The Importance of Launching a Project

The Importance of Launching a Project
By Mandy McGill, Northwest University

So you have been asked to manage a project and you have worked diligently to come up with all of the necessary tools to begin. You have a very supportive sponsor who believes in you. You have created a project charter and determined the work schedule. The majority of your team has been established and each team member has been assigned responsibilities. Incentives, both financial and personal have been determined. You are ready to begin right? Not quite. It is time to launch your project with a kickoff event. Holding a kick-off event helps establish a start time of the project, as well as creating a sense of camaraderie. Here are the steps you need to take to prepare for this very important event

1. Be sure all administrative work is in order – vendor negotiations, acquisition contracts, purchase orders etc. Any administrative prep work should be in order before the event.

2. Have a fifteen minute one on one with each of your team members to gain buy in. Spend some time understanding what each individual is looking to achieve from the project, both personally and professionally.

3. Schedule your kickoff event. It could be as simple as a catered lunch or as elaborate as a four course dinner (always keeping cost in mind, of course). If you do choose to have the kick off outside of the office, be sure that there is a place to do a presentation.

4. Be sure that your sponsor is prepped for the presentation. He or she will be responsible for explaining why this project is essential and how it fits in with the grander scheme of the company’s goals. The sponsor also will introduce you as the project manager, which is helpful particularly if you already play a different role in regular day to day business.

Your kick-off event should look something like this…

1. Begin with introductions, let by the sponsor
2. Sponsor explanations (listed above)
3. Sponsor introduces you
4. You explain the project charter and take time for questions to be sure everyone is on the same page
5. You provide a short explanation of each team member’s responsibilities
6. You notify team of all available resources
7. End with a description of team incentives

If you can put a check mark next to each of the steps listed above, you can pat yourself of the back. Congratulations! Your project launch was a success.

Northwest University opened to students on October 1, 1934. It is a regionally accredited institution awarding associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degrees.

Note: Implicit permission was given to republish this post, as the article was not copyrighted.