I Love Kickoff: How to create a successful project culture from the first meeting.

First impressions are powerful lasting. Roles are unclear or hidden. Time money is wasted. Stakeholder “Frontloading”: Tips. Find a personal connection to the subject early. Gather specific expectations regarding features and functionality. Be sure to inquire what are risks for project failure. Maintain an “offtherecord” tone. A variation on the poker game “Pass the Trash,” you can use this technique to assess the priorities of a large organization, and if you play your cards right, assess the amount of variance between two organizations.

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HATE SPORTS I

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HATE SPORTS I

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HATE SPORTS.

I DON’T

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SPORTS.

I DON’T

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UNDERSTAND SPORTS.

I DON’T

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How to create a successful project culture, from the first meeting

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Does a great kickoff meeting guarantee a great project?

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Does a great kickoff meeting

guarantee a great project?

NO!

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Does a great kickoff meeting

guarantee a great project?

NO!

Does a lousy kickoff guarantee project problems?

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Does a great kickoff meeting

guarantee a great project?

NO!

Does a lousy kickoff guarantee project problems?

YES.

@kevinmhoffman

@kevinmhoffman

1 First impressions are powerful &

lasting.

@kevinmhoffman

1 2

First impressions are powerful & lasting.

Roles are unclear or hidden.

@kevinmhoffman

1 2

3

First impressions are powerful & lasting.

Roles are unclear or hidden.

Time & money

is wasted.

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Trust.

@kevinmhoffman

Good Meeting Design

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Meeting Basics

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Is a neutral servantDoesn’t evaluate

Doesn’t contributeCoordinates/Manages

Facilitator

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Is a neutral servantDoesn’t evaluate

Doesn’t contributeCoordinates/Manages

Recorder

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Is a neutral servantDoesn’t evaluate

Doesn’t contributeCoordinates/Manages

Recorder

@kevinmhoffman

Is a neutral servantDoesn’t evaluate

Doesn’t contributeCoordinates/Manages

Becomes a group member

Recorder

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Good Meeting Design

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Kickoff

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Kickoff

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1 2

Open process Actionable meeting goals

Kickoff

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1 2

3

Open process Actionable meeting goals Good ideas are everyone’s job

Kickoff

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1 2

3

Open process Actionable meeting goals Good ideas are everyone’s job

Kickoff

1 2

3 4

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Conference Business Strategy

1

2

3

4

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Design Studio

Conference Business Strategy

1

2

3

4

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Design Studio

Conference Business Strategy Culture

1

2

3

4

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Conference

1

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Conference

1

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Conference

1

#kickoffs

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Conduct your full stakeholder interview phase before

you hold your kickoff meeting.

This provides content for kickoff exercises and a

framework for you to test the expectations of

stakeholders against the larger organization.

Stakeholder “Frontloading”

#kickoffs

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Find a personal connection to the subject early.

Gather specific expectations regarding features and functionality

Be sure to inquire what are risks for project failure Maintain an “off-the-record” tone.

Stakeholder “Frontloading”: Tips

#kickoffs

@kevinmhoffman

Stakeholder “Frontloading”: Roles

This technique requires:

#kickoffs

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Stakeholder “Frontloading”: Roles

This technique requires:

Recorder

Group Member

Facilitator

@kevinmhoffman

Kickoffs at Happy Cog are never a single meeting

We define a core team, and then branch out from that

core team into meetings that tackle the different layers of a project in different, appropriately sized and staffed sub-

groups.

Multiple Meetings

#kickoffs

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Multiple Meetings: Roles

This technique requires:

#kickoffs

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Multiple Meetings: Roles

This technique requires:

Recorder

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Business Strategy

2

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Business Strategy

2

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Business Strategy

2

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Card sorts aren’t just for building sitemaps

A variation on the poker game “Pass the Trash,” you can use this technique to assess the priorities of a large

organization, and if you play your cards right, assess the

amount of variance between two organizations.

Prioritization Card Sort

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Prioritization Card Sort: Step 1

Topic 6Topic 5

Topic 4

Topic 1Topic 2Topic 3Topic 6

Topic 5

KEVIN

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Prioritization Card Sort: Step 5 Variation

Topic 7 Topic 8Topic 4Topic 1Topic 2

Topic 3Topic 6 SAVETopic 5

REMOVE

KEVIN

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Prioritization Card Sort: Analysis

Donate to a Specific Program 8 1.31 1 1.67 -0.67

Get Help 1 5.23 5.42 5 0.42

Reviews of New Technology 2 3.38 4.71 1.83 2.88

Services Organized by Topic 2 6 3.57 8.83 -5.26

Sign Up to be a Volunteer 0 1.53 1.28 1.83 -0.55

Volunteer for a Specific Program 1 0.46 0 1 -1

Out of 10, n=13 Out of 10, n = 7 Out of 10, n = 6

#kickoffs

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Prioritization Card Sort

This technique requires:

Recorder

Group Member

Facilitator

@kevinmhoffman

This is something we picked up from Henning Fischer at

Adaptive Path’s UX Intensive.

Have all participants evaluate a list of proposed features on

a scale of 1 to 5, but limit the total allowed points to 3X the number of features Plot the results.

Priority & Feasibility Plot

#kickoffs

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Priority & Feasibility Plot: Step 1

Donate to a Specific Program 2 5

Integrated Events Calendar 5 1 Reviews of New Technology 3 1 Services Organized by Topic 1 3 Sign Up to be a Volunteer 3 3 Simulations 4 4 Volunteer for a Specific Program 2 2

Must total 24 24 24

Feasibility

Get Help Simulations Volunteer

Donate

Volunteer for a Specific Program

#kickoffs

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Priority & Feasibility Matrix

This technique requires:

Group Member

Facilitator

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Design Studio

3

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Design studios have been around for awhile, but

Todd Zaki Warfel made them sexy with his Prototyping book

Everyone starts with a blank grid, a pencil, and a time limit

Have them prototype, form groups of 2, present, then critique Repeat until you get down to two large groups

Design Studio/Prototyping

#kickoffs

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Design Studio/Prototyping

#kickoffs

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Design Studio/Prototyping

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

November 9, 2009 Your Name: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumNovember 9, 2009 Your Name(s):

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Based in part on their recent O’Reilly book Designing Social

Interfaces, Social Mania is a card game created by Christian

Crumlish and Erin Malone that allows encourages players

build & ship hypothetical social experiences

It’s a great way to help “non-web” people understand the

social web Make sure you have prizes

Social Mania

#kickoffs

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Social Mania

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Culture

4

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Culture

4

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Culture

4

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Culture

★ Identify challenges & colleagues

4

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Show someone a series of websites Give them 20 seconds

to score their reaction to that site on a scale of 1 to 5

Compare the overall averages, averages by organizational division, and then follow up with folks on high and low

scorers

20 Second “Gut” Test

Uses a methodology similar to the 20 second test, but

evaluates individual interface components outside of their

larger context

Design X Health Check

1 2 3 4 5

A2

#kickoffs

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Design Experience Health Check

This technique requires:

Group Member

Facilitator

#kickoffs

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Design Experience Health Check

This technique requires:

Internally, agree upon your own values about a particular

aspect of your work, for example visual design Then

prepare an open discussion based on examples of each

value

Values Exploration

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A Few

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A Few

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A Few

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A Few

Continuity.

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A Few

Adaptation.

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A Few

Depth.

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A Few

Trust.

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Q&A

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