The success of the project depends on the entire team coming into agreement — and that starts with a kickoff meeting.
An effective kickoff sets the tone for what will be a collaborative effort — one that ensures all stakeholders are heard. The goal is to work toward consensus of discrete problems from disparate points of view. Here’s how to take full advantage of your kickoff meeting.
When Openfield initiates a kickoff meeting for a UX project with an EdTech company like yours, we aim to level the knowledge playing field for all participants. We believe getting traction depends on it. We also bring experience and expertise that help facilitate productive conversations.
Here’s who we want to include in the kickoff — and the way we shape the kickoff discussions for maximum benefit.
Our initial kickoff session starts with identifying the key stakeholders on your team. This might include product owners, designers, developers, customer service representatives, and, ideally, a representative of learning sciences. In essence, anyone else who is invested in the success of the UX project should have a seat at the table.
Each person in this diverse group has specialized knowledge from a unique vantage point.
Product owners bring the necessary big-picture vision. They have holistic business objectives in mind and experiments they’re interested in trying. The product owners’ thinking is complemented by that of both designers and developers, who can shed light on the execution of generated ideas.
Customer service team members can give voice to common user frustrations. And a learning sciences expert can keep the entire team grounded in what matters most — a learning experience that improves learning outcomes for users.
A productive kickoff meeting opens up information channels and allows each stakeholder to share their vision. The team brings clear definitions of the product, the users, ideas about problems to be solved, past research or data, and any anticipated obstacles.
This approach ensures all project members have a 360-degree view.
Openfield serves as a necessary, neutral party that can keep bias at bay, give your users a voice — and help your team align around a common vision.
Once we’ve assembled all the key stakeholders, the next step is to set everyone’s expectations. Everything should be put on the table: critical information, past research, resources available, and possible roadblocks. Once everyone has the same baseline of information, there will be fewer surprises along the way.
A member of the Openfield UX team serves as a moderator of the kickoff discussion and shares the agenda for the session with all attendees in advance. Our moderator keeps any one voice at the table from dominating the discussion, draws out relevant information with intelligent questions, and makes inferences that help build a holistic understanding of the topics.
The discussion should center around three different areas: the product users, the UX problem as each member understands it, and what success for the project would look like. We run through a series of questions and gather input from everyone.
Examples of questions the UX team may ask include:
Sometimes the kickoff session doesn’t allow for time to build consensus among stakeholders. When that happens, we distill the key takeaways from the kickoff session and pick up our next discussion again with clarity and focus.
Once consensus has been reached on the key questions, we can:
An effective UX kickoff session unites stakeholders, synthesizes their knowledge, and establishes the right next steps. Want to learn more about how Openfield’s approach can get your UX project started on the right foot? Let’s talk.