An effective project kickoff meeting plan becomes necessary, especially after project contracts have been signed and staffs have been hired to handle a new project. The most successful projects normally start with a kickoff meeting, because, setting the right goals for the project define will it become successful or not.
For this reason, you should consider the following project kickoff checklist. Once you have kick-started your project with a kick-off meeting, your team members become highly motivated focused and energized to handle and complete their given tasks within the stipulated frame of time.
An effective project kickoff meeting template must contain the following;
- Must establish the vision and deliverables for the project,
- Must help in identifying project teams and set roles,
- Must contain a pre-developed plan for the project execution,
- Must be able to check the project plan and then identify the bottlenecks and potential risks,
- Provide logistical framework for effective team communication,
- Must provide the project management methodology and provide an outline for project’s work progress,
- Must provide Logistics component that will ensure accurate team communication,
- Have a complete guideline on how to choose the right project tools for each team,
- Must provide a set agenda, as well as prepare the handouts for meeting presentations.
Must establish the vision and deliverables for the project
One of the first things that must be set on a project kickoff meeting agenda, is the project vision. This must be followed up with the deliverables for the project. Share goals and objectives of the project right at the commencement of the meeting. This will help in setting up a common goal.
Must help in identifying project teams and set roles
As soon you have identified the project goals and objectives, alongside the deliverables, the next step on your project management kick off meeting, is how to identify different component teams to work on the project, and then setting roles for each identified team. Your meeting template should help you to compose a contact list that should include, the name or tag of each team, names of team members, departments, roles, and contacts (including phone numbers and emails). Your template should be able to categorized members based on their areas of expertise, and this is how you can match each member with the appropriate team.
Must contain a pre-developed plan for the project execution
Your project must have a time frame for the entire project as well as each step to be carried out, this will help the teams to become more Effective in handling their duties. You need to involve the other members of your team in the finalization of the details of the project. You need their input at the beginning and all through the duration of the meeting kickoff.
Must be able to review the project plan and then identify the bottlenecks and potential risks
Identifying bottlenecks and potential risks in any project is one of the most important steps to take and this issue must be discussed at the project kickoff meeting. First of all, you need to Define how you will measure the success of the project. This means you need to ascertain, all that are required in order to regard the project as successful one. Identifying the bottlenecks and risks means you need to prepare your project team for the critical tasks(the most sensitive tasks), they will carry out. Try as much as possible to encourage them in helping you identify roadblocks.
Provide logistical framework for effective team communication
The Logistics necessary for effective team communication must be highlighted on your project kickoff meeting template, and that means, each component must emphasize the logistical components that must play a critical role in each step of project execution, and this must be communicated effectively with other teams and team members. Logistical framework will prevent the repetition of duties, thus the project time frame can be met. This steps help you determine how you will update each other, and how you will communicate with all stakeholders, and how frequently such updates will be made. You will have to schedule a regular standup whereby everyone can attend the meeting.
Must provide the project management methodology and provide an outline for project’s work progress
Your project meeting template must contain an outline of the methods that has been tested and proven to be effective, and then establishing the best practices that your team members and other teams must follow to ensure quality sustainability.
Must provide Logistics component that will ensure accurate team communication
Logistics can be a wide component of a project, for instance, you must be aware of how raw materials will be moved from the manufacturer to the site of project, and how financial details will be broken down into units. All these components must be communicated effectively to different teams.
Have a complete guideline on how to choose the right project tools for each team
A project handling plan, must provide details on types of tools to be used for different purposes. Make sure each team member is set up with the right tools they are familiar with, and make sure they are properly trained to handle advance tools. Handling unfamiliar tools can reduce productivity.
Must provide a set agenda, as well as prepare the handouts for meeting presentations
Use your presentation template to create handouts that you can send to team members before the meeting, so that they can prepare themselves for it ahead. If possible, create a sample presentation and review it ahead of the presentation. An ideal presentation template should be revisable, just in case you need to remove errors. Workly is an effective project management app that can be used to create a project presentation template to facilitate an effective presentation. The app is also effective in supporting administrative and HR duties. Workly can effectively work with other applications that are already in place in handling projects and office duties.