Kick your project off in style with these 10 questions.

Starting something new is nerve wracking.

You want to start with a splash, not a sink.

So what can you do to kick things off in style?

You can take a step back, stay curious, and learn about the folks that you’re working with.

Some folks call this a Project Brief. Others call it a Team Kick-off.

Whatever you want to call it, you need to take time to kick things off.

Why is it important to kick things off right?

If we don’t take the time to learn about the project at hand, we open the door to assumptions.

It’s essential to ensure everyone is on the same page.

By creating a space to ask questions, share opinions, you’re able to create a shared understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish.

So let’s dive in.

The top 10 questions for a project start

How to take this on: you can either have these be questions, or a deck/powerpoint that you share to discuss

Why do we do this: to make sure no one is left confused or questioning the plan

What questions should we include: glad you asked!

Here are the 10 questions you want to answer for a project start:

1. What is the goal? What are our stakeholders or clients trying to accomplish in this project? Is it to increase revenue? Gather more qualified leads? Increase brand awareness? Whatever it is, make it super clear why we’re invested. Bonus? Why are we investing in this project now. What makes this project important.

2. What is the scope? Nuts and bolts folks. What are we building here. What is expected of us - so that we know when to raise our hands if there’s scope creep, or if we’re diving too deep down a rabbit hole that isn’t relevant.

3. Who is involved? Who are the key stakeholders? How do they like to be engaged, and who will be engaging with them? What’s the team make-up? Who is in charge of what? How can we make decisions swiftly? Who needs to be consulted for different stage gates. How can we raise if we’re facing a bottleneck? Make sure that we know when to engage who, and how to engage them.

4. How will we know we’ve been successful? Metrics, KPIs, whatever you want to call them - we need to know what success looks like. Otherwise we’re floundering and trying to guess what we’re trying to accomplish.

5. What information is necessary to know? What’s the skinny friends? Are there previous decks that we need to see? What did the last project look like? What data or research is relevant? Do we need to hunt others who have subject matter expertise?

6. How will we hold ourselves accountable? Who holds the reigns for this project and can make sure we’re moving forward. How often do we want to meet, and how can we use that time as effectively as possible.

7. What is the timeline? Mmmm I love a good project plan. Especially because it gets thrown out after week 2. That doesn’t mean we don’t at least review it. And re-review is as we work on holding ourselves accountable and raising hands when there’s scope creep or lack of clarity for success metrics.

8. What hiccups can we anticipate? There’s always a little something something that can go wrong. Whether it’s a tricky stakeholder, an internal review board, or lack of data - let’s get clear on what we want to keep an eye out for.

9. How will we grow in handling this? Every time we have a new project… it’s a chance for folks to share what they’re working on improving. Maybe folks want to get better at presenting. Creating clear decks. Creating consensus. Whatever it is, let’s get excited for what we can and will learn while working on this project!

10. How will we celebrate? Is it a pizza party? Is it shoutouts on slack? Whatever it is, let’s make sure we’re creating ways to celebrate the work we’re putting in - in a way that works for the team.

Select future times to revisit the project at a meta level - otherwise we get stuck in the weeds. Questions 6 & 7 can help the team to decide when and how they want to revisit these topics.

Want help on handling tricky working situations? Reach out.