Template

Project kickoff template

Why the project exists, what done means, and who owns what — agreed on day one.

60 minutesFor Anybody starting a project with more than two peopleAgenda room
Change the agenda first

The agenda, with a time for each part

  1. Why this, and why now8 min
    • What problem does this solve, and for whom?
    • Why now and not next quarter?
  2. What done looks like10 min
    • How will we know it is finished?
    • What could we check on the last day?
  3. In scope, out of scope10 min
    • What are we deliberately not doing?
    • What will people assume is included that is not?
  4. Who owns each part12 min
    • Who owns each part?
    • Who decides when two owners disagree?
  5. What could go wrong10 min
    • What is most likely to go wrong?
    • What would we do the day it does?
  6. Dates, and the first milestone10 min
    • What is the first thing somebody outside the team will see, and when?

How the notes read afterwards

A made-up example, so you can see the shape. In a real call each line carries the words that were said and who said them.

Done looks like. Every customer on the new billing system, with no invoice more than a day late, by 1 March.

Out of scope. Changing prices. That is a separate project.

Owners. Noah: migration. Lena: customer emails. Maya decides if they disagree.

First milestone. Ten customers moved by the 20th.

Running it well

Ways to change it

Two or three peopleThirty minutes. Keep what done looks like, who owns what and the first date.
With a clientAdd ten minutes on how you will work together: who to write to, how often you meet, and how changes are asked for.
Restarting a stalled projectStart with what has changed since it stalled, and be honest about what is now out of scope.

When to skip it. When one person is doing all the work. Write the same six answers on a page and send it round instead.

Questions

What should a kickoff meeting cover?

Why the project exists, what done means, what is in and out, who owns each part, what could go wrong, and the first date.

Who should be in a kickoff meeting?

Everybody who will do the work and the one person who can say yes or no to changes. Not everybody who is interested.

What happens in the room

Everybody joins from the link, with no account. The agenda sits beside the call and each item fills in with what was said about it, under the name of the person who said it.

More templates

Sprint retrospectiveWhat went well, what did not, and the one or two changes you will actually make.Sprint planningOne goal for the sprint, the work that serves it, and who takes what.Incident postmortemWhat happened, why, and what changes so it does not happen again — without blaming anybody.Product roadmap reviewWhat is being built next and why, what moved since last time, and what was cut to make room.Design reviewOne design, shown early, with the questions the designer actually wants answered.Backlog refinementGo through what is coming next, make each item small and clear enough to start, and throw out what will never be done.User research interviewOne customer, in their own words: what they were trying to do, what they did, and where it went wrong.Lessons learned meetingAt the end of a project: what to do again, what never to do again, and where those lessons will be kept so the next project finds them.

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