Successfully Kicking off a Software Project

When you’re heads-down working on a huge project, it’s easy to forget that the smallest things can sometimes have the biggest impact on your success.

A project kickoff meeting is your chance to get your entire team on the same page and moving in the right direction from the start, and its success sets the tone for the project. For a project manager, it’s a one-time, critical opportunity to share what is expected of team members, how they should deliver, and when they should complete their tasks.

A well-prepared kick-off meeting can make a big difference in the project’s execution and completion.

What Is A Project Kickoff?

The project kickoff is part of the project initiation phase of the project lifecycle. It’s a critical project management activity that involves preparing the team members and the client team on expectations, communication, and collaboration for the project.

It informs the project planning phase of the project, and also allows your team and the client to iron out and finalize details such as project timeline, project management methodology, success measurement, and more.

Most kickoffs require a series of meetings, both internal and client-side. If your project doesn’t have a client, kickoffs are still necessary and should involve all project stakeholders and project sponsors.

The kickoff meeting shouldn’t be a discussion about project scope. Rather, it’s an opportunity to level set with the project stakeholders and discuss expectations around milestones, rounds of review cycles, and how the approach can be streamlined.

What Is The Purpose Of The Client Kickoff Meeting?

A project kick-off meeting helps bring the customer and the team together to start building a successful relationship. It can work as a catalyst to break the ice and jump-start development.

At the start of your project kickoff meeting, you want to make sure that everyone’s coming in with the same level of information. That means asking a few key questions, such as:

• Does everyone know each other?

• How familiar is everyone with the project’s scope and deliverables?

• Does everyone understand how this project fits into your larger company goals and vision?

Even in a small company, a project might involve teaming up people who’ve never worked together, so it’s a good idea to start your meeting by introducing everyone.

Tips for a Successful Kickoff Meeting

The introductory part of the kick-off meeting should build rapport among the stakeholders involved. Introduce their names, positions, and areas of expertise. Go over information in the project charter so that the team members understand the purpose, the project scope, the major deliverables, the risks, the assumptions, the budget, and the due date.

Use a welcoming and positive tone as much as possible, to ensure the project culture is positive and constructive from the beginning.

What to cover in the meeting

Once you’ve defined your objectives for the kickoff meeting, work on developing a kickoff meeting agenda, which allows you to meet those objectives and set expectations for a successful project.

Send it in advance to your client and get feedback, ask them what else they want to discuss, and begin a dialogue on the meeting content before the meeting happens. When creating the agenda, keep in mind some basic questions that you’ll want answers to:

Why – Why are we doing this project in the first place?

What – What’s the solution or deliverable? What project process are we going to use? What are the requirements?

How – How are we going to work together to make the project happen? How will risks, issues, and change management be managed?

When – When are we going to do it? What is the timeline?

Who – Who’s going to do what?

Discuss Roles and Responsibilities

Explain the project to them in plain language, then get into details. In a technical project, specific jargon is expected, but those should be reserved for after the end product is made clear to everyone in the meeting.

Be clear on who is accountable for each role. Being accountable means more than being responsible; it also means being answerable for the actions or inactions of yourself or anyone else on the team.

Explain Procedures, Risks, and Contingencies

Explain how the project manager will be working with the team members, starting from scheduling to requesting changes. Emphasize the importance of understanding the procedures to maintain the workflow in the project.

Risk areas and contingencies can be confusing, so it’s best to present your project risk management at the kick-off meeting to prevent a future problem.

Describe the possible risks, both positive and negative, and what is expected from team members should they occur. Explain the contingency plans to avoid and mitigate those risks.

Answer Questions

Asking for clarification and feedback from your team is a great opportunity to take note of issues that might have been overlooked. Sometimes, a small issue can cause a major blockage in the project execution. Encourage all team members to share their concerns before the project starts proactively.

Conclusion - Successfully Kicking off a Software Project

A project kickoff meeting is an important step in any project. But what’s more important is what you do next. To keep up the momentum and positive energy, send a follow-up email covering what you went over and what happens next.

Once the project kickoff meeting is out of the way, you and your team can get started on the project, assuming you also have all the info and assets you need. In some cases, you may need to finalize the project plan and any other project planning activities before moving on to project execution.