Pre-Kickoff as a Project Coordinator
Pre-Kickoff Activities
Once the team is complete and all the apprentices have accepted, the Project Coordinator or the Project Lead should announce the whole team on the project’s general Slack channel.
It’s also good to share a list of meetings that typical Tech Fleet projects have with the Lead’s channel:
First meeting with the Client/Stakeholders
Usually facilitated by the Project Lead and/or Strategy
Good time to understand the scope of the project, ask questions from the team
Sprint Planning
Once a week. All teams, but facilitated by Strategy
Assigning tickets and adding/maintaining the backlog
Weekly Demo with Client/Stakeholders
Usually facilitated by the Project Lead and/or Strategy
Show the work over the course of the sprint week, ask questions, and seek feedback
Daily Standup
All teams
Brief overview of what you did yesterday, what you are going to work on today, and any blockers
Retro
All teams usually facilitated by Strategy
What you learned
What you liked
What you lacked
What you longed for
Working Sessions
To be decided by the team’s availability
What do different teams need to be successful?
Every project is different and will have different artifacts that can be shared with the team. It’s usually best to share any information you have as a Project Coordinator with the team, to best set them up for success. These should be added to the Project’s Notion page. Some examples are:
The Client Intake Form (remove personal client information)
Additional details from scope refinement on the Work Agreement
Links to existing websites where applicable
Links to previous research and/or designs from the Client
Links to previous research and/or designs from previous Tech Fleet phases
And so on
Individual Team Ice-breakers
This is a time for individual teams to get to know each other better, establish working agreements, and start to set weekly meetings/working sessions. These are specific to each team and individual schedules and should be scheduled by the respective team Lead.
Team wide Ice-breakers
A team-wide scheduling link should be sent to everyone to meet each other before the project starts. This should be initiated by the Project Lead with the team Leads helping to follow up as needed. Usually, these include a fun get-to-know-you activity and go pretty quickly depending on the size of the team. It is recommended that the Project Coordinator attend.
Project Backlog & Road Map
Participants: Project Coordinator (optional), Project Lead, Strategy Lead, all teams Owner: Strategy Lead
Building the Project Backlog and Road Map will help set the project up for success. Doing this as a pre-kickoff activity will enable the whole team to get on the same page and have a deep understanding of the project before starting the sprint weeks. Since the Project Coordinator is familiar with the project expectations it is good to be in attendance, more so as a guide.
Steps:
Create a timeline for the Sprint Weeks
Define milestones and deliverables for each Sprint Week
Work in reverse order if needed. Start with what you know the Stakeholders expect from the project and think about all the things you would need to get to that point.
Doing this as a full team ensures that everyone has a seat at the table and gives the teams ownership of the project.
Document the tasks needed to reach the goal per team in a Kanban board. Include all necessary information needed for the team or member to successfully accomplish this task in a one-week sprint.
Think about dependencies and connect tickets as needed.
This is a great time to establish how the Kanban board should be set up for the purpose of the project and Sprint Planning
Put the tickets in order of how they should be pulled and moved to In Progress once the project officially kicks off. Typically the order should be chronological, starting from the top with tickets that need to be completed first and moving down to the final weeks tasks.
Last updated