01 Project Charter {human}
Align on the problem before writing a line of code
Produces PROJECT_CHARTER.md
"The charter answers WHY you're building this. It's the one-page document that aligns everyone on the problem, the customer, and the goal."
Goal: Align everyone on the problem, the customer, and the goal before writing a single line of code.
The 5 Questions a Charter Answers
- Who has the problem? (Target Customer)
- What's the pain? (Problem Statement)
- What does success look like? (Goal + Metrics)
- What's in and what's out? (Scope)
- How long do we have? (Timeline)
Voice of Customer
Direct quotes from your target users reveal the underlying needs that drive every design decision. Every feature you build should trace back to a VOC quote.
"I don't want to get asked for the same thing multiple times."
"Why did you go dark on me?"
"Why did my terms change?"
"Too many cooks in the kitchen — who has the ball right now?"
Target Market: Specific Avatars, Not Generic Roles
Don't build for "brokers" — build for Mike. Specific avatars drive specific design decisions.
Mike the Broker
15 years experience, 6 deals in flight simultaneously. Needs speed and transparency. His pain: chasing status updates, re-uploading the same documents, and discovering at closing that the terms changed.
David the CIO
Reviews 20+ deals per month across a diverse portfolio. Needs a standardized process and quick risk assessment. His pain: inconsistent deal presentation and time spent reading instead of deciding.
User Story Cards {human+machine}
Write a day-in-the-life narrative for each avatar. This is where VOC quotes become features.
Prompt Example
Docs to provide: Your draft notes — rough answers to the 5 questions, any VOC quotes you've collected, scope ideas
Copy this prompt → paste into Claude
I've drafted the following notes for my project. Please formalize them into a complete Project Charter in markdown format. [Paste your draft notes here — bullet points, rough answers, VOC quotes you've collected, scope ideas, anything you have] Structure the charter with these exact sections: 1. Project Purpose — why this needs to exist (2-3 sentences) 2. Target Customer — named avatars with role, experience level, and specific pain points 3. Problem Statement — what's broken today (be specific) 4. Goal Statement — one sentence defining success 5. Key Metrics — 1 primary metric, 2 secondary metrics 6. Voice of Customer — each quote on its own line, followed by the underlying need it reveals 7. Scope — explicit In/Out table for MVP 8. Timeline — milestone → target date format 9. Assumptions & Constraints Keep my original language wherever possible. If anything is missing or unclear, ask before filling it in yourself. Save this as PROJECT_CHARTER.md and add it to the project.