Create a project kickoff plan

Get a one-page kickoff plan covering goals, scope, roles, milestones, risks and the agenda for the kickoff meeting.

Change note: Initial version

Prompt

Act as an experienced project manager. Draft a kickoff plan for this project.

Project: {{project_name}}
What it is and why it matters: {{project_summary}}
Deadline or target date: {{deadline}}
Team and roles: {{team}}
Budget or resource limits: {{constraints}}
Project size: {{size}}

Produce:
1. **Goal and success criteria**: one goal sentence, then 3 measurable outcomes.
2. **Scope**: in scope, explicitly out of scope, and 2 assumptions to confirm.
3. **Roles**: a simple table of who is responsible for what, and who decides.
4. **Milestones**: 4 to 7 milestones with target dates working backward from the deadline. Use relative dates if I did not supply a start date.
5. **Top 5 risks**: each with likelihood (low, medium, high), impact, and one mitigation.
6. **Communication rhythm**: meetings, updates and channels, sized for a {{size}} project.
7. **Kickoff meeting agenda**: 45 minutes, with time per item.

Do not invent facts about the team or constraints I gave. If something critical is missing, list it under "Information needed before kickoff" at the end.

Variables

• {{project_name}}Project nametextrequired

  Default: Customer portal redesign

• {{project_summary}}Summarylongrequired

  Default: Replace the outdated customer portal so users can self-serve invoices and support tickets, cutting support emails by 30%.

• {{deadline}}Deadlinetextrequired

  Default: Launch by 15 June

• {{team}}Teamtextrequired

  Default: PM (me), 2 engineers, 1 designer, part-time QA, support lead as stakeholder

• {{constraints}}Constraintstextrequired

  Default: No new hires; design vendor budget capped at 10k

• {{size}}Sizeselectrequired

  Options: small, medium, large

  Default: small

Example output

**1. Goal and success criteria**
Launch a self-service customer portal by 15 June that reduces support email volume.
- Support emails drop 30% within 60 days of launch
- 70% of active customers log in at least once in the first month
- Invoice download works without support help in usability tests

**2. Scope**
In: invoice access, ticket submission and tracking, login. Out: billing changes, mobile app. Assumptions to confirm: existing login system is reused; invoice data is available through an API.

**3. Roles**
| Area | Owner | Decides |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery and timeline | PM | PM |
| Design | Designer | Designer with support lead input |
| Build | Engineers | Lead engineer on technical choices |
| Quality | QA | PM on go/no-go |

**4. Milestones**
Requirements locked (week 2), designs approved (week 5), core build done (week 10), QA complete (week 13), launch 15 June.

**5. Risks**
1. Invoice API gaps (medium/high): spike in week 1.
2. Vendor spend overrun (low/medium): fixed-scope contract.
3. QA availability (high/medium): schedule tests early.

**6. Communication**
Weekly 30-min sync, written update every Friday, shared channel for daily questions.

**7. Kickoff agenda (45 min)**
Goals 10, scope 10, roles 5, milestones 10, risks 5, next steps 5.

**Information needed:** start date, API owner.

Notes

The explicit 'do not invent' line plus a final missing-information list keeps the plan honest. Run it again once the open items are answered.