Team Charter in Project Management: Template Guide

Three weeks. That's how long my team squabbled over who should give the final thumbs up on our design mockups. Should we vote? Wait for a consensus? Should we let the manager decide? No one had the answer. Meetings transitioned into debates as deadlines approached. Eventually, we managed to get a team charter that outlined everything. Two days later, we were back on schedule.

The thing about team charters is that there is one reason for their existence, and that is to tell teams how to run their operations. This should be one of the charts that you keep in a drawer somewhere. This charter should be the go-to for how everyone on the team is supposed to collaborate, who is supposed to do what, and how decisions are to be made. For everyone doing PMP certification training, there are a handful of charters that will change the course of the entire project, and this is one.

Consider a team charter as documents that each team member signs and agrees to before the work commences. It is not about the products being created. That will fall under your project charter. It's more about your team and the assignments. Who makes the call? Who is accountable for what? What is the course of action in the case of disputes?

Your project charter states 'Build a customer portal by Q3'. Your team charter states, 'Sarah leads design decisions, we meet Tuesdays at 10 AM, and if we can't agree, the product owner breaks the tie. See the difference? One centers on outcomes; the other centers on process.

Agreements, in general, are good for business. Teams that document outcomes and processes perform approximately 32% better than those that don't. Less time in uncertainty and more time in certainty.

Everyone Knows What Happening

Nothing is more difficult for a project than an undefined leader and a lost team. Charters avoid that. When expectations are laid down, there is consistency. Everyone is on the same page. Everyone understands the mission. Everyone understands the individual roles. Everyone understands how success will be achieved.

People Work Together Better

Once the bare minimum is established, teams collaborate better. When expectations are set, teams can focus on work instead of on each other. In the aareaand emails. At work. Not in hurt feelings. Work. Not in drama where someone is 'ignoring' someone.

Clear. Better. Work.

Rapid Resolution of Issues

Charters provide a framework for dealing with any problems that might crop up. Not only do they help to avoid problems, but they also help guide you through the various problems that might present themselves. Do you have a conflict? There are steps to resolve that. There are also processes to guide you through a decision. There are also steps to assist you in determining to whom you should escalate an issue.

Project management charters and KPIs help you define success, and help track progress in more concrete terms than a simple guess.

Start With Why

Your team exists for a reason. Spell it out. "We're launching the mobile app by August to capture the under-30 market' tells everyone exactly what matters. It's not just busywork. It's connected to real business goals.

"I like mission statements that fit in one sentence. Anything longer and people forget it. Keep it punchy. Keep it clear."

Get Specific About Goals

''Improve quality'' sounds nice but is meaningless. ''Cut bugs from 50 per sprint to under 10'' gives your team an actual target. Use numbers. Use deadlines. Make success obvious.

There are generic goals that everyone can strive towards and more specific goals that pertain to individuals. Make sure to document both of them. Being transparent about goals helps everyone understand what they are accountable for.

Clearly Define Responsibilities

There is no faster way to kill productivity than with role confusion. Your charter needs to identify who is accountable for different functions. Not, "the team handles testing." More, "Maria owns test planning, Jake runs test execution, and Sarah reviews the results."

For large teams, a RACI matrix can help clarify roles and responsibilities. RACI is an acronym for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. It only takes a few minutes to outline and can save a huge amount of time in the future due to fewer questions about role ambiguity.

Project leadership is also important. Someone has to be responsible for making the difficult decisions when the rest of the teamise at a stalemate.

Clarify Your Processes

This is the nitty-gritty stuff that usually gets overlooked. Spell out when your team meetings are scheduled. Do you have a daily meeting at 9 or a weekly meeting on Fridays? Which tools are you using? Is it Slack for quick messages, email for documentation, or Zoom to talk face-to-face?

Remote teams especially need to have this spelled out. Will you have your cameras on for meetings? Which hours should everyone be logged on? How quickly should people respond to each other? These are all things that you should document instead of letting people guess.

Establish a Decision Framework

Nothing is more aggravating for a team than not knowing who can make a decision and who can't. Your project charter should clearly articulate who can make which decisions independently and who needs to collaborate with others. If you want to get creative, you can use a decision matrix.

Be sure to include the different levels of decision-making. When should something be escalated, to whom, and how quickly? This can help to avoid gridlock if challenging questions come up.

Assemble Your Information

More than anything else, you want to be clear on the information you have. What are the objectives? Who are the stakeholders? What are the boundaries? Answer these questions first.

Facilitate a Workshop

Schedule a 2 to 3-hour block with the entire team. This is not a one-person job. Start off with a few basic guidelines for the meeting ground rules, then tackle each section of the charter one at a time.

Encourage input from the quieter attendees. Some of the most valuable ideas are generated by the less vocal members of the group.

Write It Up

Someone needs to collect all those disordered workshop notes and format them into an actual document. Be concise. Two to three pages at most. Use simple English. Include diagrams if necessary. Create something people will actually want to read. PMP certification training students know that this skill of documenting becomes second nature after some training.

Get Feedback

Circulate the draft. Give people enough time to review it. About three days should do it. Gather feedback. Incorporate edits. Go on like this until most people are aligned on the main points. You don't need absolute consensus on every single word, but the important points should be agreed on.

Make It Official

Get signatures, if that is part of your organizational culture, once this is finished. Some groups enjoy the formality of collecting everyone's signature. Some others just send it around. Either way, communicate that this is your new operating agreement. Plan a kick-off meeting to review it and to celebrate.

Drafting the charter takes a few hours. Using it will require some self-control.

Reference it during meetings. If someone asks, 'Who makes the final call on this?', show the charter. If discussions start to get heated, refer to your charter and the steps you agreed on for resolution. When new people come on board, show them the charter.

Review it every three months at a minimum. Teams change. Objectives change. What was effective in January may not be effective in July. Shift charter to match reality.

And this is the most important part: ensure accountability. If there is a consistent breach of charter agreements by an individual, address it. Not in a "gotcha" way. More in a "We reached consensus on this, let's have a conversation around whether it is still relevant."

It is understood that teams possess a high level of complexity. This complexity is driven by conflicts in personality, competing priorities, etc. When the dust settles, charters do not address these issues, but rather give you a starting point.

The more you invest in crafting a charter, the more you will reap in the form of reduced drama, quicker resolutions, and improved communication. Start at the initiation of the project. Design with everyone. Restrict the amount of text, and make it easily accessible. Use it.

Their appreciation will be felt.