The commencement of a new project is always heralded with the kick-off meeting where the project team will get to know each other.
It helps in guarding against the project team having varying levels of understanding about the goals of the project. The project kick-off meeting objective is to introduce the stakeholders of a project to one another and have an understanding of the background of the project.
Furthermore, it will allow them to understand their roles in the project and enrich their understanding of the project and reach an agreement to work together on the project.
The role that this meeting plays in the success of your project cannot be over-emphasized, it prevents misinformation in the project and reduces the level of risk your project is exposed to as the project plan is extensively discussed by the stakeholders.
In this article, you will read about the project kick-off meaning and objectives and its importance to your project.
Índice
Kick-off meeting: why it is important for your project
In reality, some people are always puzzled about the role of the kick-off meeting in a project. They always struggle to have an understanding of the internal kick-off meeting meaning in business. In the real sense, an internal meeting is an avenue for the project team to come together to discuss their ideas and get rid of any misunderstanding early before the project starts.
No doubt, how you plan it will set the tone for the success of your project. You need to have the relevant stakeholders present and always have a clear agenda in place. This will prepare everyone for the meeting to contribute important ideas that will optimize the project plan.
The project stakeholders should aim to achieve the following to achieve the team kick-off meeting purpose:
Communication of the scope of the project: the scope of the project details how the project goals will be achieved. Hence, the project team should painstakingly study and discuss it extensively to ensure that they have an in-depth understanding of it. With this, the task of achieving the goals and objectives of the project becomes easy.
Identifying the risk involved in the project: in reality, no project is immune to risk but when the project stakeholders are in the know of the risks, they can address it by putting in measures in place to mitigate it.
Understand the method of project delivery: here, the stakeholders will set the expectations of the project and decide on how the project will be delivered to ensure that the desired results are delivered to the clients.
No doubt, the nature of the tool that you use in planning your kick-off meeting plays a vital role in its outcome. You can embrace the used project kick-off meeting template to manage your meeting. It is very easy to use and will conveniently document your kick-off meeting.
Also, you can reference it in the future. For example, an online project management tool like Sinnaps can be used to manage the kick-off meeting of your project. It supports effective and team collaboration thereby helping you to achieve the team meeting for your project with ease.
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You will receive 5 lessons over the course of 15 days.
Lesson 2: Plan your project and prepare a substantive Kick Off meeting.
Project kick-off meeting agenda
The success of this project meeting is centered on the kick-off meeting agenda. Before the kick-off call, the project manager should take his time to draft the project kick-off meeting agenda that details what the project stakeholders will discuss in the meeting to achieve the project kick-off meeting objectives.
You should strive to draft a project kick-off meeting agenda that will have the full attention of the people that will attend the meeting.
The project kick-off meeting agenda should include the following:
The project basics: this entails writing down the name(s) and number(s) of the project to be discussed in the meeting. Also, include the date and time of the meeting.
Attendance: endeavor to list the people that will attend the project meeting by their name and role in the project.
Assignment of tasks: endeavor to delegate the assignment of the meeting to some attendees of the meeting. For example, you can assign someone to ensure that everybody signs the attendance register.
Introductions: introduce the project to the stakeholders to keep them focused on the purpose of the meeting.
Explanation of the project methodology: here, you are required to describe the methodology that will be used to undertake the project to enrich their understanding.
Planning: in this, you are required to review the scope of the project management plan and the change and control procedures.
Acknowledgement of the project’s regulation: in this, you will reference the required standard for the project. You will detail the requirements of the clients.
For instance, the kick-off meeting agenda for construction projects must be detailed so that the important issues that will enhance the achievement of the objectives of the construction project are discussed in the event.
Project kick-off meeting minutes
The minute of a project kick-off event is crucial because it serves as the official written record of the project kick-off meeting. It records what transpires in the kick-off meeting.
Before, the person saddled with the task of taking the project kick-off meeting minutes should have the right recording tool such as pen and paper or laptop.
Also, you should read the meeting agenda before the commencement of the meeting to aid you in creating an outline for the meeting. In the course of the meeting, pass the attendance sheet round the participants and ensure that everyone signs.
Also, make sure that you know everyone present to have detailed information about anyone addressing the issue raised during the kick-off meeting.
The following are important features of the kick-off meeting minutes:
- Note the time the meeting starts
- Endeavor to include the main ideas of the matters discussed
- Record the motions, who moved the motions, and the result of the votes
- Record the time that the meeting ends
- Endeavor to do the following after the meeting:
- Type the minute immediately while everything is still fresh in your memory
- Then, proofread the minutes before it is shared with the relevant stakeholders.
Agile meeting
According to the Project management institute, 71% of business organizations embrace agile methodology. Agile teams are always empowered during the agile meeting to design and build the right products for their clients with agile methodology. It assists in creating opportunities to assess a project’s direction during the development cycle.
The agile meeting is an important ceremony carried out by the agile team to manage a project effectively and deliver value iteratively at a short interval. In an agile kick-off meeting example, the agile team will come together to discuss new initiatives before a major project is started by them.
Manage your teams’ resources and workload with Sinnaps
Scrum meeting is usually carried out by the software development team in managing the process of creating their iterations. The scrum meeting includes sprint planning, daily scrum, scrum review, and sprint retrospective. However, project managers must integrate project management tools in the management of their agile meetings. An example of the project management tool is Sinnaps. It is an agile tool supports agile activities effectively.
