Home About Experience Projects Case studies Resources Articles Briefs Playbook Tools FAQ How we start Security Get in touch

All tools › Project kickoff checklist

Saved in this browser only

The tool · project delivery

Project kickoff checklist

Project
Project manager
Sponsor
Kickoff date
1

Before the kickoff

a kickoff you prepared is half run
Done?ItemOwner
2

In the meeting, in this order

the agenda is the checklist
Covered?Agenda itemLed by
3

Within 48 hours after

the follow-up is where kickoffs die
Done?ItemOwnerBy when

Why this order works

The meeting is the middle, not the start. Scope, charter, and stakeholder list exist before anyone books a room.

Every agenda item has a leader. An item nobody leads becomes a discussion nobody ends.

The 48-hour follow-up is the real kickoff. The summary with owners and dates is what people actually work from.

Park, do not debate. Anything that threatens the clock gets parked with an owner and a date.

Run this before every project, even small ones. The projects that skip kickoff are the ones that later need a rescue meeting, and the rescue meeting is always longer.

Everything saves in this browser only. Print it, or save as PDF, and it becomes the kickoff summary you send.

Prefer paper? Download the blank sheet as a PDF. The thinking behind it, and the nine tools it works with, is in The Project.

General guidance from practice, not legal, HR, or financial advice. Everything you type stays in this browser and is never sent to a server.