Project kickoff · Project management · Meetings
How to run a project kickoff meeting in 90 minutes
By T. Krause
A kickoff should settle what's out of scope before anyone argues about it, and a round of slides won't do that. Here is a 90-minute agenda, followed through an invented customer portal, where one goal turns out to need a baseline and two risks get an owner.
To run a project kickoff meeting, draft the goals beforehand with the sponsor and project lead, then use the meeting to test them with the whole team. Draw the line between in scope and out of scope, put a name on each role and risk, and set three to five dates. Close by reading back who does what next.
Atlassian's Project Kickoff play is a useful public model. It calls the kickoff "the first meeting with the project team and the project client (when applicable)". It budgets 30 minutes to prepare and 90 to run, for 3 to 14 people. It usually comes after the statement of work or project poster is finished.
What goes on the board, and what Atlassian's play adds
Atlassian's agenda spends its longest slot, 60 minutes, on the vision, the mission and what it calls mission tests, its name for how you'll know the project has worked. Our project kickoff template spends less time on purpose and more on practical limits. Its frames are Goals, In scope, Out of scope, Roles, Risks and Milestones.
Neither is the one right format. If a team doesn't yet agree why the project exists, use Atlassian's longer vision slot. If the purpose is settled and people are unsure of the limits, use ours. We've kept three things from the play: a sponsor who opens the meeting, a silent pre-read, and the rule that not everyone has to attend every part.
Before the meeting
Atlassian budgets 30 minutes to prepare. We'd spend them on these:
- Decide who the sponsor, the lead and the core team are
- Write a first draft of the goals with the sponsor and the lead
- Send the draft round, or give people five minutes to read it silently at the start
- Find out who outside the team could stop the project
That last item is ours. A stakeholder map is the fuller version.
An invented customer portal, frame by frame
The project, company and team below are made up, as are the dates and the discussion. The frames and notes are on our sample board. The split of the time below is ours, fitted into Atlassian's 90 minutes.
| Minutes | Part |
|---|---|
| 5 | Sponsor says why this project, why now |
| 5 | Agenda and ground rules |
| 10 | Names and roles |
| 20 | Goals |
| 20 | Scope |
| 20 | Roles and risks |
| 10 | Milestones and close |
That's 90 minutes in total.
Goals
Two notes are up: "Customers download invoices themselves" and "Cut billing tickets by half".
Test each with one question: could we check this on the last day? The first passes, since a customer either can or can't. The second has a problem, because half of what? Nobody in the room knows how many billing tickets arrive today. The team doesn't argue about it. Ana takes the job of pulling the current count before the next meeting, and the goal stays on the board marked as needing a baseline.
Finding that gap took two minutes, and day one is a cheap time to find it.
Scope
In scope has "Invoices and payments", "Contact details" and "Password reset". Out of scope has "Contract changes" and "Mobile app".
Somebody asks whether a customer changing their billing address counts as contact details or a contract change. Kai thinks it's the first, and Sara, the owner, says the same. So the team adds "billing address" to Contact details. If they couldn't agree, our template's rule applies: it goes in Out of scope for now, and someone argues it back in later with a reason.
Out of scope does a job that In scope can't. When a stakeholder asks for a mobile app in February, the note is there, with a date on which everybody agreed to it.
Roles and risks
Roles reads "Owner: Sara", "Design: Kai" and "Build: Ana and Leo". Every role has a name, and two people on Build is fine as long as they know who takes which part.
Risks has two notes, and neither says who's watching it. So the team adds a name to each.
| Risk | Who watches it | First step |
|---|---|---|
| ERP export is slow | Leo | Time one export |
| Legal review of payment terms | Sara | Ask legal for a date |
Milestones
"Designs: 15 Nov", "Beta: 10 Jan" and "Launch: 1 Feb" are on the board. The risks change the dates here. If payment terms go to customers in the beta, legal has to finish before 10 Jan. So the team adds a fourth date, "Legal sign-off: 15 Dec", which is earlier than anyone had thought about. It's a date the team has picked and still has to confirm with legal, so Sara's first step above comes first.
Close
The lead reads back three things: Ana gets the ticket count, Sara gets a date from legal, and Leo times an export. Atlassian's play ends the same way, with a recap of next steps and someone assigned to update the shared page. Here, that page is the board, and the link goes to everyone with a stake in the project.
How kickoffs go wrong
It's a presentation. If the lead talks for 90 minutes, nobody has agreed to anything. Atlassian's silent pre-read helps, because it gives you the meeting back for discussion.
The goals can't be checked. "Improve the customer experience" gets everyone nodding and tells nobody when to stop.
Everything is in scope. An empty Out of scope frame means the conversation hasn't happened yet. Ask what someone might expect that you don't plan to build.
Roles are job titles. "Engineering" can't answer an email. Write a person's name.
Frequently asked questions
Who should attend a project kickoff meeting?
Atlassian lists the sponsor, the project leader, a facilitator, the core team and stakeholders, and says one person may hold several roles. It also says that not everybody has to attend every part. We'd keep the sponsor for the opening and the scope section at least.
Is a kickoff worth it for a small project?
Run a shorter one. Three people can fill in the same frames in 30 minutes, which is our own suggestion. Don't skip Out of scope, because small projects grow too.
What's the difference between a kickoff and sprint planning?
A kickoff agrees on goals, limits and roles for the whole project. Sprint planning picks the work for the next stretch. You run a kickoff once, or again if the project has lost its way.
What should happen straight after the meeting?
Share the board and send out the actions the same day. For who decides what on each piece of work, follow up with a RACI matrix, and put the dates on a project timeline.
Plan your own kickoff
Draft the goals with your sponsor this week. Then open the project kickoff template, replace the sample notes, and leave Out of scope empty so the room has to fill it in. At the end, check that every risk has a name beside it.