What is a project charter?
Two documents, two very different jobs.
A project charter is the formal, often lengthy plan many organizations write before work begins.
A project poster is a lighter, visual planning tool that your team keeps updating as the project unfolds.
Choosing between them is less about which one is better and more about which one fits your project's size, uncertainty, and audience.
This guide walks through what each document does, when each one earns its keep, and how to decide for your next project.
It draws on Atlassian's Team Playbook guidance for project posters, which positions them explicitly as an alternative to traditional charters.
A project charter is the classic planning document.
In most organizations it is a formal statement of a project's purpose, scope, objectives, stakeholders, and authority.
It is usually written once, near the start, and often approved by a sponsor before work begins.
Think of it as a contract: it records what was agreed at the beginning so people can refer back to it later.
Charters work well when the project is well understood, the stakes are high, and formal sign-off matters.
A regulated rollout, a funded initiative with a fixed budget, or a cross-company commitment often needs that level of documentation.
The downside is familiar to anyone who has written one: charters tend to be long, hard to read, and quickly out of date.
Atlassian's own framing asks a pointed question: when was the last time you actually read a project plan or charter?
What is a project poster?
A project poster is a planning tool, according to Atlassian's Team Playbook.
It helps your team think through the problem, possible solutions, and the ideal end result.
The name is a nudge, not a rule.
You do not have to hang it on a wall, but it should be easy to see, like a real-life poster.
The key difference is that a poster is a living document.
Atlassian recommends creating a draft at the beginning of the project.
Update it as you explore the problem space, challenge assumptions, validate solutions, and gather feedback.
Instead of one big writing session, the poster fills out over several conversations.
Atlassian structures the poster in three parts:
- Problem space: explain why solving this problem matters to your customers and to the business, and get clear on your project goals and possible solutions.
- Validation: identify knowledge gaps and risks. What do you know, and what do you need to find out?
- Ready to make it: visualize the solution and put a project plan into place.
You do not need to complete the entire poster at once.
As you work through each section, you can link off to other project artifacts or note other exercises you might run, such as decision or trade-off sessions.
Project poster vs project charter: the core differences
The two documents overlap in purpose but differ in almost every practical dimension:
Dimension: Format; Project charter: Formal written document; Project poster: Visual, one-page-style canvas
Dimension: Lifecycle; Project charter: Written once, then referenced; Project poster: Living document, updated over time
Dimension: Best fit; Project charter: Well-understood, high-stakes projects; Project poster: Complex problems with many unknowns
Dimension: Approval; Project charter: Often needs sponsor sign-off; Project poster: Shared early for feedback, not formal approval
Dimension: Audience; Project charter: Sponsors, governance, auditors; Project poster: The working team and close stakeholders
Atlassian is direct about the trade-off: posters are meant to replace what it calls boring project plans and charters with a more usable alternative.
That does not make charters useless.
It means the poster optimizes for being read and updated, while the charter optimizes for formality and record-keeping.
When a project poster is the better fit
Atlassian is clear that posters are not necessary for every project.
They are best when you are solving complex problems or seizing an opportunity with a lot of unknowns.
If your team cannot yet answer basic questions about the problem, the poster gives you a place to work those questions out in public.
That describes most early-stage work.
A founder testing a new offer, a freelancer scoping a client engagement, a student team starting a capstone, or a community builder launching a program all face the same situation.
There are more questions than answers.
A poster fits because it expects to be wrong at first.
Atlassian notes that teams often revisit the problem space several times before executing.
Feedback from sponsors and stakeholders reveals that the original questions or assumptions were off.
That is treated as normal, not as a planning failure.
Atlassian also cites research behind three benefits of going through the poster exercise:
- Solving the right problem. Correctly identifying and formulating the problem is often more critical than the solution process, so addressing a symptom instead of the root cause wastes time and resources.
- Validating assumptions. Unvalidated assumptions can significantly contribute to project failures, and defining them explicitly improves decision-making and communication.
- Increasing stakeholder engagement. In the study Atlassian references, engagement correlated with higher stakeholder and sponsor satisfaction and predicted a project's ability to stay within budget and deliver on schedule.
When a charter still makes sense
Reach for a charter when the surrounding system demands one.
A charter does a job a poster cannot if your organization requires documented approval before funding.
It is also needed if an external party requires a formal scope statement or the project will be audited.
The charter's formality is the feature.
Charters also suit projects with low uncertainty.
When the problem, solution, and plan are already well understood, the poster's iterative exploration adds little.
Writing the agreement down once and moving on is faster.
And the two are not mutually exclusive.
Some teams keep a short charter for governance and use a poster as the working document the team actually reads and updates.
The charter satisfies the process; the poster carries the day-to-day thinking.
How to run your first project poster session
If you lean toward a poster, Atlassian's play gives a concrete structure.
Prep takes around ten minutes, and the first session is scheduled for about sixty minutes focused on defining the problem and setting project goals.
You will need a meeting space or video call with screen sharing and a digital collaboration tool.
Before the session, collect and share relevant information in advance.
This could include notes from user testing, analytics, customer feedback, market research, or whatever evidence you already have.
Then work through the problem space questions with your team, aiming for consensus on each section before moving on.
A few practical tips from the play:
- If you are working with a large team, use breakout rooms or host multiple sessions with smaller groups so everyone can contribute.
- If the team deadlocks on a section, assign someone to gather more information and report back. If disagreement persists, the project owner or executive sponsor may have to make the call.
- Share your initial poster with sponsors as early as possible and invite them to leave comments directly in the collaborative document, so all feedback lands in one place with a written record.
The validation section may look like a to-do list at first.
As the project moves along and you record findings there, the poster becomes an overview of your validation efforts and what you have learned.
Your research should confirm or disprove the potential solution before you commit to building it.
A quick decision checklist
Ask yourself these questions before your next project starts:
- Does your organization or a sponsor require a formal, approved planning document? If yes, plan for a charter.
- Are there many unknowns about the problem, the audience, or the solution? If yes, a poster fits better.
- Will the working team actually read and update the document? If the honest answer about your last charter was no, try a poster.
- Do you need both governance and a usable working document? Consider a short charter plus a poster.
Whichever you choose, the real test is the same: does the document help your team solve the right problem, surface risky assumptions early, and keep stakeholders engaged?
A plan nobody reads fails that test regardless of format.
Where to go next
Planning documents are only one part of starting well.
If you are weighing whether to hold a formal start at all, read Do You Need a Project Kickoff Meeting? How to Decide Before You Start.
If you are a freelancer deciding how much to take on, beginner freelancer field guide covers sizing your first engagement.
Remote teams face the same scoping questions from a different angle, which the remote team decision guide addresses.
And once your project produces real work, what replaces the resume next explores how project participation itself becomes your proof.
A charter records what you agreed at the start. A poster records what you have learned so far. Pick the one your project actually needs.
Source references: www.atlassian.com.
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