Project kickoff checklist template

1. Confirm the project sponsor and delivery owner

   Name the person accountable for the outcome and the person responsible for coordinating day-to-day execution.

   High priority 7 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Outcome sponsor has accepted accountability
   • □ Delivery owner has accepted coordination responsibility

2. Draft the scope, outcome, and non-goals

   Write a short boundary that states the target outcome, included work, and attractive work that is explicitly excluded.

   High priority 6 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Outcome has an observable success signal
   • □ Important non-goals are explicit

3. Map milestones and critical dependencies

   Outline the smallest useful milestones and identify external decisions, systems, or teams that can block them.

   Medium priority 5 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Milestones are ordered by dependency
   • □ Critical dependencies have named owners

4. Prepare the initial risk and decision log

   List the known assumptions, material risks, and decisions that the kickoff participants are expected to resolve.

   Medium priority 4 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Material assumptions are visible
   • □ Each planned decision has an accountable decider

1. Confirm participant roles and decision rights

   Clarify who recommends, decides, executes, reviews, and needs updates for the project’s important choices.

   High priority 3 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Core participant roles are documented
   • □ Decision rights are unambiguous

2. Circulate the agenda and concise pre-read

   Give participants enough context to arrive ready for the named decisions without duplicating complete source documents.

   Medium priority 2 days before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Agenda gives time to decisions and conflicts
   • □ Authoritative supporting material is linked from its source

3. Verify the team can access required working tools

   Check that participants can use the approved project, design, documentation, and communication systems before work starts.

   Medium priority 1 day before kickoff meeting date
   • □ Required access is tested rather than assumed
   • □ No unnecessary privileged access is granted

4. Run the project kickoff

   Confirm the outcome and boundaries, resolve priority questions, surface conflicts, and agree on the first execution window.

   High priority On kickoff meeting date
   • □ Scope and non-goals are confirmed
   • □ Known ownership or priority conflicts are resolved
   • □ First execution window has a clear outcome

1. Capture decisions and unresolved questions

   Record what was decided, why it matters, and which named owner will resolve each remaining question.

   High priority On kickoff meeting date
   • □ Decisions include context and owner
   • □ Every open question has an owner and date

2. Assign the first execution actions

   Turn kickoff commitments into small owned tasks with due dates, completion signals, and any blocking dependencies.

   High priority 1 day after kickoff meeting date
   • □ Every action has one accountable owner
   • □ Every action has a visible completion signal

1. Publish the kickoff recap

   Share a compact record of confirmed scope, decisions, open questions, first actions, and relevant source-of-record updates.

   Medium priority 1 day after kickoff meeting date
   • □ Recap is shared with all affected participants
   • □ Authoritative project records are updated where required

2. Establish status, risk, and decision cadence

   Schedule only the recurring checkpoints needed to review progress, unblock risks, and make time-sensitive decisions.

   Medium priority 2 days after kickoff meeting date
   • □ Status update owner and rhythm are clear
   • □ Decision and escalation forum is scheduled

Completion stage — move finished work here.