Feb 21 2025 15 mins
In this episode I wanted to talk about two things;
- Hybrid working - can you effectively do Scrum with new Scrum teams on new projects? This question came about after my talk at Keele, & I thought it was a great question & one which needed unpacking a bit.
- Running a good kick of meeting (or any meeting) Hands up how many meetings are you in that are an utter disaster? Try of course doing that hybrid or remote & you can be almost guaranteed to fail - I briefly explain the five things I do to help run the very best meetings.
Step One: Know Your Purpose
Before you even send the invite, ask yourself: What is this meeting actually for? If your answer is "because we always do a kickoff,” start again.
A great kickoff meeting does three things:
- It aligns the team on goals, scope, and approach.
- It builds relationships and sets expectations.
- It uncovers potential risks early.
If your agenda isn’t doing these things, rethink it.
Step Two: Get the Right People in the Room
One of the worst mistakes? Inviting everyone because you don’t want anyone to feel left out. That’s how you end up with a meeting where half the people are checking emails and the other half are confused.
Here’s who should be in the room:
- The key decision-makers—Product Owner, Delivery Manager, Tech Lead.
- The core delivery team—engineers, designers, testers, analysts.
- Key business stakeholders who need to understand the project direction.
Anyone else? Optional or async. Keep it lean, keep it focused.
Step Three: Set the Tone with Energy, Not Slides
Nobody wants to sit through a 40-slide deck on “Why This Project is Important.” Instead, open with energy. Be clear, be concise.
I like to start with three things:
- The Why: Why are we doing this project? Who does it benefit? Why does it matter?
- The What: What are we actually delivering? When? What does success look like?
- The How: How are we working? Agile? Scrum? Kanban? What’s expected of the team?
If you can’t explain these things in under five minutes, your project is already in trouble.
Step Four: Get People Talking—Fast
The best kickoff meetings aren’t monologues, they’re conversations. Get the team talking as soon as possible.
Here are a few great ways to do that:
- Ask the team: What excites you about this project? What concerns you?
- Run a mini Futurespective: If this project is a disaster in six months, why?
- Map out early risks and dependencies together.
Engagement isn’t about hearing information, it’s about owning it.
Step Five: End with Action, Not Abstraction
A weak kickoff ends with “So yeah, let’s get started.” A strong kickoff ends with clear next steps.
Summarize in three bullet points:
- What’s happening this week? (First sprint, onboarding, requirements deep-dive?)
- Who’s doing what? (Lead engineer setting up repos, BA refining backlog, etc.)
- What does success look like by next check-in?
End with clarity. No open loops.
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