Meetings

Project Kickoff Meeting Template

A kickoff meeting should leave behind one page everyone can point to later: why the project exists, what success looks like, what is in and out of scope, who decides what, and which assumptions could sink it. This template is the agenda before the meeting and that page after it.

Updated 2026-10-27

Copy and adapt

The template

Project kickoff meetingTemplate

[Project name] kickoff, {{date}}

Attendees: [name (role)], [name (role)] Facilitator: [name] Notes: [name] Pre-reads sent: [brief, draft timeline, budget] on [date] Related: [[Project name]]

Agenda (60 min)

Introductions and roles (5)
Why this project, why now (5)
Success criteria (10)
Scope: in, out, open (10)
Milestones (10)
Who decides what (5)
Risks and assumptions (10)
Ways of working, decisions and next steps (5)

Why this project

[Problem, who has it, what it costs today]

Success criteria

[Measurable result] by [date]

Scope

In: [deliverables]
Out: [things people might assume are included]
Open: [undecided item] (decide by [date], @[owner])

Milestones

Who decides what

[Type of decision]: [one name]
Sponsor: [name]. Escalation: [name]

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: [what we are taking as true]. If wrong: [impact]. Check by [date] (@[owner])
Risk: [what could go wrong]. Plan: [mitigation]

Ways of working

Status update: [when, where]. Working sessions: [cadence]. Files live in: [place]

Decisions made today

[Decision] because [reason]

Actions

[Task] (@[owner]) @due(YYYY-MM-DD)

Open questions

[Question] (who can answer: [name])

5 examples

Examples for different situations

The same structure, filled in for the situations people actually bring to it. Copy the one closest to yours.

1.Internal product project with a promised date

When it fits: Use this when an internal team starts a feature that sales has already mentioned to a customer, and the kickoff has to turn a vague promise into scope everyone, including sales, has agreed to.

Internal product project with a promised dateExample 1

Offline mode kickoff, 2026-11-02

Attendees: Priya (PM), Marcus (iOS lead), Elena (backend), Tomás (design), Kim (sales, for the first 20 min) Facilitator: Priya Notes: Tomás Pre-reads sent: one-page brief, support ticket summary on Oct 29 Related: [[Offline mode]]

Why this project

Field inspectors lose work when they lose signal in basements and rural sites. 63 support tickets since July; two enterprise renewals mention it.

Success criteria

Inspectors can complete and save an inspection with no connection, and it syncs within 1 minute of reconnecting, by Feb 13.
Offline-related support tickets drop below 5 a month by April.

Scope

In: create and edit inspections offline, photo capture offline, automatic sync, conflict warning.
Out: offline search across past inspections. Offline on web.
Open: do we merge conflicting edits or keep both versions? (decide by Nov 16, @Elena)

Milestones

Sync design reviewed: Nov 16
Internal beta with 5 inspectors: Jan 12
Release: Feb 13

Who decides what

Scope changes: Priya. Sync architecture: Elena. Release date: Priya with Marcus.
Sponsor: Dana (VP product)

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: inspections stay under 200 MB with photos. If wrong: device storage limits break sync. Check by Nov 9 with real data (@Marcus)
Risk: Kim told one customer "January". Plan: Kim tells them Feb 13 this week, in writing.

Decisions made today

Release date is Feb 13, not January, because the internal beta needs four weeks with real inspectors.

Actions

Email the customer with the Feb 13 date (@Kim) @due(2026-11-05)
Measure inspection sizes from 50 recent inspections (@Marcus) @due(2026-11-09)
Conflict handling proposal (@Elena) @due(2026-11-16)

Open questions

Do inspectors need to see which items are not yet synced? (Tomás to ask 3 inspectors)

2.Agency kickoff with a new client

When it fits: Use this when you are the agency, the client has signed a contract, and the kickoff is the first time their whole team hears what is in scope, what they owe you, and how changes will be handled.

Agency kickoff with a new clientExample 2

Brightside Dental website rebuild kickoff, 2026-11-09

Attendees: Brightside: Dr. Ellen Park (owner), Gina Russo (practice manager), Will (front desk lead). Agency: Jade (account lead), Owen (design), Rafa (development) Facilitator: Jade Notes: Owen Pre-reads sent: signed statement of work, sitemap draft on Nov 5 Related: [[Brightside Dental]]

Why this project

Dr. Park: "Half our new patients call to ask things the website should answer." The current site cannot take bookings and is not usable on phones.

Success criteria

Online booking live for all 8 clinics by Feb 2.
Calls asking about hours, insurance and directions down by a third by April (Gina tracks call reasons).

Scope

In: 8 clinic pages, 12 service pages, booking integration with their scheduling system, insurance page.
Out: blog, patient portal, photography (client supplies photos).
Open: Spanish version of the site. Not in the contract; quote by Nov 20 if they want it.

Milestones

Content from Brightside: Dec 1
Design approval: Dec 12
Launch: Feb 2

Who decides what

Brightside: Gina approves design and content; Dr. Park only the home page.
Agency: Jade owns timeline and change requests.
Change requests: written, quoted within 3 business days, approved by Gina.

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: their scheduling system has a booking widget we can embed. If wrong: 3 more weeks for a custom integration. Check by Nov 16 (@Rafa)
Risk: content arrives late (the most common cause of slips). Plan: Will drafts clinic pages from a form we send, Gina reviews.

Decisions made today

Gina is the single approver. Dr. Park reviews only the home page, because waiting on two approvers is what delayed their last site.

Actions

Send the clinic page content form (@Owen) @due(2026-11-10)
Confirm the booking widget with the scheduling vendor (@Rafa) @due(2026-11-16)
Weekly status email, Fridays at noon (@Jade) @due(2026-11-14)

Open questions

Do they want the Spanish version? (Gina to ask Dr. Park)

3.Office relocation across departments

When it fits: Use this for a non-software project where every department is affected, nobody reports to the project lead, and the kickoff has to get people from facilities, IT, HR and finance to own their pieces.

Office relocation across departmentsExample 3

Office move to Harbor Building kickoff, 2026-11-16

Attendees: Monique (operations, lead), Darnell (IT), Sofia (HR), Peter (finance), Akira (facilities), Laura (CEO's office) Facilitator: Monique Notes: Sofia Pre-reads sent: lease summary, floor plans, budget on Nov 12 Related: [[Office move 2027]]

Why this project

Current lease ends Mar 31. 120 people move from two floors on Elm Street to one floor in the Harbor Building.

Success criteria

Everyone working from Harbor on Monday Mar 2 with network, phones and desks ready.
Total cost within the $310,000 budget.
Out of Elm Street and keys returned by Mar 27, to avoid an extra month's rent.

Scope

In: fit-out, network and meeting room AV, movers, new furniture for 40 desks, employee communication.
Out: new phone system (separate project, Q3).
Open: do we keep the storage unit or clear it? (decide by Dec 1, @Peter)

Milestones

Network installed at Harbor: Feb 13
Furniture delivered: Feb 20
Move weekend: Feb 27 to Mar 1

Who decides what

Floor plan and seating: Monique. IT setup: Darnell. Budget over $5,000 per item: Peter.
Sponsor: Laura

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: the building's fiber line can be active by Feb 13. If wrong: no network on move day. Check by Nov 30 with the provider (@Darnell)
Risk: furniture lead times are 10 to 12 weeks. Plan: order by Dec 5.

Decisions made today

Move weekend is Feb 27 to Mar 1, leaving four weeks of overlap on the old lease as a buffer.

Actions

Fiber activation date in writing from the provider (@Darnell) @due(2026-11-30)
Furniture order placed (@Akira) @due(2026-12-05)
First all-staff announcement with the seating approach (@Sofia) @due(2026-11-23)

Open questions

How many people want to keep a fixed desk versus shared desks? (Sofia sends a survey)

4.Customer-side kickoff for a vendor implementation

When it fits: Use this when the vendor runs the implementation and has its own kickoff deck, but your organization needs its own notes on what you owe, who on your side decides, and what cannot slip.

Customer-side kickoff for a vendor implementationExample 4

HR and payroll system implementation kickoff (our side), 2026-11-23

Attendees: Our side: Rachel (HR director), Ben (payroll), Yusuf (IT), Carla (finance). Vendor: Hannah (implementation manager), Sid (consultant) Facilitator: Hannah (vendor) Notes: Rachel, for our team Pre-reads sent: vendor project plan, data requirements list on Nov 18 Related: [[HR system 2027]]

Why this project

Payroll runs in a spreadsheet plus an outsourced processor. Two payroll errors this year needed manual corrections for 30 employees.

Success criteria

First live payroll on the new system on Jan 30 with zero manual corrections.
Two parallel payroll runs match to the cent before go-live.

Scope

In: payroll, time off, employee records for 240 people.
Out: performance reviews and recruiting modules (phase 2, summer).
Open: do we migrate 3 years of payroll history or 1? (decide by Dec 4, @Carla)

Milestones

Employee data delivered to vendor: Dec 4
First parallel payroll: Dec 31
Second parallel payroll: Jan 15
Go-live: Jan 30

Who decides what

Payroll rules and configuration: Ben. Go-live decision: Rachel, only if both parallel runs match.
Escalation on vendor delays: Carla to the vendor's account director.

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: our data export from the spreadsheet is clean. If wrong: the Dec 4 date slips and so does everything after. Check by Nov 30 with a test export of 20 employees (@Ben)
Risk: the Dec 31 parallel run falls in holiday week. Plan: Ben and his backup both confirmed available.

Decisions made today

No go-live without two matching parallel runs, even if the vendor's plan allows one.

Actions

Test export of 20 employee records (@Ben) @due(2026-11-30)
Single sign-on requirements to the vendor (@Yusuf) @due(2026-12-02)
Decide on payroll history depth (@Carla) @due(2026-12-04)

Open questions

Does the vendor's year-end tax form support our two states? (Hannah to confirm)

5.Re-kickoff of a stalled project

When it fits: Use this when a project has drifted for months, a new owner has taken over, and the kickoff has to reset scope and dates honestly instead of pretending the original plan still holds.

Re-kickoff of a stalled projectExample 5

Data warehouse re-kickoff, 2026-12-07

Attendees: Nadia (new project owner), Victor (analytics), Ama (data engineering), Joel (finance, main user), Ruth (sponsor) Facilitator: Nadia Notes: Ama Pre-reads sent: what was delivered so far, original plan from April, on Dec 3 Related: [[Data warehouse]]

Why this project (still)

Finance builds the monthly board report by hand from four systems. It takes Joel 3 days every month.
Original plan: done in August. Today: about 40 percent done, no owner since the previous lead left in September.

Success criteria (reset)

Joel builds the March board report from the warehouse in under half a day.
Revenue numbers match the finance system to the dollar for three straight months.

Scope

In: revenue, costs and headcount for the board report.
Out (cut from the original plan): marketing attribution, product usage data. Both move to a later project, if at all.
Open: keep the current BI tool or switch? (decide by Jan 15, @Victor)

Milestones

Revenue tables reconciled: Jan 30
First board report from the warehouse, run in parallel: Feb 27
Board report from warehouse only: Mar 27

Who decides what

Scope: Nadia. Definitions of revenue and cost: Joel, not engineering.
Sponsor: Ruth, who also approves any cut beyond this one.

Risks and assumptions

Assumption: the half-built revenue pipeline is usable. If wrong: add 4 weeks. Check by Dec 18 (@Ama)
Risk: the project loses its owner again. Plan: Ama named as backup owner today.

Decisions made today

Scope cut to the board report only, because a smaller project that ships beats the original one that stalled.

Actions

Review the existing revenue pipeline and report what is reusable (@Ama) @due(2026-12-18)
Written definitions of revenue and cost for the warehouse (@Joel) @due(2026-12-14)
Tell the marketing team their attribution work is out of scope (@Ruth) @due(2026-12-09)

Open questions

Who uses the half-built marketing tables today, if anyone? (Victor to check query logs)

What a kickoff meeting has to produce

A project kickoff meeting template is two documents in one. Before the meeting it is the agenda. After the meeting it is the page people point to when they disagree about what was agreed. Most kickoff templates only cover the first part, and the decisions end up spread across a slide deck, an email and people's memories.

The page should answer six questions for someone who joins the project later:

Why does this exist? The problem and what it costs today, in a sentence or two.
What does success look like? Numbers and dates, not "improve the experience".
What is in, what is out, what is still open? The out list prevents more arguments than the in list.
When are the milestones? Three to five, not every task.
Who decides what? One name per type of decision, plus a sponsor and an escalation path.
What are we assuming? Each assumption with what happens if it is wrong and when it will be checked.

Before the meeting

Write the brief. One page: why, success criteria, draft scope, draft milestones. If you cannot write it, the project is not ready for a kickoff.
Send it two days ahead with the agenda, marking which items need a decision.
Pre-fill the notes. Title, attendees, agenda and the draft sections. During the meeting you edit rather than type from scratch.
For client projects, kick off internally first. Agree the plan and the risks you will not raise in front of the client.

During the meeting

Follow the agenda, but spend the time where people disagree. Most of the hour should go to success criteria, scope and assumptions. Introductions and ways of working can be quick.

When something is decided, write it under Decisions with a because. When something cannot be decided in the room, move it to Scope as open, with a date and an owner. Read back the decisions and actions in the last five minutes, so nobody leaves with a different version.

After the meeting: the assumption check

This is the step the top kickoff guides leave out. They list risks and assumptions as an agenda item, but not what happens to them after the meeting.

Every assumption gets an owner and a check date within the first two or three weeks. The offline mode example checks inspection sizes in a week; the office move confirms the fiber date by the end of the month. When a check fails, that is the moment to revisit scope or dates, while it is still cheap. A project that discovers a wrong assumption at the first milestone has usually lost a month.

Share the notes the same day and keep the kickoff page linked to the project. Status reports, meeting notes and the eventual lessons learned review should all point back to it.

Common mistakes

No out of scope list. Everything not excluded is assumed included by someone.
Success criteria without numbers. "Better booking" cannot be checked in April.
Several approvers. Two people approving design doubles the wait. Name one.
Assumptions nobody checks. They turn into the risks that sink the project.
Kickoff as a presentation. If attendees only listen, nothing is agreed. Leave half the time for questions and decisions.

When to use a different template

The kickoff starts the project; the project plan template holds the detailed tasks, dependencies and resourcing that follow. If you need sign-off before there is a team to kick off, write a project brief first. And for the regular meetings after the kickoff, the project status report template keeps the sponsor informed without another meeting.

Customization tips

Send the agenda and pre-reads two days before
Attendees who read the brief beforehand spend the meeting deciding instead of hearing the background for the first time. Mark on the agenda which items need a decision in the room.
Put Out of scope in writing
Scope creep starts with things people assumed were included. Listing what is out, like the blog and patient portal in the agency example, is often the most valuable line on the page.
One name per decision type
"The team decides" means nobody does. Write who decides scope, who decides design, who decides the release date, and who people escalate to. If two people must agree, name who breaks a tie.
Give every assumption a check date
Assumptions are risks nobody has tested yet. Write what happens if each is wrong, then put a date and an owner on checking it. Most kickoff surprises come from an assumption nobody checked in the first two weeks.
Run a separate internal kickoff before a client kickoff
Margins, staffing worries and what you suspect about the client do not belong in the client meeting. Hold a 30-minute internal kickoff first and keep its notes separate.
Shorter for small projects
A three-person, four-week project does not need 60 minutes. Keep Why, Success criteria, Scope and Actions, and run it in 20.

In the app

How to do this in Scribelet

Open Desk Settings, then Templates, tap Add Template, paste the template above and set the category to Meeting with #kickoff as a default tag. Keep {{date}} in the title.
Link the kickoff to the project with [[Offline mode]]. Every later status update, meeting and the final lessons learned links to the same note, so the project's backlinks panel tells the whole story from the kickoff on.
Write assumption checks and actions as tasks, for example - [ ] Measure inspection sizes (@Marcus) @due(2026-11-09). They appear in the Tasks view and on your daily note, so assumptions get checked in week one instead of discovered in month three.
Months later, ask the AI chat "what did we agree was out of scope for offline mode?" It answers from your kickoff and meeting notes with citations, which settles most scope arguments quickly.
Starting a similar project? Ask the AI chat what lessons you recorded on past projects of that type and copy the relevant ones into Risks and assumptions.

Templates, template variables and AI generation are documented in Note templates.

Frequently asked questions

What does project kickoff mean?

A project kickoff is the first meeting of the full project team (and the client or sponsor, if there is one) after the project is approved. Its job is to agree why the project exists, what success looks like, what is in scope, who decides what and what happens next, so that everyone starts from the same page.

What do you say in a project kickoff meeting?

Open with why the project matters and who it is for, in plain words. Then state the success criteria with numbers, walk through what is in and out of scope, show the milestones, and name who decides what. Close by reading back the decisions and actions. The examples above show what that sounds like for internal, client and vendor projects.

What are five things to include in a kickoff meeting agenda?

Goals and success criteria, scope (including what is out), timeline and milestones, roles and decision owners, and risks with next steps. Add introductions for a new team. For a general meeting, the meeting agenda template covers the shorter version.

What are good questions to ask during a project kickoff meeting?

What would make this project a failure even if we deliver on time? What are we assuming that we have not checked? Who is not in this room but can block us? What is the one thing out of scope that someone will ask for anyway? How will we know in week four that we are off track?

How long should a project kickoff meeting be?

Sixty minutes for most projects, up to 90 for large ones with a client. If it needs longer, the pre-reads are doing too little. Small projects can kick off in 20 minutes with only why, success criteria, scope and actions.

A kickoff page you can point to in month three

Run your kickoff from this template in Scribelet, link the project so every later note connects back to it, and turn each assumption into a dated check. When scope gets questioned, ask your notes what was agreed. Encrypted, free to start.

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