Success Secrets - Project Kickoffs!

We are kicking off two projects this week, both are working on hardware devices with software interfaces. One of the ways that we successfully transition from the proposal phase to the working phase is a project kickoff.

A project kickoff includes the following:

• Project Summary - products included and purpose
• Project Milestones and Deliverable
• Project Objectives and Success Criteria
• Project Scope - indentify those things Out of Scope also
• Project Assumptions, Constraints and Dependencies
• Project Roles and Responsibilities
• Project Contact List - names, emails, phone numbers of all team members
• Change Management Plan if anything identified in the Project Kickoff doesn't hold true

The power of the Project Kickoff is introducting everyone on the team, getting everyone driving to the same objectives, removing ambiguity of who is responsible for what and putting a method in place to mitigate project changes. The kickoff should be a means to clarify, solidify and assign accountability and collaboration.

Good project planning and UCD philosophies are a measure of the maturity of the organization. Pat yourself and your organization on the back if this is how you start a project!