{"id":4208,"date":"2012-11-20T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T17:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/?p=4208"},"modified":"2022-08-04T09:43:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T14:43:10","slug":"beware-of-the-unchartered-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/beware-of-the-unchartered-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware the Unchartered Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-4211\" title=\"Stack of Paperwork\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Woman-w-pile-of-paperwork_iStock_000010646398XSmall_compressed-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Stack of Paperwork\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\">An&nbsp;unchartered project is an oxymoron to most project managers.&nbsp; Kind of like the unsponsored project.&nbsp; It just doesn\u2019t compute.&nbsp; No sponsor, no project.&nbsp; No charter, no project.<\/p>\n<p>But take a look at the mountain of stuff on your desk.&nbsp; How many unchartered projects are in there?&nbsp; After all, it\u2019s not like there\u2019s a magic threshold for budget, time, or other resources needed for something to be a project.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If it\u2019s got a beginning and an end, i.e., it\u2019s temporary, and it\u2019s creating something new or unique, it\u2019s a project and it should be chartered.&nbsp;&nbsp;Look again.&nbsp; How many do you have?<\/p>\n<p>Why wouldn\u2019t you charter everything that fits the definition of a project? &nbsp;A number of reasons may be given for not getting charters for small projects, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The time spent writing, submitting, and keeping track of a charter is better spent just doing the project.<\/li>\n<li>No one really needs to know about this project since it only affects \u201cus.\u201d&nbsp; It\u2019s not worth raising a bunch of flags.<\/li>\n<li>It is a hassle explaining the reasons for the project to people who just don\u2019t \u201cget it.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>We aren\u2019t that formal around here.<\/li>\n<li>They may tell me that we shouldn\u2019t be doing the project.&nbsp; I\u2019d rather ask for forgiveness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Maybe this works for your organization.&nbsp; Maybe these under-the-radar projects don\u2019t have any hidden costs for you, your department, or your organization.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But maybe it\u2019s not working so well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If, for example, you ever find yourself unable to explain how non-project work, i.e., ops, maintenance, support, etc. accounts for all the time you\u2019re not working on projects, then maybe some of that unsanctioned project work needs more transparency.<\/p>\n<p>Or if your request for additional department resources falls on deaf ears, it may be fair to ask if those who make that decision are completely aware of where your time actually goes.<\/p>\n<p>If you find yourself backed into a corner without an explanation as to why you aren\u2019t meeting project commitments, it may be time to think about chartering some of those covert efforts.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the benefit to the organization is that when <em>all <\/em>projects, including those pesky little projects, get chartered, there\u2019s a better chance that everyone\u2019s priorities will be aligned.&nbsp; It\u2019s pretty hard for everyone to share a priority list without the same items on the list.<\/p>\n<p>It may seem like management just doesn\u2019t \u201cget it,\u201d but how well-versed are you in the organization\u2019s objectives and strategic goals?&nbsp; If you can\u2019t articulate that and see how your time is aligned with helping the proverbial ship get to where it needs to go, then maybe it\u2019s a question of who is getting what.<\/p>\n<p>Like everything else, the charter needs to be scaled appropriately.&nbsp; One page with bulleted items in a big font may suffice.&nbsp; What are the minimum items that need to be agreed upon and understood?&nbsp; Project purpose, benefits, resources needed, estimated timeline?&nbsp; Whatever works.<\/p>\n<p>As long as there\u2019s a place for a signature for someone to sanction your time.&nbsp; You just need enough to get it on the organization\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An&nbsp;unchartered project is an oxymoron to most project managers.&nbsp; Kind of like the unsponsored project.&nbsp; It just doesn\u2019t compute.&nbsp; No sponsor, no project.&nbsp; No charter, no project. But take a look at the mountain of stuff on your desk.&nbsp; How many unchartered projects are in there?&nbsp; After all, it\u2019s not like there\u2019s a magic threshold [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[211,1],"tags":[105,22],"coauthors":[140],"class_list":["post-4208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management","category-watermark-learning","tag-charters","tag-project-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4208"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10653,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4208\/revisions\/10653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4208"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watermarklearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}