18/05/2019 5 Steps to Project Kickoff - Blog | Planview Projectplace

See Projectplace in Action

Sign up for a 14-day fully-functional free trial today.

TRY PROJECTPLACE FREE (HTTPS://WWW.PLANVIEW.COM/PRODUCTS/PROJECTPLACE/ENTERPRISE-TRIAL/)

Topics 

PLANVIEW BLOG (/)

Your Path to Work and Resource Management

WORK COLLABORATION (/WORK-COLLABORATION/)

5 Steps to Project Kickoff

Published November 22, 2018 By Leyna O’Quinn (https://blog.planview.com/author/leyna-oquinn/)

Planning for a project is no easy task, especially for large businesses and organizations where
teams often collaborate across time zones—and sometimes even across oceans. Because of
this, there are a lot of important things to consider when rolling out steps to project kickoff,
including:

Budget constraints
Resources and manpower
What’s in the best interest of the organization

https://blog.planview.com/five-steps-to-kicking-off-the-formal-project/ 1/6
18/05/2019 5 Steps to Project Kickoff - Blog | Planview Projectplace

With that said, there are some standard elements that feature from project to project, and
learning how to prepare for them can help ensure your campaign starts off without a hitch. Read
on to learn which five steps to project kickoff can help your team work more efficiently.

Starting Your Project Off on the Right Foot

When launching a project for the first time, it’s important to keep your company’s goals in mind.
Otherwise, you could find yourself in a situation a few months down the road having to explain
your actions to stakeholders because you’ve lost sight of your business objectives.

This article will cover five important steps which can help you prevent your project from veering
off course. That way, you’ll be more likely to meet your predetermined outcomes, while
ensuring your team members, stakeholders, and customers are all happy with your company’s
progress.

(https://info.planview.com/everyone-is-a-project-manager-2018-_ebook_cwm_en_reg.html?
utm_source=web&utm_medium=pr)

1. Review everything relevant to the project

You won’t be able to start a project until you have a solid understanding of relevant assets and
resources. Otherwise, you’ll quickly lose sight of your business objectives, causing your project
to become a potential failure. For this reason, it’s critical to review anything that and everything
that summarizes your project.

Ideally, you should be able to get your hands on a statement of work (SOW). This will provide
you with an in-depth look at the scope of your project, covering everything from performance
expectations to preferred timelines. If you can’t come across a SOW, make sure you’re able to
collect the following information elsewhere:

A breakdown of the estimated costs and the project budget

General milestones
Expected deliverables
Key roles for each project team member
Any assumptions and constraints that could impact your progress

https://blog.planview.com/five-steps-to-kicking-off-the-formal-project/ 2/6
18/05/2019 5 Steps to Project Kickoff - Blog | Planview Projectplace

It’s essential that you have all this information before your project kickoff meeting
(https://pmstudycircle.com/2016/03/what-is-a-project-kick-off-meeting/). In fact, commit the
information to memory, if you must. Because showing up to your kickoff meeting unprepared
will start your project off on a bad note, potentially destroying its chances of success before it
has even commenced.

2. Meet with your project sponsor before kickoff

Generally speaking, the project sponsor (https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/importance-of-

project-sponsorship-9946) is the individual responsible for seeing that the campaign meets the
stakeholders’ business objectives. Because they play such an integral role in the government of
your project, it’s important for you to meet with the sponsor sometime before kickoff, whether
over the phone or in person.

The purpose of this meeting is to touch base over the basics of your kickoff session. You’ll want
to confirm the following details:

When is the project kickoff meeting?

What are the primary discussion topics for this session?
Where will the kickoff session take place?

And one more thing: As the project manager, it’s going to be your responsibility to lead the
discussion at the kickoff meeting. Show up prepared by reviewing the information covered in
your SOW document.

3. Create a formal meeting agenda and presentation

After meeting with the sponsor, you should draft an agenda covering the topics of your meeting
and prepare for your upcoming presentation at the project kickoff session. It’s important that
you’re adequately prepared for your presentation, as you’ll be speaking to key members of the
project, including;

The project delivery team

Subject matter experts (SMEs) and end users
Senior management officials (usually the PMO director and relevant department heads)
The project sponsor
Any stakeholders who play a decision-making role in the project

4. Limit customer personnel participation levels in advance

If your project involves working with customer-side personnel, it’s a good idea to limit the
customer participants to relevant personnel only.

While the opinions and feedback of customer representatives are valuable during the lifespan
of a project, you don’t want to make your kickoff session the platform for all customer-related
concerns. Including non-essential personnel can easily transform a quick session into a two- or

https://blog.planview.com/five-steps-to-kicking-off-the-formal-project/ 3/6
18/05/2019 5 Steps to Project Kickoff - Blog | Planview Projectplace

three-day long event, as well as make it more difficult to stick to your agenda. For this reason,
make sure to set restrictions on who can participate in the project kickoff session, and give
customer-side personnel a different platform for asking questions and sharing concerns.

5. Set the expectations

As the project manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure that the kickoff session, the project,
and any subsequent events all run smoothly. Part of achieving this is by keeping everyone else
informed about upcoming events. Use the last few minutes of your project kickoff session to
remind attendees of any upcoming events so that they can adjust their schedules and make
proper travel arrangements. That way, nobody has to worry about going over budget because
they needed to book accommodations at the last minute.

Putting it all together

While every project is inherently different, good organizational and project management skills
are universal. With adequate preparation and an open channel of communication, you’re more
likely to start your project with the support needed to carry it from start to finish.

(https://info.planview.com/everyone-is-a-project-manager-2018-_ebook_cwm_en_reg.html?
utm_source=web&utm_medium=pr)

Related Posts

(https://blog.planview.com/4-reasons-to-use-project-collaboration-solutions/)

https://blog.planview.com/five-steps-to-kicking-off-the-formal-project/ 4/6