Project Charter Template
Stay within scope, focus on deliverables, and get your entire team on the same page using a Project Charter Template.
Trusted by 65M+ users and leading companies
About the Project Charter Template
Before diving into a project, it's important to make sure you have the necessary documentation that will help you succeed. One key document that you need is a project charter.
Read on to learn more about what a project charter is, when you should use one, and how you can create one using our Project Charter Template.
What is a project charter in project management?
A project charter is a unified source of truth for the details of a project. A project manager or project leader relies on the project charter to explain the core objectives, scope, and responsibilities of a project and its team, as well as some other key details. No matter how wide the project’s scope, the project manager can always refer back to the charter if anything is ever uncertain.
From the moment your project kicks off, a charter can help align every stakeholder around a shared understanding of the project’s objectives, strategies, and deliverables.
Ideally, the project sponsor, who is accountable for the project’s successful delivery, should write the project charter document. In reality, this task often falls to the project manager to draft before it is signed off by senior stakeholders or the project board.
When should you use a project charter?
When you’ve already got a budget, a project plan, a project schedule, and a statement of purpose, why do you need a project charter?
A project charter serves as a single source of truth that supersedes all others — you could call it the founding scripture of your project. When conflicts arise between the budget and timeline or between members of the team, the project leader can use the charter to arbitrate.
The more complex a project gets, and the more stakeholders and moving parts it acquires, the harder it becomes for the project manager to keep everyone on task without a project charter.
Charters are also crucial when you need to sell your project to key stakeholders — especially to decision-makers who may lack the technical knowledge of your project team. The charter is an elevator pitch that makes it easy for gatekeepers to understand the project details.
How to create a project charter
Do you want the easiest way to build a project charter that works the first time? Work from a template. Start by adding the Project Charter Template to your Miro board. Then, follow these steps:
Invite your project team members. The more people can contribute their input to the charter, the more smoothly you can work together on the project itself. Invite everyone to collaborate on your Miro workspace.
Brainstorm answers to the key categories. Below these steps, you’ll find a rundown of all the key sections in the template.
Fill in the results. Once you and your collaborators have settled on what information should go in each category, fill them in on the template.
Use the charter to get buy-in. Shop the finished template around to each stakeholder and get their opinion. As you go, make any changes necessary.
For a charter to be effective, it’s important for the project leader to include as many details as possible. At a minimum, you should make sure to address a few essential elements. The template includes 10 total sections.
Purpose is the ultimate goal of the project, the reason you’re launching it at all. Examples can include filling a niche, increasing customer loyalty, or boosting revenues.
Scope defines what is and isn’t part of the project. Define your scope clearly so your project doesn’t succumb to scope creep, continually bloating with new features and shipping far behind schedule.
Success criteria is a SMART goal (specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound) that can tell you whether the project has succeeded. A project with a criterion of “delighting all our customers forever” is bound to fail. Instead, try something like “obtain the highest market share in our industry.”
Team lists the people who will work directly on the project.
Stakeholders are people who aren’t on the project team, but who have a specific reason to care about how it turns out.
Users are the people the project is intended to benefit (in a way that pays dividends to your company). Unlike “team” and “stakeholders,” users will be segments of the population instead of specific people.
Resources are the organizational assets you can devote to the project, including money, time, people, equipment, and more.
Constraints are known factors that may get in the way of the project succeeding.
Risks are events which may or may not occur, but would threaten the project’s success if they did happen.
Timeline is a rough sketch of how long the project will take to complete, including action items that will define each phase and projected dates for key milestones.
Don’t go overboard on any of these points. The finished project charter shouldn’t be longer than a few pages. All the key information it holds needs to be visible at a glance.
What is the main purpose of a project charter?
A charter is the ultimate source of truth for any questions that arise during execution. Whenever there’s conflict or ambiguity between objectives, people, or teams, the project manager or project sponsor can refer to the charter to clear it up.
How do you build a project charter?
Start by getting your team together in a collaborative workspace like Miro. Adding sticky notes to the template is a simple way to build consensus on key points about the project. Each of the template’s ten sections corresponds to a vital part of a charter: purpose, scope, success criteria, team, stakeholders, users, resources, constraints, risks, and timeline.
What should a project charter include?
At the bare minimum, a charter should list the project’s objectives, scope, deliverables, high-level budget, and the responsibilities of each team member. There are several other elements that the project sponsor may wish to consider. For example, risk identification and mitigation plans, the project timeline, a list of expected resource requirements, a list of key project stakeholders, and a project communication plan.
Get started with this template right now.
Project Status Report Template
Works best for:
Project Management, Documentation, Project Planning
When a project is in motion, the project manager must keep clients and shareholders updated on the project’s progress. Rather than waste time with constant meetings, leaders can send out weekly or daily project status reports to keep everyone informed. You can use the Project Status Report Template to streamline the report creation and distribution process.
The Tiered Pricing Canvas - Product Plans
Works best for:
Product Management, Planning
The Tiered Pricing Canvas - Product Plans template helps product managers design tiered pricing strategies effectively. By mapping out pricing tiers, features, and value propositions, this template enables teams to optimize pricing models and maximize revenue. With sections for analyzing customer segments and competitive pricing, it supports data-driven pricing decisions. This template serves as a guide for crafting compelling pricing plans that align with customer needs and market dynamics, driving profitability and customer satisfaction.
Idea Funnel Backlog
Works best for:
Design, Brainstorming, Agile Workflows
An Idea Funnel Backlog enables you to visualize your backlog and restrict the number of backlogged items at the top. In doing sos, you can prioritize items on your list without having to engage in unnecessary meetings or create too much operational overhead. To use the Idea Funnel Backlog, break up the funnel into different phases or treat it like a roadmap. Use the Idea Funnel Backlog as a hybrid model that combines your roadmap and backlog into one easily digestible format.
User Interview Template
Works best for:
Desk Research, Product Management
A user interview is a UX research technique in which researchers ask the user questions about a topic. They allow your team to quickly and easily collect user data and learn more about your users. In general, organizations conduct user interviews to gather background data, to understand how people use technology, to take a snapshot of how users interact with a product, to understand user objectives and motivations, and to find users’ pain points. Use this template to record notes during an interview to ensure you’re gathering the data you need to create personas.
Product Evolution Canvas
Works best for:
Product Management, Planning
The Product Evolution Canvas template aids product managers in planning and executing product evolution strategies. By mapping out current product features, identifying areas for improvement, and setting evolution goals, this template guides product evolution efforts. With sections for analyzing user feedback, prioritizing enhancements, and tracking progress, it facilitates iterative product development and enhancement cycles. This template serves as a roadmap for evolving products to meet evolving customer needs and market demands.
Start, Stop, Continue Template
Works best for:
Retrospectives, Meetings, Workshops
Giving and receiving feedback can be challenging and intimidating. It’s hard to look back over a quarter or even a week and parse a set of decisions into “positive” and “negative.” The Start Stop Continue framework was created to make it easier to reflect on your team’s recent experiences. The Start Stop Continue template encourages teams to look at specific actions they should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing. Together, collaborators agree on the most important steps to be more productive and successful.