The Importance of a Project Kickoff Meeting

April 4, 2022 Stan

A lot of effort is put into getting a project off the ground, but without a solid start you can find a project going off track very quickly. That is why I want to share with you the importance of a project kickoff meeting, and a quick outline of what I think is a good baseline of items to cover in your meeting.

First, what is the Kickoff meeting? It is a way to meet all the team members and stakeholders before the project work begins, it allows you to align on key objectives and get buy-in to key milestones early on. The Kickoff meeting is an invaluable way to communicate key project information with the whole team.

Six things I like to cover in the Project Kickoff Meeting

Introductions

This is such a great way to get to know all the stakeholders and common understanding of the project. Giving each person a chance to introduce themselves and their role, will allow you everyone to get to know the team members and their level of interest and authority which will be invaluable moving through the project. Another benefit from taking the time for everyone to introduce themselves is it can help set the room at ease and create a more collaborative atmosphere.

Executive Summary

A clear understanding for why the company is investing in this project allows for each team member to better align their role to the project, but more importantly when the team understands how the project fits within the company’s goals, they become more invested in their role on the project.

Scope and Deliverables

The meat of this kickoff comes now when you dig into the scope and deliverables. Once the team has heard what business need we are trying to solve, it’s now time for them to see how we plan on getting that done. The scope defines the boundaries of the project, so when the team is in full swing, and things get uncovered during the project it is easy for all to identify if those items are within scope. By clarifying the scope early and continuing to align with the scope during the project it will help prevent scope creep.

Roles and Responsibilities

During the introduction you might have gotten a glimpse into the different roles, but clearly defining who on the team is responsible for which milestones now will help prevent confusion during the project. Identifying if the project has an executive sponsor or who will be the approver of the milestones. Discussing who is doing what, why and explaining their relevant skills. Also defining any line managers that will approve milestones on the project.

Timelines

A kickoff meeting isn’t the time to get into each task deadline, but rather to review a high-level overview, identify an end date, and the due dates for phases of the project. During this time, you can explore if there will be any potential challenges with the phases outlined this might help you mitigate future risk.

Communications and Meeting Plans

Lastly when wrapping up the meeting make sure to plan out how the team will communicate throughout the project, at Relationship One we use Basecamp for tracking conversations and meeting notes, but if the client has a specific tool, such as Teams or would simply rather receive emails, we will use what works for them. Along with communications we make plans for regular status meetings, at a minimum meeting every week for 30 minutes. We also start scheduling discovery or working sessions depending on the project need, but we make sure we have made a plan to regroup after the kickoff call.

After the Kickoff meeting, send a wrap email to the group, thanking them for their time, recapping next steps, along with action items, and sharing with them a stakeholder register. The register will remind them of who they met on the call and what that person’s role is for future conversations. Creating this strong foundation for your project will help set you up for success.

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