We are two months into a project and the market conditions have shifted significantly. The original objectives in our charter no longer seem relevant to the company's goals. My director wants to "update" the charter, but I was taught that the charter is a static document. Do we issue a new charter, or do we use the Change Control Board (CCB) to modify the existing one?
3 answers
Technically, the Project Charter is a high-level authorization document and is not typically updated. If the fundamental objectives of the project have changed so much that the charter is irrelevant, you are essentially looking at a new project. The standard procedure is to close the current project and issue a new charter for the new direction. However, if the changes are minor, you would usually handle them through the Project Scope Statement and the formal Change Control Process. Updating a charter mid-way is rare and often confusing for stakeholders who use the original for audit purposes.
Is the sponsor the same person? If the sponsor has changed, that is often the most common reason to actually sit down and re-validate or "re-sign" a project charter.
I would stick to the Change Control Board. Document the shift in the "Change Log" and update your project management plan. Re-chartering is a huge administrative burden.
Nancy is right. Unless the project's very existence is in question, the Project Management Plan is where the day-to-day changes should be reflected, not the charter.
Matthew, the sponsor is the same, but our competitor just launched a similar product, so we have to pivot. Angela, your advice to potentially "close and restart" is interesting. My director thinks that's too much "red tape," but I’m worried that if we don't have a new charter, we won't have a clear "Success Criteria" to measure against at the end. I might suggest a "Charter Addendum" as a middle ground—do you think that would work?