Agile Project Charter

Agile Project Charter
By Terry Bunio

With the current project I am working on we discussed how we can make the Project Charter or Project Kick-off activities much more Agile. We are proposing to use new Agile methods and want to enhance our communication and allow team members to easily understand what they would be doing on the project.

On other projects I have been part of, these Project Kick-off activities involve a meeting that can have a lack of energy and enthusiasm. The Project Charter document is typically reviewed that details the roles and responsibilities of the clients and team members. In many cases the document is overly textual and team members come away from reading the document not understanding what a typical day or week will be like on the project. Even when a meeting is held to review the document, the content can still be somewhat generic and not allow people to understand their place on the project.

An Idea

After thinking about this problem, I was reminded I heard these issues and comments before. I think we have all heard these comments many times about User Requirement sessions that reviewed a large textual document and then scheduled excruciating meetings to review the documents in detail. And then at the end of those sessions, the clients still didn’t have a good understanding of what those requirements meant to them personally and understand what their place in the solution was.

So I thought if User Stories are successful in grounding clients with the solution and enhancing communication on User Requirement by making them personal, why not try the same with Project Team User Stories to describe the team member’s project interactions in the same way?

Project Manager Example

Here is an example of what a Project Manager’s interaction could be. There are some heavier weight processes and documents that would not be used all the time, but I thought it would be good to include them so I thought the entire process through. I’m still working on the wording of each story, but I think you can get the intent of the idea.

As A	I will	When	So That
Traditional Project Manager	Create the Project Schedule using traditional methods	At the start of the project	We have a realistic starting point and plan for the project
Traditional Project Manager	Complete the Project Initiation Checklist	At the start of the project	All required tasks are completed
Traditional Project Manager	Hold the Client Project Charter Meeting for the Client	At the start of the project	All Clients understand their role and expectations on the project
Traditional Project Manager	Hold the Development Team Project Charter Meeting for the Development Team	At the start of the project	All Development team members understand their role and expectations on the project
Traditional Project Manager	Create the Risk Register	At the start of the project	To derive the Risks, define the mitigation plans and incorporate the Risks and mitigation plans into the project schedule, and to communicate the risks to the stakeholders
Traditional Project Manager	Create the Issue Register	At the start of the project	To document the Issues, define plans to address, and manage to the due dates.
Agile Team Member	Review and understand theUser Story Map	Before the first Iteration	So that I understand the plan for the project and the content of the work required.
Team Member	Review key documents when they are produced Business Requirements Solution Architecture Active Architecture System Requirements User Story Map Test Strategy	Before the first Iteration and throughout the project	So that I understand the plan for the project and the context of the work required.
Agile Project Manager	Create the Iteration Plan	Before the first Iteration	So that we can transfer an Initial Plan to a Manageable plan.
Agile Project Manager	Create the Kan Ban Board	Every Day	The status of the project is available to everyone
Agile Project Manager	Create the plan on the Agile Project Management Tool	Every Day	The status of the project is available to everyone
Agile Project Manager	Update my tasks on the Kan Ban Board	Every Day	The status of the project is available to everyone
Agile Project Manager	Update my tasks on the Agile Project Management Tool	Every Day	The status of the project is available to everyone
Agile Team Member	Provide my update at the Stand-up Meeting	Every Day	The entire team is aware of what I am working on an any issues I may be having
Traditional Project Manager	Create the Status Report	Every Week	The status of the project can be communicated to the stakeholders
Team Member	Update the Risk Register	Every Week	To update the Risks, update the mitigation plans and incorporate the Risks and mitigation plans into the project schedule, and to communicate the risks to the stakeholders
Team Member	Update the Issue Register	Every Week	To update the Issues, update plans to address, and communicate due dates.
Agile Project Manager	Hold the Iteration Planning Meeting	At the start of every Iteration	The team can jointly determine the content of the next Iteration.
Agile Project Manager	Hold the Planning Poker Meeting	At the start of every Iteration	The team can jointly estimate the User Stories in the next Iteration and refine the requirements.
Agile Project Manager	Hold the Mid-Iteration Planning Meeting	At the middle of every Iteration	The team can jointly determine status of the Iteration and determine if adjustments need to be made. If appropriate, the mid-week status can be communicated to Stakeholders. Risks and Issues will also be reviewed.
Agile Project Manager	Calculate the Iteration Velocity	At the end of every Iteration	We can plan a reasonable workload for the subsequent iterations.
Agile Project Manager	Hold the Iteration Retrospective	At the end of every Iteration	The team can provide feedback and improve for the next Iteration.
Agile Project Manager	Hold the Demonstration Meeting	At the end of every Iteration	The client can present the content of what has been completed in the last Iteration.
Traditional Project Manager	Hold the Project Retrospective	At the end of the project	Lessons learned from the project can be captured and incorporate into future projects.
Agile Leader	Promote Collaboration over Documentation	Continuously	Miscommunication and Documentation waste is minimized
Agile Leader	Promote Rapid Discovery Event	Continuously	We can quickly define the requirements in a collaborative way. Miscommunication and Documentation waste is minimized
Agile Leader	Promote light weight Documentation	Continuously	Documentation waste is minimized
Agile Leader	Promote frequent delivery	Continuously	True progress is shown and realized
Project Leader	Ensure key documents are produced when required Business Requirements Solution Architecture Active Architecture System Requirements User Story Map Test Strategy	Continuously	Required project and corporate memory is created
Agile Project Manager	Focus on managing issues and risks not tasks	Continuously	I facilitate progress on the project not documentation
Agile Project Manager	Document all scope changes that cannot be accommodated	Continuously	I facilitate the communication of scope changes to the project to all stakeholders
Agile Project Manager	Defer all setting of priority decisions to the client	Continuously	We work on the true priorities of the client.
Agile Project Manager	Promote the use of Visual Project Management and Agile Project Management Tools	Continuously	We communicate relentlessly the status of the project to the project team and the Stakeholders in a graphical and easy to consume manner.
Team Member	Seek collaboration and consensus on all decisions, but understand that schedule decisions are the responsibility of the Project Manager	Continuously	Decisions are made striking a balance between collaboration to seek all sources of information and efficiency to make difficult decisions when required in regards to schedule.

Summary

I’m excited about the idea. I think we need to be careful so that people understand that they still need to have an Agile mindset and these are guidelines only. But with the right leadership, I think this format could really assist in the Agile project Kick off.

Terry Bunio is currently a Principal Consultant at Protegra. He has managed multiple complex projects and provided Project Management, Architecture and Database leadership for companies such as Manitoba Public Insurance, LPL Financial, Assante Asset Management, Moventum, Government of Manitoba, Investors Group, and London Life. More recently Terry’s focus and passion has been on managing Lean projects and being part of Lean and Agile Project teams. As a practical Project Manager, Terry is known to challenge assumptions and strive to strike the balance between the theoretical book agile and the real world approaches.

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Protegra helps organizations in the private and public sectors identify and solve tough business performance challenges. Protegra offers management consulting services focused on operational efficiencies. For organizations that use information technology as a competitive advantage, Protegra offers software services development and solutions.

www.protegra.com