New Product Development Project Charter
This is a practical guide to building a project charter for a new product development project — the short authorising document that names the sponsor, states the objective and gives the manager authority to run the project, adapted to the realities of taking a new product from concept to market.
What a Project Charter is
A project charter is the short authorising document that names the sponsor, states the objective and gives the manager authority to run the project. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Project Charter. On a new product development project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a New Product Development project
New Product Development projects live or die on taking a new product from concept to market. A well-built project charter gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how new product development projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Purpose and business justification
- Objectives and success criteria
- High-level scope (in and out)
- Budget and timeline summary
- Key stakeholders and sponsor sign-off
New Product Development-specific considerations
Tailor the project charter to the risks that most often derail new product development projects:
- Uncertain market fit
- Feature/scope creep
- Time-to-market pressure
Example
On a real new product development project, the project charter would be shaped by taking a new product from concept to market. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — uncertain market fit, feature/scope creep, time-to-market pressure — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.