Kick-off meetings: the evergreens

They are part of every new project and they define a new beginning: kick-off meetings.

The best kick-off meetings I attended were longer working sessions. They would involve the team to dive in, get their hands dirty, start to interact with each other.

Most of the kick-off meetings I attend are very much the opposite: they are a lengthy form of saying hello to each other and talk about some communication and project management principles.

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The biggest challenge that I face when I am putting a kick-off meeting together is time: most of my projects are with a new client, a new team - and they are not willing to spend a lot of time for a kick-off meeting. It requires some trust building first before I can start longer (and effective) workshops.

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But kick-off meetings can be short AND engaging.

Here is my process I use.
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1. Research and prepare

When I start a project with a new client, I have to do my homework. In preparation for our first team meeting, I focus on 3 questions:

1. Who is the organization?

I research facts, numbers and key insights about

• the business (revenue, size, location, years in business)
• the product or service they are selling (product type, sales touchpoints)
• the competitors (what are other big players and how do they sell their services?)

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2. What does their current product or service look like?

I review their existing product by focusing on:

• product or service platform (how will customers get in touch with the product)
• heuristic quick review (any obvious usability issues that stick out)
• customer reviews

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3. Who are the project participants?

I go through the list of participants of the kick-off workshop and look up their titles and roles, their experience and current responsibilities.

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2. Meeting Outcome

Next I list out the outcomes I want to achieve in the kick-off meeting. The rule of three is always useful - so here I also think about three aspects:

1 What do we need to accomplish as a team?

• Alignment: In a kick-off meeting we want to ensure that everyone is aligned on the purpose of the project and the outcome.
• Process: The team should be clear about the steps and the project plan
• Communication: The team should agree on communication tools and cadence

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2. What do I need to learn to do a good job?

• Target audience: facts, existing research and assumptions. This will help me to define any knowledge gaps and additional research that might be required.
• Current pain points and challenges
• Business impact (what drives this project)
• Success criteria

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3. What do they need to know about me?

Not everyone has the same understanding of UX Design. I make sure to give a brief introduction about:

• my responsibilities
• my work & deliverables: sharing examples if relevant and applicable
• my process: my process requires collaboration and team input which I want everyone to be clear about

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3. Set up an agenda

Based on the goals, I then put together an agenda. I usually start with the steps and then estimate the time I need (keep the number of participants in mind!).

As with any task, we could often use endless time. I try to reduce each step in my agenda to the minimum time (and add buffer time at the end). This process allows me to use time-boxing throughout the workshop and keep everyone focused.

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4. Set up a whiteboard

I prefer to use interactive tools, like Miro or Figjam, over a presentation. That way, I can capture input visibly, and people can react to notes. It helps tremendously with brainstorming and collecting inputs.

If you want to see my process in action, take a look at my video walkthrough:

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Over to you

Think about the last kick-off meeting you attended:

• What was a kick-off meeting you really enjoyed? What made it so enjoyable?
• What was a kick-off meeting you didn't like? Why was it not a great experience?

Take your insights and think about ways you can improve your next kick-off meeting. And if you like: share your thoughts! I would love to hear back from you.

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Happy planning,

Frauke

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