3 Questions to Ask Before a Project Kickoff

I’ve often said that the most important meeting over the course of a project is the kickoff. Here you and the client can reach alignment on the project goals, the research questions, timelines, and deliverables. In general, I recommend that anyone that has a meaningful stake in the project should attend the kickoff. Squeaky wheels should especially get an invite — you don’t want to wait until the deliverable meeting to find out that one particularly finicky VP had a different vision for the research direction.

But a kickoff, contrary to its name, is often not the first meeting that should be held between you and project stakeholders. It’s frequently advisable to hold at least one “pre-kickoff” meeting with your core point of contact. This will help ensure that you can use your time at the actual kickoff efficiently. Here are three questions you should ask or discuss at your pre-kickoff meeting.

Who is attending?

What are the personalities? How do the attendees relate on an org chart? Are there any interpersonal or political dynamics that might reveal themselves? Should certain people’s voices get more attention than others? Knowing this in advance will help you facilitate a productive conversation and avoid sticky situations.

Is anyone not supportive of this project?

Any time a company spends money, it is inherently controversial. Certainly, someone would like these resources allocated towards their pet project instead. Alternatively, maybe someone supports the project generally, but would prefer a different focus. When these positions come out in the middle of a kickoff, they have the potential to derail the entire meeting or even the project. You should know about these feelings in advance so you can determine how to address them.

What are other areas of misalignment?

Much of a typical project kickoff involves reaching alignment on a number of critical decisions. In an ideal world, teams will be able to reach consensus fairly quickly, but we all know that doesn’t always happen. If there are particular areas that you can anticipate will be controversial or time sucks, you can prepare specific ways to facilitate those discussions, or maybe even tackle them on a separate call.