Kickoff time is extremely critical on every project. It may involve a casual phone call, emails between two individuals on small projects, or it may include 10-20 individuals on bigger, high-dollar projects. But it needs to happen to get questions answered and correctly set expectations from the outset. Here are some key things to remember and cover when kicking off new projects:
Do I have the right skilled team members at the right time in the project timeline?
Be sure you are ready for each task and challenge along the way. Do you have team members available at the right time with the proper skill sets? If you keep unnecessary resources on projects too long, the project budget can be blown quickly.
Are we prepared for the risks?
Have we performed the necessary risk identification and analysis? Do we know what we are going to do and how to react to some of the risks we expect might be realized?
Does the client fully understand how change management will work on the project?
We have to manage the scope of the project to stay on budget, and the customer needs to know how we are going to do that. What change process will we use? What will change orders look like, and when will we need to create them? How will they be prepared, signed off, and invoiced?
Is the client fully engaged?
Is the client available when their input is needed on the project? The client may be focusing on other tasks, but the project team will need them for weekly meetings, ongoing communications, decision making, and change orders. A project that cannot properly communicate with key customers is bound to fail.
Have all training needs been met or planned for?
Sometimes the customer needs training on a new system or even at the beginning of the project to help define requirements. I’ve had customers who didn’t properly understand our delivery solution, which caused progress to stagnate during requirement sessions. We even had to halt projects to arrange a week of training before moving forward.
When, where, and how will meetings and communications happen?
From the beginning of the project, it is important to establish how communication will happen. I like to create a communication plan that lists key stakeholders, contact info, and details about when regular meetings will happen and how they will be structured. This helps answer questions upfront and instills customer confidence in the delivery team’s communication abilities.
Do we have detailed requirements in place?
From the beginning, it’s important to identify where requirements gaps are. Many project customers think they have all requirements laid out, but this is rarely the case. The project delivery team must dig deeper to ensure they deliver what the end-users really need.
Is senior management prepared to assist if needed?
It’s important to have higher-ups on board with the project, ready to assist with funding, resources, and decision-making. If senior management isn’t behind your project, it could fail before it even starts.
Is the budget on both sides fully in place?
Is the money there to get started? Both the delivery and customer sides need funding for the project. I once worked for a Fortune 500 firm, and all projects required internal clients to have funding in place before starting.
What will the handoff process look like?
When the project rolls out, what will the handoff look like? Will there be more end-user training, lessons learned sessions, or ongoing delivery team support? Establish these details during kickoff.
Are lessons learned planned for?
Lessons learned sessions are rarely done because resources are quickly assigned to new projects. It’s best to schedule these sessions throughout the project so you can learn and improve as you go.
How will status meetings be facilitated, and how often?
Status meetings should happen weekly and involve all key stakeholders. Decide at kickoff time who will lead these meetings—typically, it’s the project manager.
What will the status reports look like?
What does the customer want to see on the weekly status report? Include upcoming tasks, in-progress tasks, and recently finished tasks, along with issues, discussion points, budget health, and resource forecast. Kickoff is the time to discuss these elements.
What will testing look like?
The client must perform user acceptance testing (UAT). The delivery team should help with testing scenarios but not do the UAT for the client.
What about cybersecurity?
Every project needs at least some cybersecurity presence, especially during risk identification. Larger projects involving sensitive data will need substantial cybersecurity involvement.
Summary
A well-planned project kickoff is essential. It ensures all participants are on the same page from the start. What are your thoughts? What would you add to this list?
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