A great kickoff creates alignment, establishes delivery norms, surfaces early risks, and gives the team confidence the project is well run.
- The kickoff is for alignment, not information transfer
- Setting delivery norms in the kickoff prevents conflicts later
- Send the charter and plan in advance
Preparation
Send the charter, high-level plan, and stakeholder list at least 48 hours in advance. A kickoff where the team reads the charter for the first time is poorly prepared.
Agenda structure
Business context (sponsor), scope walkthrough with out-of-scope list, schedule and milestones, roles and responsibilities, delivery norms, and Q&A.
Setting delivery norms
Agree on who owns the RAID log, the status report cadence, the change control threshold, the escalation path, and meeting norms.
Outputs
Meeting minutes with decisions and open items, action log with owners, confirmed contact list, and the first RAID log entries.
Frequently asked questions
60-90 minutes for most projects.
Sponsor, PM, core team, key stakeholders, and decision-makers.
Send minutes within 24 hours and resolve open scope questions within 48.
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