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209 Project Management
2.1.5 KICK-OFF MEETING
At the official start of the project, those participating in the project should be made familiar with
it. A kick-off meeting is therefore carried out to obtain agreement for the project and to clarify
important framework conditions. The project goals as well as the significance of the project are
highlighted. All those participating in the project should take part in the kick-off meeting. The proj-
ect manager invites people to the meeting; he also takes over the moderation and leadership of
the meeting. The points on the agenda in the kick-off meeting are shown in Fig. 13:
Points of the agenda Documents to be used
Introduction of the project team Project organization
Explanation of the project contract Contract analysis
Presentation of the project's infrastructure Project infrastructure
Agreement to the deadlines Project phase plan
Agreement of the qualification requirements for the
team members
Determination of the expectations and motivations of
all team members
Figure 13 | Points on the agenda for a kick-off meeting
The project manager sets the date very early (1-2 months before the kick-off meeting) and sends
an invitation. This contains:
– Date and time
– Place and space
– Those participating
– Preliminary agenda (see agenda points, Fig. 13)
– Offer to help with travel preparations
About one week before the meeting, the project manager sends the kick-off meeting presentation, which
contains detailed points of the preliminary agenda. The project is officially started for the project team
when the kick-off meeting takes place. The kick-off meeting launches the official start of the project.
2.2 PROJECT PLANNING
Projects always require detailed planning in order to process the given results while adhering to
the given deadlines and budgets. The project manager is responsible for project planning.
The following rule always applies:
Project implementation without planning means that the project is "unplanned," and there-
fore at high risk.