Is Your Project Ready for Its Kick-off Meeting?

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The project kick-off meeting is a big milestone in the project lifecycle.  When it’s complete, the team can dive into getting the project work done. Here’s some preparation for you to complete to make your kick-off meeting a success. 

  • Obtain agreement on the defined scope. Make sure stakeholders have a common understanding of the project scope. To do this, create a list of questions that might be asked at the kickoff. Draft answers to those questions and review them with key stakeholders before scheduling the kick-off meeting. Tweak the answers until the stakeholders agree that the scope is correct.

The kick-off meeting sets the tone for the project. If questions about scope arise in the kick-off meeting and key stakeholders agree on the answers, the team will be reassured that the project is on solid footing. That makes it easier to get your team members engaged in the project. (On the other hand, if stakeholders debate the scope in the kick-off meeting, the project team will question whether the project is headed in the right direction. Instead of being engaged, your team members could start looking for the nearest exit.)

  • Draft a high-level project plan. Team members need to understand the project methodology you’re using, which teams will work together and roughly when they’re expected to participate. To address these items, you, as project manager, need to develop a high-level project plan. You need enough planning to show your team which direction the project will take and how their expertise helps achieve project objectives. (You don’t need to create a detailed plan, because you work with your team members to build that plan. 
  • Your sponsor is ready to address the team. Hearing about the project objectives directly from the sponsor is the best way to ensure project buy-in. The sponsor should:
    1. Explain how project outcomes will help the organization
    2. Communicate their personal dedication to help complete the project.

The sponsor and project manager should collaborate on the sponsor’s kick-off presentation to ensure that it syncs with the scope and plans that will be presented in the meeting.

The sponsor’s presentation is best done in person, but can be recorded if schedules don’t allow the sponsor to be present. Too many projects suffer from the sponsor not taking the time to be part of the kick-off meeting – the team will questions the sponsor’s dedication to the project.

  • Ensure that High-level risks are understood. Stakeholders want to feel confident their concerns are understood and will be managed by the project team. It’s best to talk with stakeholders and address their fears prior to the kick-off meeting. However, it’s even better to have responses ready for questions raised during the session. As risks are brought up, share the facts you have, your intended actions, and investigations you may conduct to determine the probability and impact notable risks may have on your project. 
  • Define success criteria. Confirm the project’s success criteria, including the specific benefits for each area of the business. For example, instead of sharing “The project will help the bottom line,” share specifics like, “The project will reduce product cost by 18% to help address Finance goals and will increase throughput by 15% to support the Production Department.” Be ready to answer questions about how those objectives will be achieved. Keep your responses high-level — you won’t have detailed plans at your kick-off meeting.

What else do you do the prepare for a kick off meeting? Share your best practices or questions about kick off meetings in the comment section.

For more about kick off meetings, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

I’m starting the update of my Project Management Foundations course! Look for it in Fall 2022.

Dealing with Unreasonable Expectations

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Key stakeholders sometimes apply significant pressure to achieve unrealistic project goals. Pushing back against these requests can rattle the nerves of even the most experienced project manager! And it can be difficult to convince stakeholders to change their objectives or perspectives. What do you do when you can’t change stakeholders’ minds? Adopt a process that allows you to manage expectations and move the project forward. Here is a four-step approach to make the best of dealing with unreasonable expectations.

Step 1 – Share the facts. Develop a simple and direct argument that outlines your concerns with the project. Use prior project data, industry reference materials, and concerns presented by technical leaders. Your message is likely to be viewed as bad news, so be ready for a strong reaction. It may take a few tries to get your point across, so be persistent to get your message heard. Stick to the facts. Don’t let stakeholder reactions hijack your message into an emotional discussion. You’re sharing information about risks that need to be addressed. Keep in mind, it isn’t your job to prevent senior leaders from taking risks. Your job as project manager is to ensure that stakeholders recognize the risks the project presents. After your discussion, deal with the directions you receive as best you can.

Step 2 – Embrace perspectives. Share project risks across a wider audience and listen for additional stakeholder perspectives. Technical team members may be overloaded with issues or an unreasonable volume of work. Some stakeholders may have interests for their local team that conflict with the best option for the overall organization. All these things may land at your feet to handle. Be understanding and remember – you can address issues through transparent discussion only when stakeholders put their issues on the table. Help others understand these differing perspectives and generate discussions to explore a clearer path to move the project forward. 

Step 3 – Be ready to compromise. Don’t be stubborn. As the conversations you arrange unfold, some of your attempts to reduce project risk may be rejected. Seek a reasonable risk management position that allows you to make positive strides toward project delivery. The way forward may not be perfect. However, an 80% improvement in your situation is probably better than damaging a relationship to achieve 90 or 100%. When the environment for project delivery isn’t ideal, put extra monitoring in place to reveal issues as soon as possible. Discuss these areas of concern with your sponsor and in your weekly project meetings.

Step 4 – Demonstrate the path your project is taking. Capitalize on your monitoring to watch for issues. Create metrics that show the impact (or lack of) that areas of risk have on the project. Share the path your project is taking with stakeholders. For example, if you are concerned that key technical resources won’t be available to dedicate enough time to your project, establish a minimum amount of time needed to deliver your project on schedule. Monitor the actual hours your resource dedicates to the project and the completion status of their tasks. Report your results at status meetings to keep people appraised on the status of the risk. If the concerns you raised earlier (in step 1) are having an impact, you will have concrete data to justify your concern, and your stakeholders are more likely to support the changes you need to successfully deliver your project. If all is going well, don’t get complacent! Continue monitoring until the risk possibility has passed.

Do you have any pointers for dealing with unreasonable requests? Share them with us in the comments section!

For more about dealing with unreasonable expectations, check out Natasha Kasimtseva’s Managing Project Stakeholders course.

Coming Up

Next LinkedIn Office Hours will be on Wednesday, June, 1 2022-

Project Management Entrepreneurship Part 2: Skills and Tools

Have you thought about going out on your own as a project manager, instead of being an employee? Seyi Kukoyi, PMP, and Bonnie Biafore, PMP, provide guidance for that journey in the course Become a Project Management Entrepreneur (http://linkedin-learning.pxf.io/PMentrepreneur-li). In this follow-on LinkedIn Office Hours event, Seyi, Bonnie, John Riopel and Oliver Yarbrough discuss the skills and tools you need to be a PM entrepreneur.

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Enabling Change

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The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) highlights the importance of preparing impacted stakeholders for new processes and tools introduced by projects, so they are not only adopted, but also become a permanent part of the landscape (or until things need to change again). Here are four ways to support the changes that projects bring to your organization. 

  • Make change relevant. Successful project delivery means stakeholders adopt the products and processes your project introduces. Adoption is much more likely when people understand the benefits of the project outcomes. To accomplish this, get stakeholders involved early, share the project vision, and listen to and, if warranted,  incorporate feedback. Without doing these things, stakeholder engagement will be tepid at best, which makes successful project delivery difficult.
  • Embrace resistance. The feedback you receive from stakeholders isn’t always positive. Change is challenging and people are likely to resist. Don’t automatically dismiss this as “people not wanting to change.” People resisting change often raise legitimate issues and opportunities for improvement. By listening and responding to these items, you can convert sceptics into believers. Converted sceptics are powerful advocates for your project.
  • Motivate people to change.  Changing the way people work is difficult. It is imperative that you show them the pathway to make that change. This goes beyond understanding the outcomes their job produces for the business. Show them how the results of work objectives will be enhanced and how stakeholder productivity will be measured. In addition, collaborate with stakeholders to create these productivity measurements —  that gives stakeholders a say in the objectives they are supposed to achieve. Making people part of the change is a great motivational tool.
  • Fit your change into the big picture. Change often generates fundamental, important questions.  Where is this taking us? What’s next? How can I best prepare for what is to come? The best support comes from stakeholders who understand what is happening now, and how the current change creates opportunity for improvement. Ensure stakeholders understand what is in the project portfolio, how those initiatives tie into the organizational strategy, and what to expect in the future.

Do you have examples of enabling change in your organization? If so, share in the comments section!

For more about change management, check out Scott Mautz Changes Management Foundations course. 

Coming up:

Next LinkedIn Office Hours will be on Wednesday, June, 1 2022-

Project Management Entrepreneurship Part 2: Skills and Tools

Have you thought about going out on your own as a project manager, instead of being an employee? Seyi Kukoyi, PMP, and Bonnie Biafore, PMP, provide guidance for that journey in the course Become a Project Management Entrepreneur (http://linkedin-learning.pxf.io/PMentrepreneur-li). In this follow-on LinkedIn Office Hours event, Seyi, Bonnie, John Riopel and Oliver Yarbrough discuss the skills and tools you need to be a PM entrepreneur.

Is your project suitable for agile practices?

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Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

Not every project is suited to agile techniques. Sound criteria can help you identify whether your projects are good agile candidates. Here are questions you can use to develop your agile qualification criteria:   

  • Can you get the right staff? Appropriate technical and business team members must be dedicated to the project. That means that you must manage the challenging tradeoffs between project work and operational considerations.

Agile projects produce results quickly, so they are time-intensive for participants. Plus, agile approaches require critical business and technical team members who are vital to your business operations. It’s important to prioritize their time on the project so they can contribute effectively. 

  • Do resources have appropriate breadth of knowledge? In-depth knowledge of the business and technical areas related to the project is crucial. The agile approach relies on business experts working closely with expert technical team members. What makes agile methodologies agile is responsiveness to evolving needs. Knowledgeable technical and businesspeople need to consistently reassess the project’s product, the business’s needs at a macro and micro-level, and the priority of the functions needed by the end customer.
  • Does the sponsor have an agile mindset? The sponsor must be willing to participate in frequent reviews of the evolving product, which are fundamental to the agile approach. Agile responsiveness to changing business conditions and its learning environment are very different from traditional project methods. If a sponsor wants a linear, methodical set of objectives delivered to a pre-conceived schedule, they will struggle with agile project deliverables. Sponsors who are uncomfortable with the evolutionary nature of agile create difficulties that can sink a project.
  • Can the team be co-located (physically or virtually)? Agile involves deep, interactive, and sometimes challenging dialog. Getting the most from that dialog requires the richest environment you can create. Co-locate your project team members if possible. If you can’t, simulate co-location with the best video and audio tools you can obtain. Trying to facilitate agile dialog with sub-par communication tools is like trying to tow a camper trailer with a lawn tractor. 
  • Is there synergy between business and technical team members?  An agile team has to get along well to be successful. Agile methodologies require dedication from business and technical experts who are open to supporting new ideas and each other as individuals. You need an agile coach who understands and can manage human dynamics, and who can foster an environment where team members readily share their ideas and concerns. 
  • Can the product be built iteratively? Agile’s best qualities come from delivering solutions in pieces while learning from each iteration. In addition to software products, other products can be produced this way as well. With a bit of creativity, facility moves, new process implementations, and even some construction projects can utilize agile methods.

Do you use other criteria to determine whether a project is a candidate for an agile approach? If so, share with us in the comments section.

For more about agile methodologies, check out the courses in the Become an Agile Project Manager learning path.

Coming Up

Next LinkedIn Office Hours will be on Wednesday, June, 1 2022-

Project Management Entrepreneurship Part 2: Skills and Tools

Have you thought about going out on your own as a project manager, instead of being an employee? Seyi Kukoyi, PMP, and Bonnie Biafore, PMP, provide guidance for that journey in the course Become a Project Management Entrepreneur (http://linkedin-learning.pxf.io/PMentrepreneur-li). In this follow-on LinkedIn Office Hours event, Seyi, Bonnie, John Riopel and Oliver Yarbrough discuss the skills and tools you need to be a PM entrepreneur.

PMBoK7 Perspectives: Navigate Complexity

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Photo by Timo Volz on Unsplash

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK7) talks about navigating complexity to successfully complete the project lifecycle. Although complexity can surface anywhere, there are four main sources of complexity to manage. Here’s an overview of those sources and tips for reducing the impact of complexity on projects. 

  • Human behavior. The most significant project complexity comes from people. Personal agendas, personality conflicts, fear-triggered behaviors, and unrealistic expectations present significant challenges. In a virtual world, misinterpreted communications, cultural norms and leadership styles create issues. To address this complexity, listen carefully and seek to understand what people are saying. In addition, be sure to focus on using emotional intelligence and compassion with everyone on the project.
  • System behavior. The way technology systems interact can introduce complexity. This is amplified with interaction between old and new technology where synchronizing data can be complex. As system complexity increases, finding and training support personnel becomes more difficult and time consuming. Dealing with this takes time, so business and project managers must be patient! Systems must be “decoupled” – that is, analyzed and broken down into simple functions. Then, the team must examine each of those functions and ensure that relevant stakeholders understand how those functions work in concert with their business processes.
  • Uncertain and ambiguous requirements. Requirements, even those that appear straightforward, can introduce complexity. Uncertain definitions or misinterpreted directions from stakeholders can create significant delays. People misinterpret ambiguous requirements, which can drive projects into costly detours. Correcting this requires time to analyze and examine requirements and resolve any uncertainty and ambiguity. Patience and time with business stakeholders is critical to clarifying requirements. 
  • Technological Innovation. Innovation is disruptive and can create substantial complexity. To address this, project teams need to embrace the value that organizational change management contributes to business outcomes. Take time to help people adjust to the change journey. Conduct process training and provide people with the opportunity to get comfortable with new technological solutions. That way, stakeholders become confident with the new solution and their ability to perform their jobs in a new way. 

What other types of complexity have you encountered and how have you handled it? Share your experiences with us in the comments section.

For more about project complexity, check out Sam Yankelevitch’s Project Complexity Tips and Tricks course.

Coming Up:

Next LinkedIn Office Hours will be on Wednesday, June, 1 2022-

Project Management Entrepreneurship Part 2: Skills and Tools

Have you thought about going out on your own as a project manager, instead of being an employee? Seyi Kukoyi, PMP, and Bonnie Biafore, PMP, provide guidance for that journey in the course Become a Project Management Entrepreneur (http://linkedin-learning.pxf.io/PMentrepreneur-li). In this follow-on LinkedIn Office Hours event, Seyi, Bonnie, John Riopel and Oliver Yarbrough discuss the skills and tools you need to be a PM entrepreneur.

My latest course, Microsoft Project 2021 and Project Online Desktop Essential Training, is now available in the LinkedIn Learning library. In this edition, you can not only follow the movie steps in exercise files. I included additional homework you can do on the file after the movie ends. Click the link to watch the course for free (for up to 24 hours after you click.)