read other articles
How to Make Your Technical Kick Off Meeting a Successful One
Posted on August 27, 2007
Technical Kickoff Meeting Template (Word, 28Kb)
Hosting a technical kickoff meeting is often required by your clients and customers before the real development begins. The likelihood of success depends on the level of preparation.
Below is a list of items that absolutely must be covered/entertained during your technical kickoff meeting:
- Identify the stakeholders – Be sure to list each persons name, company and contact information. Broad roles and responsiblities are essential as well. This list, once complete, will map out who is responsible for what areas and how to contact them.
- Give an overview of the project – In a paragraph or two, briefly describe the purpose of the project. Be cautious not to lose track of the converstations during this topic. Customers like to get excited at this point and will begin firing questions your way. Defer the conversation to the correct topic.
- Walk through the timeline – Hopefully by now someone has developed some type of timeline for the deliverables. Use this time to review each deliverable, it's date, and who is responsible.
- Propose a hosting environment/location – I say propose here for a reason. You don't want to go to the meeting with assumptions that will look like requirements. This is the customers chance to give feedback on where the application will reside, etc., so let them tell you.
- Determine the potential server usage – The number of users, if declared at this point will guide the discussions for the next topics. If your site will only have a couple users, tell them that and they will likely back off when you get to the functionality topic. Public sites are the sites that need attention drawn to server usage, where one small mistake in technical design can be detrimental to the servers.
- Determine database types, names, locations and sizes – At this stage in the project you will likely know if your application requires a database. Propose a name for this database, but be open to suggestions. Your client will also be thankful if you give them an estimate on the size of the database. Ask your DBA for this information so you are accurate. Your database will also need to reside somewhere, so leaving this out is a no no.
- Determine directory names – Again, propose directory names for your application. Be aware of any web/application standards that the customer may have.
- Identify any new or special technologies – Believe it or not, applications have and will be written in the wrong language. The team may not find out until its time to implement. Disasterous. It is at this point where you will determine if you can use AJAX or temporary tables in SQL, etc, before its too late.
- Discuss functionality – The projects design can be at varying stages for this topic. Describe in as much detail as possible, the functions of the application. Screenshots, objectives, requirements, test plans,etc., should be readily available if you have them.
- Don't leave anything unsaid – If you are worried about something going into the meeting, you best leave unworried. Weeks or months could go by after the meeting before you get a chance to talk about technical details again, so use this time to make everyone feel comfortable by the time they leave.
I've used this list several times when preparing for kick off meetings and has proved invaluable to the success of the projects and the prevention of embarrasment.
Related articles