Project Kick-Off meeting – In the footsteps of the project manager {2}

Previously I have covered 2 posts about the kick off meeting and why they are important. Yesterday I mentioned about how as a project manager you can prepare for this meeting and help the team to be ready. Today I will conclude this discussion on where I left it yesterday.

Teamwork: Often, it is the same team that gets to work together in the same projects. At times though, there is cross-organizational projects involving external sponsors and customers. It is important that all the involved stakeholders are part of the kick-off meeting in such a set-up. It helps set the pace on how the team will collaborate, communicate, meeting frequencies and helps small details that would otherwise have been ignored to be properly addressed. The team members have a chance to be familiar with each other, which reduces anxiety. As a project manager, the important part that should be taken care of is to make sure that the expectations are well and articulately spelt out to the team and let them develop a working relationship on how to deliver results. The project should however still be monitored and managed but not micro-managed.

What next?

Yeah, that is always the big question. The team members have been informed of the new project and there is excitement in the room. There is always a temptation to jump straight into the work and begin working on the juicy part. As a developer, I have experienced numerous cases where

team members start to code functionalities of a program, they barely have understood how they work, which always ends up in defeat. As a project manager, the next steps involve keeping team members clear of their roles, expectations and milestones along the way. It is the moment that the kick-off meeting should be rolled backwards from anticipation towards results. It is also necessary that the project manager gets to know the client, their expectations and requirements before diving into any project. Traditionally, companies used to have clients come over for a meeting, which would be marked with very formal tones. Companies are now changing the trend and at times it may start with a company visit to familiarize yourself with the client and drop the “business” acumen. It works most of the time as it helps the client to know that these are people who are going to deliver quality to his work. The project managers should use this opportunity to get to know their clients and develop a working relationship and level of trust.

Before concluding the meeting, it is a good idea to have a recap of the meeting to give the client a review of the people who are going to work on their project. It is important that the team understands the roles played by other team members. A review of the SoW should also be performed to know what the team is doing, when to do it, how to do it and what they should expect to produce. Any other important issues that may be deemed necessary should also be put on the table towards the end of the meeting, as it is not always feasible to have all the team members and stakeholders in a single meeting.

It can not be stated enough how the kick-off meeting is important in any meeting, but any project manager worth their salt, will ensure that it is done.

Project Kick-Off meeting – In the footsteps of the project manager

Last week I wrote a post on how to set the right pace for project kick off, ensuring that the whole team is at par. As a project manager, holding this meeting with an informed team and a proper project management plan is key to an engaged meeting with the client and the stakeholders. A team that is well informed on the requirements of the project and what is expected out of it, works even better when they have an encounter with the client. This helps them to ask questions and raise concerns, something that may have been overlooked in the initial phases. Moreover, the team’s spirit is boosted, knowing that they have to create a working formula that makes the client feel confident. As PMI states, a meeting with the client is crucial in helping the team to make vital project decisions in good time, so that valuable hours, money and face-to-face client time are not spent on team debates, which the client may construct to mean internal-strife. In my earlier years of working as a developer, this was something that frustrated me everytime i was to start on a new task or project. i just had the work lumped on my board and a deadline issued. As I worked on the project, I spent countless hours trying to understand what the project was about, something that even the project manager had a vague knowledge on. From the project manager’s viewpoint, it was the business processes that mattered. From my view point, it was how to

connect the technical part to the business value. Later on, I started demanding to be part of kick-off meetings, something that made a huge difference in my approach to projects. But again, this is more of a company culture and how they prefer to approach projects. In large companies, it is usually the norm to have project kick-off meetings where players from different teams are briefed about the project and the clients get to know who will be responsible for developing the solutions. In smaller companies, kick-offs are very informal and there are usually no documentations involved. They prefer casual face to face talk over a cup of coffee and a whiteboard.

Preparation: As a project manager, the least one can do is to make sure that they are well prepared for the kick-off meeting. Documents regarding the project should be shared well in advance so that the team gets to know what the project is about. This helps the team to quickly get acquainted with the task ahead and consequently acquire any important knowledge that they may deem relevant. For instance, working on a new security feature, a team member may have concern on how this will impact a release they are set to have in production in the next year. The kick-off meeting should however not degenerate to a Q&A session, but rather a knowledge sharing platform to give a go ahead for starting. The project manager should therefore moderate the questions being asked until towards the end, to keep the meeting on track.

Who is the client? It is equally important to let the team know of how the project is important to the client. Is it a new client trying to find a new company, is it an existing client whose preferences are known to the team or is it a project that tries to check on feasibility of something else? Internal clients who have had projects with the project manager before, should also be invited to the meeting. The project manager should give an explanation of the client distinctively without bordering on the nitty-gritty details. For instance, “this project belongs to a client who recently was awarded the best htelier in the country”. This helps the team to Let them know who they are (internal/external), what we know about them, other projects they’ve worked on, and how the client likes to work

What is this project about? The project manager should address this question in the kick-off meeting, to help the team understand why they are doing the project. This should be viewed from a client’s perspective on how the project’s deliverable will help to drive their business. It is a key step that should be done with clarity to help the team understand what a success or failure looks like. Discussions with the team on how the project’s success will help to solve the client’s problems should be part of the agenda. The project manager should aim to maximize the positive customer experience by guiding the team to understand the need to deliver on the project’s success. It is the first baby steps for the team to develop a vision on why they should care about the project and also know that their work will contribute to something big. Lastly, it should also be clarified on what success means beyond timely delivery within the budget and the agreed scope. How will the project team benefit as a result of doing this project – will they develop a new capability or competency with a new technology?

Roles definition: the project kick-off is also important for the team to understand what roles they will be playing in the project. The project manager could develop a RACI chart and a RAM chart. These helps the team to understand the context of how they will fit into the big picture by clarifying their roles and responsibilities. To improve clarity, the project manager should map these roles to the statement of work (SOW) and clarify the deliverables associated with the roles, why they exist and what has to be done to make them a success. This helps to mitigate any uncertainties and improves comfortable levels of team’s understanding. This should be the area that gets the central focus of the kick-off meeting. Failure to do so, can easily derail the project.

To keep the topic juicy, I will let this first sink today and will tommorrow, give a post on the last part of this series.

Project kick-off meeting – Setting the right pace

The day has finally arrived and as a project manager, you feel confident that you have everything in place to kick-off the project and set the team running. But how do go you about this? Has the team prepared enough to start the project? Are all the processes in place? Thanks to project management skills, this can be done properly and the team can begin energized and confident about the task ahead of them. As PMBOK expresses, this meeting signals the end of planning meetings and signals a new dawn when execution gets a go-ahead. The significant role of this meeting is to introduce the team and help them understand what the project is all about and help every one reach a common level of understanding, help the team to commit to the project and finally to explain the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder. It guides the team to have a clear vision of how success looks like, understand what os actually to be done and come to an agreement on how to work together effectively.

There is no single template on how this meeting is carried out to set the right tone for the project but surely there are guidelines of project management that enhance best practices.

In my experience, working alongside these principles of project management as suggested by PMBOK, when working with small projects of about 4~5 members, it is normally a routine that all members are involved in the planning and execution phase. Since all members are involved from the beginning, we naturally tend to have the same pace of natural flow and understanding, making it easier to begine the project shortly after initiation (Planning Process Group). These will typically be projects that run for maximum up to a month.

For projects that run between 1~3 months, it is then better that the the PM team gets involved in the planning and the team is involved in the tail end of the planning phase. This has two advantages: firstly, it helps to make quick and sound decisions provided the key stakeholders are involved, secondly, it makes it possible for the team to continue with other tasks hence not experiencing unnecessary faigue and lack of concentration. This will normally take place within processes in the executing process group.

Very large projects that are usually cross-departmental and are multiphased, have kick off meetings at every phase gate of the project. This is the opportunity for the team to be rest assured that indeed the previous phase is “certified” and they are ready to process to the next phase. But how will the project manager actually go through this phase? Don’t miss out on my next post “Project Kick-Off meeting – In the footsteps of the project manager.”