Life Charter
In Project Management, we have an important document to start a project called the Project Charter. A project charter is a “document issued by the project initiator or sponsor that formally authorizes the existence of a project and provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities”. The project charter establishes the context of the project by including all the basic and available information to start it: project description, major deliverables, major risks, milestone schedule and needed resources. The project charter is signed by the project sponsor, who is the project.
In our life projects, we are normally the sponsor and the project manager, while also partly filling the roles of resource provider and customer. Therefore, a tailored version of the Project Charter is needed. I have named it the Life Charter. I created a 2-page version primarily based on visual content: one page for the Project Case (part 1) and one page for the Project Description (part 2).
The Life Charter is intended to be filled by you, the Project Lifer, and fixed to the wall in your living or working space, ideally the room where you will work to develop the project. It will serve as a visual roadmap for the successful completion of your project.
Since, in most of the cases, you will be the project sponsor, you need to see the Life Charter as a contract with yourself. The project sponsor, who normally provides accountability to a project, can be replaced by an accountability partner. The accountability partner is someone who you will keep informed about your project and who will check on your progress at regular, predefined intervals. Are you someone with high levels of commitment who doesn’t need anyone to chase them in order to get things done? Then, my recommendation is that you at least tell your social circle (family, friends and colleagues) what you intend to deliver and by when.
Life plan
The major deliverable of the “preparation” phase is the “life plan”. Before you can execute the process and put all your skills and expertise, you need to have a plan. Your “life charter” is an input to the “life plan”. The main deliverable of the GROW process was the “life charter”. The “life charter” provides a high-level detail of the project description. The next level of maturity of the “life charter” is the “life plan”. The life plan provides an additional layer of details.
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