I am currently in a situation where the senior management wants us to begin the execution phase of a digital transformation project immediately. However, the Project Charter hasn't been officially signed off by the sponsor yet. I am worried about the lack of formal authority and the potential for scope creep later. Is it common to work under a "verbal agreement," or should I push back?
3 answers
Starting without a signed charter is a significant risk because the charter is what formally authorizes the project and gives you, the project manager, the power to apply organizational resources to project activities. Without it, you are essentially a project coordinator with no real teeth. If the budget gets tight or if the sponsor changes their mind about a deliverable, you have no baseline document to point to. I strongly suggest you create a draft and get at least an email confirmation of approval before committing to any major vendor contracts or resource allocations to protect yourself and the project’s integrity.
Does your organization have a PMO (Project Management Office) that can intervene? Sometimes a neutral third party can explain to the executives why this document is a legal and financial safeguard rather than just more paperwork.
In many Agile environments, the charter is shorter, but it still must exist to define the "Definition of Done" and the overall vision. Never skip the formal authorization step.
I agree with Sarah. Even in Agile, a "Project Vision" acts as the charter. Without that high-level alignment, the team will likely end up building features that the sponsor never actually requested.
Richard, that is exactly what I was thinking. Our PMO is relatively new, but they have started pushing for standardized templates. I reached out to them, and they confirmed that without a charter, our internal accounting won't even assign a cost center for the project. This gives me the leverage I need to tell the sponsor that the "verbal agreement" literally prevents us from spending the money they want us to use.