organization is key to its success (Tenera & Pinto, 2014). The charter is essential as it ensures that the lines of authority are clear outlining various responsibilities of every member of the organization. It also describes what the organization stakeholders are thinking when creating the project (Russell, 2015). The paper aims to discuss the various roles and responsibilities of a project manager, as stipulated in the project charter. Also, there will be a discussion on the steps taken to ensure the continuation of project objectives when the project manager is replaced.

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Excellent project managers are people who possess an excellent entrepreneurial mindset, which allows them to think about the project more than the necessary skills that are required to manage it (Russell, 2015). Therefore, it is the function of a project manager to direct their teams as well as various team members to accomplish the set objectives. Another function of a project manager is the resource an activity planning. It cannot be denied that planning is an essential aspect in ensuring that a project is successful as it helps in meeting deadlines as well as using the available resources economically (Meredith et al., 2017). Project managers also ensure that they motivate and organize their project teams by developing clear and viable plans that help to stimulate their teams to reach their full potential.

Project managers also ensure that they monitor the progress of the project at different stages. The monitoring process is guided by clear hopes and visions of producing the set goals. However, in any process, problems have to be met along the way (Sunindijo, 2015). In this case, when the process is shaky and does not conform with the plan, the project manager will have to analyze and monitor the expenditure as well as the performance of the team, thereby taking the corrective measures. The project manager to estimate the various costs and develop the budget (Kerzner, 2017). As a function and responsibility, good project managers ensure that they keep the project within its budget by frequently reviewing the plan and the budget ahead to avoid cases of budget overruns.

It should also be mentioned that it is the responsibility of the manager to manage the time guidelines for the project. In most cases, the failure or success of a project is judged on whether it was delivered on time or not. Hence meeting the deadline is key (Bredillet, 2015). They achieve this by setting realistic and achievable deadlines, which is accomplished through defining various activities, estimating the duration that each activity will take as well as sequencing the activities. The last function of a project manager is to ensure customer satisfaction as any project can only be rated as successful if it has the approval of its customers. As the manager, one should be able to avoid uncertainties, minimize unfavorable surprises as well as involve the clients (Bredillet, 2015). They should, therefore, ensure that there is excellent communication with the customers hence keeping them up-to-date.

Replacing a project manager on an important project has always been a significant challenge for many organizations. However, this scenario happens from time to time (Sunindijo, 2015). To ensure that the objectives of the project are not affected, various steps have to be put in place. The replacement process can be a challenge to the incoming manager because the outgoing manager no longer has the motivation and the zeal. Most project charter states that in any case, the manager is just changing positions within the company, then there would be a successful transition that would mean that the objectives can be revisited (Sunindijo, 2015). However, if he is leaving the company, then the interest for a successful transition is carried out within two weeks. The change ensures that the objectives are well communicated. Hence for the successful continuation of the project objectives, the transition plan, as stated in the project charter, will be considered, and this should start from the top where the current and outgoing manager will sit down and share. Afterward, a meeting with the project team will be conducted to communicate the change of guard (Meredith et al., 2017). Lastly, project status and history are reviewed to ensure that the set objectives are met.

References

Bredillet, C., Tywoniak, S., & Dwivedula, R. (2015). What is a good project manager? An Aristotelian perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 254-266. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0263786314000532

Kerzner, H. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. www.books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xlASDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR19&dq=project+management&ots=Xb8n-SQ5zT&sig=9WT4Xk34K9hIPOIwz6NFVqLLB8U&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=project%20management&f=false

Meredith, J. R., Mantel Jr, S. J., & Shafer, S. M. (2017). Project management: a managerial approach. John Wiley & Sons. www.books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ipZXDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=project+management&ots=Qwr5yJGHmU&sig=Sb4DU_GIOzh-nKhZIpa9-fHVW5c&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=project%20management&f=false

Russell, L. (2015). Project management for trainers. American Society for Training and Development. www.books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=g_tcDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=the+project+charter&ots=7GvsEdEihF&sig=woYkYgbUAHbiywhe8qCXBXJnh44&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20project%20charter&f=false

Sunindijo, R. Y. (2015). Project manager skills for improving project performance. International Journal of Business Performance Management, 16(1), 67-83. www.researchgate.net/profile/Riza_Sunindijo/publication/281789499_Project_manager_skills_for_improving_project_performance/links/5669f88b08aea0892c49d431.pdf

Tenera, A., & Pinto, L. C. (2014). A Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project management improvement model. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 119(2014), 912-920. www.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82463068.pdf