Kickoff meeting
A meeting at the start of a new project or activity where everyone involved shares the purpose / scope / roles / schedule.
A kickoff meeting is a meeting at the start of a new project or activity where everyone involved shares the purpose / scope / roles / schedule. It is also called a “project kickoff.” “Misaligned purposes” and “vague roles,” often cited as causes of project failure, are both the kind of problem that alignment at the start can prevent, and the kickoff is the basic move that takes care of that alignment in one go.
The 5 elements covered at a kickoff
Choosing kickoff participants
A kickoff is not an information-sharing session but a place for decisions. As a rule, keep it to 8-10 people or fewer. If information needs to be shared more widely than that, hold a separate “kickoff briefing” at a later date.
| Role | Required/optional |
|---|---|
| Project owner (holds approval authority) | Required |
| Project manager | Required |
| Technical lead | Required |
| Design lead (when UI/UX is involved) | Case by case |
| Representatives of key stakeholders | Required |
| 1-2 representatives of frontline members | Recommended |
| Facilitator | Recommended |
Advance preparation for a successful kickoff
Things to finish at least 24 hours before
- Put the pre-reading together in 6 pages or less and share it
- State 3-5 points you want to discuss
- Ask participants to read the agenda and pre-reading
- Prepare a first draft of the RACI chart
- Arrange the meeting room / URL and check that it works
Follow-up within 24 hours after the kickoff
A kickoff is not “over = done.” Only when decisions and action items are shared within 24 hours does the project really start moving. As described in detail in Scheduling and running a project kickoff, always carry out the transfer from the meeting minutes to a task management tool.
How to spot a kickoff that has become an empty formality
The sign that a kickoff has sunk into a “ceremony to mark the start” is clear: not a single decision is made during the meeting. A meeting that ends with only reading out materials and meeting each other would have the same result even if it were not held. Conversely, at a kickoff that works, “things not yet decided,” such as where to draw the scope / how to assign roles / the first milestone, get decided on the spot. Whether participants take home even one “assignment of their own” is the test that separates a ceremony from a place for decisions.