Typically after a project manager
is assigned to a project it is customary to hold a project kick-off meeting. When planning for a kick-off meeting it is essential that the project manager approach the planning as a must do activity needed to support the successful delivery of the solution. When approaching your kick-off planning you should be thinking about how to “right-size” the kick-off relative to the size of the project that you have been assigned. While you do not want to diminish the excitement that you hope to generate, you need to ensure that the length of the meeting is appropriate to the size of effort.
There are some key attributes that are essential for a project manager to be successful, and these attributes will need to be leveraged to plan and execute the kick-off. These key attributes include but are not limited to being an effective leader as well as having the ability to communicate effectively. You will also want to make sure that you approach the kick-off striving to achieve the tone you will be setting for your project, so do not underestimate the need to have fun and to keep the meeting upbeat.
I harken back to when I was in school and learned the 5 Ws and 2 Hs, so here are the areas I consider when preparing for my kick-off meeting:
- Vision (why)
- Success Criteria (how much)
- Scope (what)
- Dependencies & Constraints
- Assumptions
- Risks & Issues
- Communication Plan
- Stakeholder Analysis/Assignments (who)
- Schedule (when)
- Methodology (how)
- Logistics (where)
Based on the size of the project you will need to decide which of these areas require more focus or planning, but I would highly recommend that each of these are touched on and reviewed with your team. These are not in any priority order, but more of a logical listing based on my previous experience.
- Vision (why)
Provide the business sponsor’s view of the desired outcomes to be produced for the business after successfully completing the project. The description should reflect what the business will be like to inspire the project team at kick-off. You could include some of the benefits used at project initiation to drive the business case development. - Success Criteria (how much)
It is important to start your project team thinking about success criteria at the beginning of the project. The easy definition of success criteria would be the standards that the project will be judged at delivery to decide whether or not it has been successful in the eyes of the stakeholders. The business sponsor should have defined the project success criteria when building the business case and these criteria should be the drivers for acceptance criteria for your requirements and overall solution delivery guideposts throughout the lifecycle of the project. - Scope (what)
Providing the boundaries of the project including what will and will not be part of the delivery effort is important at this stage. This information will be used as guidelines for making decisions about change management in future stages of the project.- Dependencies & Constraints
You may not understand all your project dependencies at this point, but at a minimum you will understand if there are other project or programs that you are dependent on, and if you have any constraints (limits) that need to be highlighted for your team. - Assumptions
As assumptions are identified, each must be viewed with an appropriate degree of skepticism. I set a tone up front that we need to limit our assumptions and that assumptions should not be wishful thinking. I can pontificate here on how assumptions have turned out to be extremely costly for my projects in the past, but I will save that for another article. - Risks & Issues
When presenting your risks to the project team make sure and include the risk management strategy you plan to incorporate for each risk. The team should be encouraged to actively identify risks and risk mitigation steps throughout the project lifecycle as this should not be a project manager only responsibility. If risk management is effective then issue management becomes easier. - Communication Plan
Having a communication plan in place is an essential component for good project management. Depending on the size of the project your plan could be a simple table reflecting the type and timing for meetings, status reports, and other communication mediums, or a document clearly articulating all aspects of a formal communication plan.
- Dependencies & Constraints
- Stakeholder Analysis/Assignments (who)
Identifying the individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by the project, and understanding them according to their impact is an essential step in kick-off planning. Being able to articulate to the team how each stakeholder will be impacted and if they are a part of the project team what their specific role will be is critical. - Schedule (when)
The schedule at this point would be a very high level of milestones, activities, and deliverables that were identified to build the business case and leverages the internal SDLC framework. It is important to help the team understand that you will be working with the team to help build out a more detailed delivery schedule moving forward. - Methodology (how)
Your team needs to understand what methodology the delivery will follow. Any stage gates that are important and what those gates mean as a team. You may find that additional training may be required for team members if they are new to the project methodology you will be using. - Logistics (where)
Your team should understand where the main project activities will be located, and if you have remote project team members they will need to understand what mechanism will be used to connect.
In summary, it is important to take sufficient time to plan for and then hold a project kick-off meeting. The kick-off should be “right-sized” based on your project size. You will be required to use key project leadership and communication skills to ensure that you set the right tone up front with your project team. Remember to have fun!