Project Kickoff Meeting: Your Secret Weapon for Success

Establish ground rules and responsibilities before a project begins to minimize managerial challenges along the way.

© iStockphoto.com/33ft

In the past three editions of the CAD Manager's Newsletter, I've focused on how technical trends such as portable computing devices and cloud software services have changed how CAD managers and users do our jobs. In fact, the degree of change I've observed in the last few years is staggering.

What amazes me, though, is how many CAD managers have become so wrapped up in new technology challenges that they've forgotten about an old-fashioned secret weapon that can tip the managerial balance back in our favor: the project kickoff meeting. In this edition of the CAD Manager's Newsletter, I'll focus on how you can use this classic technique in new ways to help manage tough new challenges in your environment. Here goes.

Too Busy to Be Organized? It seems as if everyone is so busy running around trying to execute projects that few of us take the time to get those projects started correctly — a mistake that can cost us as projects get rolling. There's an old axiom that asks, "Why do we have time to do things twice, but not right the first time?" Perhaps you've even asked yourself this question! The project kickoff meeting helps you do things right the first time, and I submit that the need for project kickoff coordination today is far greater than it ever has been.

It used to be that our CAD tools were a given and the main challenge of any project was getting everyone to agree on project standards. Now we have to think about much more, such as:

• remote offices,
• traveling and mobile workers,
• cloud-based IT issues,
• file format issues for viewers, and more.

Simply put, a lot more variables are involved today in executing a CAD project than there were just a few years ago, so starting out organized is more crucial than ever. Put another way, the price we'll pay for being disorganized is now much higher than it was just a few years ago.

Project Kickoff Defined

Whether the project kickoff meeting is conducted by a project manager (with you attending as the CAD manager) or whether you run the kickoff meeting, your goal is still the same — to understand how the project will work from a CAD point of view. Whenever I attend a kickoff meeting, I always strive to get answers to the following questions by the end of the meeting:

• What are the CAD deliverables? Which software will be used and which version? Will a filing structure (parts to assemblies, building information modeling (BIM) discipline coordination strategies, xrefs to master drawings) be used? Which 2D geometry and plotting formats will be used (DWG, DGN, PDF, hard copy, etc.)? How will we track who has which file version?
• Which CAD tools will be used for this project? For the most part, the deliverables defined will dictate the tools used on the project.
• What is the timeline? When are deliverables due, and to whom?
• Who's on the team? Who is involved in producing the deliverables in your company and the client's company (if applicable)? Will everyone on the internal team have the same project manager? Will all parties at the client company have the same project manager? In other words, will everyone be on the same page or is there potential for managerial confusion?
• Who's in charge? Should things go wrong or need updating, who will do that?
• What is the role of the CAD manager?

By pursuing these lines of questioning, I'm trying to establish not just technical ground rules for the project, but clear organizational and time ground rules as well. I need to know what must be done, but I also need to know who sets the rules as the project unfolds.

In addition to addressing these questions, I insist on a kickoff meeting to get everybody thinking about the project before the work starts. Why? Because in the long run, a project generally will progress more quickly and easily if it's organized from the start than it is if you try to organize as you go. Once people start the work, it can be hard to pull them back.

1 2 

Comments