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resources to support the project.

Issuing the project charter moves the project from the Initiating phase into the
Planning phase. Make certain all of the stakeholders receive a copy of the charter or
can access it from your project repository. It is also a good idea to schedule a meeting
to review the charter, review the next steps, and address any questions or concerns
they may have.

Holding the Kickoff Meeting

Once the project charter is signed and approved, your next task is to hold a project
kick-off meeting. This meeting should include the sponsor, your key project team
members, and the key stakeholders on the project. You’ll want to address and discuss
most of the sections in the charter during this meeting. It’s important that everyone

understands the goals and objectives of the project, the project description, the high-
level milestones, and the general project approach. This document and the project
scope statement, covered in Chapter 4, are the two documents you’ll come back to
when stakeholders try to steer you or the team in a different direction than what was
originally outlined. I’m not saying that stakeholders would ever do this on purpose, but
trying to sneak in one more feature or making this “one little change” tends to make its
way into most projects I’ve worked on. These documents are your safety net and the

way to keep out-of-control requests at bay. The project sponsor signs the charter, and
the key stakeholders on the project sign the project scope statement. So, they can’t say
they didn’t know!

Chapter 6, “Resource Planning and Management,” will talk more in-depth about the
project kickoff meeting.

Main Street Office Move

After your meeting with Kate, you start writing the project charter. Here is a rough
draft outline of that document for the Main Street Office Move:

Purpose for the Project To bring together all employees into one building. This
will improve communication, reduce travel costs, improve productivity, and
reduce lease costs.

Project Goals This project will relocate 1,200 employees from three locations to

the Main Street Office Building location. The move will be completed by December
31. All employees will report to work on January 2 at the Main Street Office
Building.

Project Description Relocate 1,200 employees to one location at the Main
Street Office Building. The move is planned over the holiday period so that it’s as
minimally disruptive as possible. All employees have the period from December 25

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