Agile project kick-off meeting toolkit
By Nick Butler in Agile on September 26, 2017
Give your project the best chance of success. This Kick-off Kit gives you the tools, templates and tips you need to run an effective project kick-off meeting, all in a handy 39-page ebook.
Request your copy of the Kick-off Kit ebook
Based on our Kick-off Kit blog post series, it’s been revised and expanded, collecting all the resources in one place. It shows you how you can start your project on the right foot, making sure you get the results you need.
What it will help you do
Learn what you need to run a fun and practical one-day project kick-off meeting that sets you up to start developing the next day.
The Kit is designed to help you:
- build a shared understanding of the Project Vision and what you’ll deliver for your organisation and your customers
- bond the team as a collaborative unit aligned behind the Vision
- reduce time and cost by ruthlessly prioritising only those elements that will deliver your outcomes
- set expectations about what will be delivered within your organisation
- do all this quickly with a view to delivering a working product you can test with customers as soon as possible
- have fun while you’re at it.
Who the Kick-off Kit is for
The Kit is for anyone starting an Agile project and wanting to run a project kick-off meeting.
You don’t need to have worked in an Agile way before. It’s designed for recent arrivals in Agileland, and doesn’t assume you already know the lingo or concepts.
You might be the manager, product owner or project lead who is planning the project kick-off meeting or the facilitator who will run the meeting on the day.
Nor do you need to be developing software—your product might be something like a policy, plan, strategy or research programme.
What you’ll cover
Find out:
- who to invite to the project kick-off meeting
- what to have on the agenda
- how to facilitate the sessions
- what each activity achieves.
You’ll get tips on how to complete the activities, templates to guide you, examples to follow, advice about common pitfalls and ideas for other activities you might like to try.
You’ll learn how to run sessions on the:
- Product Vision Presentation
- Press Release
- Elevator Pitch
- Success Sliders
- Pragmatic Personas
- User Story Mapping
- Prioritisation of User Stories
- User Story Writing
- Team Charter.
The Kit is based on what’s worked for us. We’ve tried an array of exercises, refined some and discarded others; you’ll be able to experiment to find what works for you too.
Request your copy of the Kick-off Kit ebook
Improving the Agile project kick-off meeting toolkit
Let us know how you find it. We’d love to get your feedback on the Kit and the activities it covers, or just to hear about your experiences running project kick-off meetings.
+64 4 939 0062
Level 5, 57-59 Courtenay Place
Te Aro, 6011
PO Box 11504
Wellington