INITIATE PHASE

Alignment / kickoff workshop

During these workshops, align teams and stakeholders around a shared idea of the process and define key objectives and goals for the project.

Kickoff workshops and alignment artifacts are structured to align project groups and stakeholders around the process, goals, and vision of a project. Help the project go smoothly by kicking it off with a team charter for the internal group and performing a longer session with partners and stakeholders. Organize these as early as possible, as soon as the full team is assembled.

For the core internal team, kickoff workshops are an opportunity to share working styles and preferences, background, and skills that each person plans to contribute. This can help the team understand each other and work well together from the start. A project charter can help uncover the necessary information. At the start, the team should also review relevant context from the contract, as well as the project timeline, including key dates and deliverables.

For stakeholders and other team members outside of the core project team, these workshops provide a forum to understand the problem space and set expectations around the timeline and other outcomes of the project. Take time to align on project goals and expected outcomes, share each team member’s role and capacity, and decide how to share files, communicate, and gain approvals. Set the cadence for meetings.