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📋 Frequency: Trigger-Based | Time: 60 min | Trigger: 3 business days before first working session
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A weak kickoff doesn't just create a bad first impression — it sets a misaligned operating rhythm that takes weeks to correct. Rushing into the first working session without a structured agenda and a clear stakeholder map means you're spending paid hours on setup work that should have happened beforehand.
Prerequisites
- New Client Intake Process SOP complete (questionnaire returned and reviewed)
- Client record fully populated in your project management system
- Confirmed kickoff date — this SOP runs 3 business days prior
Procedure
- Review the returned intake questionnaire and your notes from the sales process. Identify the stated constraint and any signals that suggest secondary issues.
- Run the Engagement Kickoff Agenda skill with the client's engagement type, primary constraint, and session length as inputs. Review the output and customize any agenda items that don't fit the specific engagement.
- Run the Stakeholder Map Builder skill with all known stakeholders, their roles, and their stated or likely relationship to the engagement. Flag anyone who has sign-off authority or veto power.
- Run the Expectation-Setting Script skill with the engagement scope, cadence, and key deliverables as inputs. This produces your opening framing for the kickoff — use it verbatim or adapt it to your natural register.
- Assemble the kickoff packet: finalized agenda, stakeholder map, and expectation-setting script. Share the agenda with the client 24 hours in advance.
- Block 30 minutes before the kickoff to review your prep and confirm the Quick-Win Sprint SOP is queued for weeks 1-2.
Expected Outcome
A finalized kickoff agenda shared with the client, a stakeholder map in your project system, and an expectation-setting script ready to deliver — all confirmed 3 business days before the first working session.
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⚠️ Common mistakes:
— Building an agenda without reviewing the intake responses — the agenda should reflect what you learned, not a generic kickoff template. Generic openers signal that you didn't read what the client sent.
— Skipping the stakeholder map for small teams — even a two-person engagement has a power structure. Missing it means you'll discover mid-engagement who actually controls the decisions.
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