Project Charter by Project Phase

In this episode, Ricardo explains when it's a good idea to split a project into phases/stages. He also pointed out that nothing prevents us from using different methodologies to manage each of these stages, if that contributes to project success, of course.

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Episode transcript

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to the five minutes BM podcast today. I like to talk about the projects Charter by Phase. I do receive this request from one of the listeners and he said to me saying, can I create a project Charter for a phase of the Project. So, before I knew the answer to this, let's go just one step back and talk about what is a Phase. Why do we split up a project into different phases? It's very important to understand that the concept of Phase is a kind of the composition of a bigger problem into a smaller, more manageable piece of work.

Let me give you an example. Let's suppose I want a new house. I just bought the land and I want to build a house that I will leave so I can create one Phase that is called how's the design. This Phase will be basically responsible for designing my house, creating the drawings, the floor plan. And then there is a second phase that it is to build the house it's to put the breaks and prepare all of the wires and to have the house ready.

Let's suppose only this to simple phases. Of course I can create a project Charter for the first phase. I will say how much time do I have to do the design? How much money do I have to do the design? Which kind of stakeholders may be the stakeholder's on the design and different from the stakeholder's on the construction so I can create. So if you need to understand that a phase, its like a project or you can have all of the methodology and all the standards applied to a Phase the concept of phases just to make it simpler, simplify your life and make it easier for you to manage.

So if you want, you can create not only approach the Charter, but the scope statement that that would be S everything just for that phase. It's very important to understand this and this size of the Phase it's your decision. And I want to go above and beyond. When I talk about splitting the project in two phases, what I'm saying is basically what every single methodology or approach to project management says, it's much easier to manage is more chunks of work, and it's much easier to manage and control short term things facing a Dan longterm things.

So for example, I can split the project into phases and even one of the phases I can use one approach. I can use a giant on that let's suppose its a very it related task in the order. Phase that is a document where I need a very strong set of controls. I can do Princeton in the, or I can use the PMBOK and the PMI standards. Did you understand? So it's very important that please do not be shy, attach it to one approach because you have a problem may have different deals.

So it's very important that each every single phase you can treat as a project, we don't know, and the product we'll be on the design or a piece of paper or a set of drawings. And on the second phase we'll be the house, the BRICS of the house. So it's very important that you can do that. You can assign different project managers, different stakeholders, but what is variable? The port that you need to understand is that every time you talk in, go straight to the pros, a charter, for example, you only produce documents that are relevant for the team and for distribution or otherwise you become a paper and document factory.

So you can not say, Oh, now I needed for each phase, we used to create the project charter in this, forget that this is only and only relevant. If this project charter will add value to the final product, don't become a bureaucratic, just creating documents and documents. You need to create documents that will provide that. You said, if it's very important that you create a project charter because maybe you and the supplier may be the set of stakeholders. So different that you meet to reinforce that.

Please do that, but don't do that only for the sake of doing, because this becomes point in the us again, you can use one methodology, one standard for one piece of your project and then not a form or another piece of your Project remember at the end, what mattered is the results of your Project think always about that? Its not the too, but it's the result that will finally an ultimately met her in your project. I think about that. See you next week with another five minutes PM.

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