Kickoff meeting agenda how to#

That is good list them out, but don’t stop there. While going through all resources, you’ll probably have some doubts and questions. Without that, all you can do is a PPT explainer presentation, and that’s not a kickoff. It will allow them to ask better questions, participate in discussions, and understand various topics better. The whole team should try to get as much context as possible. Go through all known documentation and resources There are a few areas you should focus on the most: A 30-minute recap before the meeting is not enough. To make sure it doesn’t turn into a disorganized, wasteful meeting, make sure to prepare. Kickoff is often a meeting when people who don’t fully know each other come together to discuss an initiative they don’t fully understand. It works as a spark that starts the fire. One of the goals of the kickoff is to leave with a clearly defined list of next steps, which should lead to further next steps. The backlog is empty, the scope isn’t refined, and the immediate next steps aren’t clear. Stakeholders can provide additional context and narrative, and everyone can clarify their doubts.Įveryone should be on the same page and clearly understand the “why” behind the initiative. The kickoff meeting allows everyone to share their perspective, ask questions, and clarify all loose ends. But, let’s be honest most of the team either doesn’t read that or just skims through it briefly.Įven if they dig deeper into initiative details, they often have doubts, fill gaps with their assumptions, and might develop a perspective different from yours. You probably shared some documentation, business objectives, and proposed roadmap before the meeting. Kickoff is a great opportunity to get everyone on the same page. Even if the majority of the team stays constant, a new stakeholder and a new subject matter expert are enough to change the team dynamics.Ī kickoff meeting gives a formal opportunity for people to get to know each other, (re)define their work and communication style, and see how the new team setup performs together. If the whole team already knows each other and works together then that is great, but most teams don’t.ĭifferent initiatives require different skills and expertise. The benefits of the meeting easily outweigh its costs. Most product managers attend or organize too many of them when many of them are unnecessary.īut, initiative kickoff is not among them. I am a skeptic when it comes to meetings.

Plan baseline processes and communication.

List questions, doubts, and assumptions.Go through all known documentation and resources.Why should you do an initiative kickoff?t.Initial workshop with subject matter expertsįor the sake of this article, I’ll assume the most common type of a kickoff - one done with a product manager or a stakeholder/sponsor that’s external to the team.Alignment meeting with an external product owner.Technical meeting of the development team.Do it poorly and, at the very best, you are off to a slow start. Initiative kickoff is a critical event in product development.ĭo it well, and you’ll kickstart the whole process and increase the odds of succeeding.

Kickoff meeting agenda how to#

How to run a proper project kickoff meeting (with sample agenda) Writing about what I discovered along the way. Bart Krawczyk Follow Learning how to build beautiful products without burning myself out (again).