Skip to content
Join 7,000+ leaders following Alastair's work on LinkedIn.

Pilot Charter Template

Pilot Charter

One pilot. One page.
Sign or kill within 6-8 weeks.
The Charter is the one-page commitment that keeps your pilot honest.
Fill in all five fields. If you can't answer a field clearly in plain English, the pilot isn't ready yet - go back and tighten your candidate before you launch. Use this in the workshop, then test it with your sponsor, IT, and team before Week 4.

1
Project Name
A clear, descriptive name. No acronyms, no internal jargon.
e.g. "Supplier Proposal Summariser Pilot"

2
Target Process
The specific workflow you're targeting. Must be in the Green Risk Zone (internal, text-heavy, verifiable). Decompose it using the I/O Scanner:
Trigger:
Transformation:
Result:

3
Pilot Lead
One person, named. Accountable for the pilot's success or honest failure.
e.g. "Rachel Ng, Project Manager"

4
Success Metric
Specific. Measurable. If you can't measure it, you can't prove it.
e.g. "Reduce extraction time from 40 min to under 10 min per proposal"

5
Kill Date
The date you decide go or no-go. 6-8 weeks max. A pilot without a kill date becomes a zombie project.
Date: ___ / ___ / 20___

Quick Checks Before You Submit

Risk Zone classified (Green / Orange / Red)

RATES score: ____ / 10

Net Value calculated (positive?)

Sponsor identified

Sceptic identified

Data owner named