9 Tips for Running a Successful Kickoff Meeting for Your First Technical Project

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November 10, 2020

<h2>How to Run a Kickoff Meeting</h2> 37% of all projects fail due to a lack of defined objectives and milestones (Source: <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/pulse-of-the-profession-2017.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PMI</a>). The more surprising statistic is that 70% of the projects are prone to fail (Source: <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://4pm.com/2019/05/26/project-failure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">4pm</a>), and a lot of this can be connected with poor project management. Of the projects that didn't fail utterly, 49% were late, 43% exceeded their budget, and 31% didn't meet their goals. In some companies, it's almost expected that most projects will need to upwardly revise their timeline or budget at some point. It doesn't have to be this way. At <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://wordpress.appsilon.com/shiny" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Appsilon</a>, we are global leaders in data analytics and R Shiny. One reason for our success is that we effectively plan and schedule essential parts of the projects from the beginning. By doing so, we can avoid roadblocks and delays down the line. Not everything should be strictly planned in advance, as that would limit flexibility. More often than not, some parts of the project require learning new skills for the tech team. Predicting how many hours that would take is nearly impossible. In this article, we're bringing you nine concise tips for running a successful kickoff meeting for enterprise Shiny projects. These tips also apply to data analytics projects, and are based on countless hours of experience managing small, medium, and large-scale projects for Fortune 500 companies. Spoiler alert: regular, efficient meetings and constant communication are vital to overall project success. <ol><li><a href="#tip-1">Introduce the Team</a></li><li><a href="#tip-2">Define the Project Goal</a></li><li><a href="#tip-3">Define the Project Timeline</a></li><li><a href="#tip-4">Define the Goal for the Next Iteration</a></li><li><a href="#tip-5">Explain the Way You Work</a></li><li><a href="#tip-6">Schedule Regular Meetings</a></li><li><a href="#tip-7">Introduce the Client to the Tools You're Using</a></li><li><a href="#tip-8">Discuss Risks</a></li><li><a href="#tip-9">Save Time for a Q&A</a></li></ol> <h3 id="tip-1">1. Introduce the Team</h3> This is an essential first step for any kickoff meeting. You always want to start with a round of introductions and make a special note of the contact points on both sides. Everyone should introduce themselves and briefly discuss their role in the project. Knowing who is responsible for what from the very beginning makes it easier to communicate directly with the correct person later down the road. Also, make sure that the client assigns a Product Owner on their side. In case you don't know, a Product Owner is a person responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the development team. He/she is also responsible for defining the project vision, managing backlog, prioritizing needs, evaluating progress, and acting as a primary communicator between stakeholders and teams. <h3 id="tip-2">2. Define the Project Goal</h3> Define the project goal and discuss it - extensively. No stone should be left unturned at this stage. Discuss what the project means for every stakeholder. Why is this project important? What problems are we trying to solve? Additionally, discuss business goals and how the project is tied to them. What are we trying to achieve with this project? What outcomes do we expect? It would help if you described the most important result of the project for you and then ask the Product Owner on the client's side to do the same. These answers should match exactly. The team must understand the big picture and keep in mind potential future versions or potential additional projects after this project is complete. For instance, it might be that two years from now, the client envisions a key feature that is not part of this current project. Keeping this potential key feature in mind can prevent roadblocks in the future project. [Can we give an example here?] <h3 id="tip-3">3. Define the Project Timeline</h3> You should discuss and define specific milestones as well as a high-level timeline for the project. It's unnecessary to discuss every little step, but it's a good practice to have defined goals for the next few sprints. Write these goals down in the backlog. Doing so will allow you to keep track of the time spent and the overall development speed. The timeline should be ambitious but realistic. Make sure that you provide excellent time-to-value for the client, but do not commit to timelines that are impossible to meet. <h3 id="tip-4">4. Define the Goal for the Next Iteration</h3> Focus on the next two weeks, define goals, list crucial tasks, and discuss them. Ensure you have a well-defined plan that aligns with the client's business needs. Go through the list of tasks in detail, and don't hesitate to ask for an explanation if something isn't 100% clear. An ounce of up-front communication can prevent a pound of headaches mid-project. Make sure to describe how you understand each point and ask for feedback, to ensure both you and the client are on the same page. This part can also be done in a separate meeting that takes place after the kickoff. Use your best judgment. If the kickoff meeting is already packed with content and agenda items, move this discussion to another time. <h3 id="tip-5">5. Explain the Way You Work</h3> Your project workflow should not be a black box for the client. Explain the framework you work in and talk about its benefits. For example, we work in Scrum at Appsilon, and we find getting our clients up to speed on Scrum methodology to be essential before proceeding. Here's a diagram of how Appsilon utilizes Scrum: <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5962" src="https://webflow-prod-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/6525256482c9e9a06c7a9d3c%2F65b021b4487b2c34e797e134_Screenshot-2020-11-17-at-12.23.42.webp" alt="Scrum" width="1438" height="496" /> At the beginning of every project, the project leader and the client write down the requirements to the project backlog. Those requirements are later translated into a high-level tasks. At this stage, we also provide an estimate of how much time we need to complete a project. For shorter projects (e.g. 8 weeks) we usually go with 1 week sprints. In longer projects, we use 2 week sprints. Our tech team discusses updates on the sprints daily, but those discussions are kept internally. After a sprint is done, we finish it with a review where we show the client the increment created throughout the week. As a final step, we hold a retrospective to celebrate things that went well and suggest improvements. For more information on how Appsilon handles projects, read our article on <a href="https://appsilon.com/remote-data-science-team-best-practices-scrum-github-and-docker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Data Science Team Best Practices</a>. <h3>6. Schedule Regular Meetings</h3> More than anything else, lack of communication can lead to a total project failure. At a minimum, lack of communication can result in an end product that neither party is completely satisfied with. For this reason, we find it essential to schedule regular meetings with the stakeholders. If possible, agree on a time for regular meetings and send invitations for recurring meetings right after the initial kickoff meeting. Share the time of the meetings with the team and invite the Product Owner to participate. Emphasize the importance of participation on the client's side. <h3 id="tip-7">7. Introduce the Client to the Tools You're Using</h3> It is important to be transparent and keep the client updated right from the start. At Appsilon, we have a practice of inviting everyone to our project Slack channel. We also create a project in GitHub with a well-defined backlog open to anyone involved in the project, including the client's Product Owner. This is just one example of what you can do. The options are endless and depend on your organization's culture and the tools that you are using. [Do we need to discuss specific technologies here, not just Slack and GitHub?] <h3 id="tip-8">8. Discuss Risks</h3> There's nothing worse than an unanticipated or undiscussed risk. It is crucial to discuss risks both from your side and the client's side. The client can introduce you to a set of business risks, and it's up to you to let the client know what can go wrong on the technical side. These should be honest, transparent discussions. We recommend adding a "Risks" section to the project board and discussing them during each review. You'll find that some of these risks might become outdated as the project progresses, and some new risks can appear mid-project. <h3 id="tip-9">9. Save Time for a Q&A</h3> Always save some time in any Kickoff Meeting for an open discussion. This should be a no brainer. Many unexpected issues or concerns may come up during the meeting, and these should be discussed immediately. Depending on the project complexity and other factors, you should hold an appropriate amount of time at the end of the kickoff meeting for questions, comments, and issues. If there aren't any big questions or concerns, then there's a high chance you've implemented the first eight tips correctly! <h2>Conclusion</h2> Running successful kickoff meetings and managing clients is no easy task. There are so many things to anticipate and so many things that can go wrong in any project. Practice makes perfect, and we hope these nine tips will help you make your next project that much more successful. Have any questions about these tips? We can answer them in the comments. <a href="https://appsilon.com/careers/#external-r-shiny-developer"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-5830 size-full" src="https://webflow-prod-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/6525256482c9e9a06c7a9d3c%2F65b021b284ab67fae7ea6e24_Consultant_wanted_300x125v2.webp" alt="Appsilon Hiring" width="625" height="260" /></a> Appsilon is hiring! See our <a href="https://appsilon.com/careers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Careers</a> page for new openings. We are especially looking for senior-level managers who know how to mentor junior developers and are seeking a new challenge.