A More Recent View in the Discussion
This discussion initiated by Suhail has dragged on for about three years. Lately, one recent contributor observed: "… a project starts with signing the [Project] Charter". To this, Peter Rapin,[12] another contributor to the discussion had this to say:
"This may serve as a theoretical statement but rarely reflects reality!
- Many projects do not have Project Charters.
- For a number of reasons Project Charters get delayed: no staff; stakeholders not fully identified; insufficient details; procrastination; effort applied on other tasks.
- Many of us believe that the Project Charter should be developed by the Project Manager and/or Project Team — an early project task.
- The Project Charter developed too early in the process may be a Statement of Objectives rather than providing required input and commitments.
- Project Charters can take ages to sign especially if you have complex stakeholder involvement requiring specific commitments.
I revert back to my initial definition of project start: "When an effort is first applied specifically to achieve a stated defined objective".
In other words, those activities lumped under the umbrella of "pre-project activities" are in fact a part of the project and, I suggest, should be included in the Project Life Span structure and described accordingly in project management manuals.
12. Contribution by Peter Rapin on ProjectManagement.com, April 13, 2020. Peter is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Project Delivery, Independent Consultant, Canada.
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