How to Get Your Web Development Projects Off to a Good Start

Key takeaways:

• A web development kickoff meeting involves the agency and the client’s decision-makers in a room to hash out the details about the project.
• A kickoff meeting gives everyone clarity about the core objectives of the project.
• A good project kickoff meeting can be accomplished in 2 hours.
• Prepare and follow a web development kickoff meeting agenda to ensure you have everything covered.

If you’re anything like my team, you probably want to dive right into a web development project as soon as you possibly can. Because we love our jobs, we’re all very passionate about it.

Eager to start without having to deal with the “boring parts,” we tend to forget about running efficient web development kickoff meetings. We have such a laser-beam focus toward the more enjoyable aspects of web development — coding, setting up servers, and designing the user interface — you know, the good stuff.

Early in my web development agency’s history, this is how we worked: The moment we returned from a project’s contract signing, Photoshop would fly open, databases would be fumbled together, and code would be quickly written. We couldn’t wait to get started with production. And when that happens, proper planning goes out the window.

The result of insufficient planning and coordination? A project of any size and scope ended up becoming a mess quite quickly.

This blog post is meant to help you run efficient web development kickoff meetings so you can properly plan and execute your project. We’ll cover these topics:

• What is a web development kickoff meeting?
• Why should you conduct a web development kickoff meeting?
• Who should be at the web design kickoff meeting?
• What should you do before the kickoff meeting?
• Web development kickoff meeting agenda
• How long should a web design kickoff meeting be?
• Web development kickoff meeting best practices

What is a web development kickoff meeting?

A web development kickoff meeting is the initial meeting with the project team and the client, including the decision-makers.

It involves getting the agency and all the client’s decision-makers in a room to hash out the details about the project once it’s gotten the green light.

Why should you conduct a web development kickoff meeting?

This meeting is important for web development projects because it:

• Familiarizes all the individuals involved in the project with one another
• Extracts important details from the appropriate individuals to avoid information silos
• Gives everyone clarity about the core objectives of the project
• Gets everyone on the same page
• Promotes active communication lines
• Gets the project off to a great start

Who should be at the web design development kickoff meeting?

For a web development project to be successful, you must involve stakeholders and decision-makers from the get-go.

That way, they can share their needs and existing pain points. It also helps agencies create a holistic approach to the web development project and consider the input of every team during the early planning stage.

For example, let’s say an agency is redesigning a website for a motorcycle dealer client. The marketing team needs an attractive website that drives leads and encourages brochure downloads.

Meanwhile, the sales team wants to streamline the visitor-to-lead conversion process. The sales team wants to be notified immediately once an inquiry comes in, so they can assign team members to nurture these leads.

The after-sales department, on the other hand, may want a streamlined customer service inquiry process. A website form with the right number of required fields is a must for them, with all inquiries filtered and sent to the right team members who can help their customers.

You don’t need the whole company at the meeting, though. Just make sure each group of stakeholders or department is represented.

What should you do before the kickoff meeting?

Running efficient meetings begins even before you convene in one room. Before the kickoff meeting, web development teams can gather basic information about the project, such as:

• The web development project’s primary and secondary goals
• Project manager’s contact information
• Secondary contact information

Other technical information is also necessary, such as the following:

• Server info
• Domain information
• Analytics service provider or tools
• Past search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns

If a project also involves mobile app development or ecommerce site development, you may need to gather more technical information.

A web design agency typically gives their clients a chance to get some of their information together before the kickoff meeting by sending them a worksheet to fill out. Based on my experience, one week is enough.

It’s also a good litmus test for agencies to see how responsive and communicative the client is throughout the web development project.

How long should a web design kickoff meeting be?

In general, a good kickoff meeting can be accomplished in 2 hours.

This may seem longer than a typical meeting. However, a kickoff meeting is an important first step in your process.

Having a long and structured kickoff meeting can potentially save you time in the future.

Web development kickoff meeting agenda

Your project kickoff meeting is an exciting time. Deposits have been paid, and the client is ready to get started on their project ASAP.

I find that the more prepared I am for the kickoff meeting, the more likely the client will follow my lead and trust my judgment during the meeting as well as throughout the lifecycle of the project.

How should the meetings be structured? Here’s a sample web design kickoff meeting outline:

Web development kickoff meeting agenda sample

1. Scope and goal review
2. Mechanical discussion
3. Technical discussion
4. Copy and media
5. Website aesthetics
6. Release
7. Support and revisions
8. Marketing
9. Review

Let’s go through each one:

1. Scope and goal review

I like to start my kickoff meeting like a thesis statement in a scientific paper: I state the primary goal of the project and provide a summary.

The primary goal must be a SMART one. For example, depending on the scale of the project, it might even be as specific as: “The goal of the project is to drive traffic to the site’s contact form and have users fill it out.”

Then I review the scope of work that has been signed by the client. This allows you to set the stage and confirm what it is you are building, while refreshing everyone on what the project is all about.

2. Mechanical

Have the following info way early:

• Server
• Email
• Analytics

You don’t want to be two weeks away from launch and have to set up a server.

3. Technical discussion

Your technical discussion will absolutely take the most time. This portion defines the project.

What you ultimately want to walk away with are three important pieces of information that everyone should agree on:

• What are the primary and secondary goals of the project?
• What actions do we want people on the site do?
• What features will the project have to support these goals?

4. Copy and media

Content, images, and rich media (like videos) are topics often neglected in a lot of planning meetings, but they’re some of the most expensive and time-consuming things to produce. Cover this topic as soon as possible by identifying who’s producing copy and media.

For example, most companies that I work with that produce video don’t do it quickly or cheaply. Get the ball rolling early on any video production needed, and reinforce who is purchasing any needed stock photography. This must also be stated in your contract.

5. Website aesthetics

The look and feel of a website is tough to nail down.

Early in my career, the conversation usually went something like this: “How did you envision your site looking?” That question would be followed by the client mentioning five of their competitors’ websites — all of which would typically look horrible.

The web development agency is a team of professionals. They must know what looks good and what doesn’t.

Instead of having a client start and govern the conversation about the look and feel of the website project, the question must be geared toward how they want their site to feel and the general style they’re going for.

A web design agency is hired to figure out the rest.

6. Release

When and how a site will launch seems like an obvious thing that you want to establish as soon as possible. The “when” is usually covered in the contract, but the “how” is sometimes forgotten.

Will there be a beta testing period prior to launch? How about slowly rolling it out to gain interest and test the load on our servers?

These are some things to cover in your web development kickoff meeting.

7. Support and revisions

This is a great discussion that can potentially generate recurring revenue for an agency.

How do you plan on updating the site after it has launched? What if the web server crashes?

If an idea comes up in the middle of the project that requires augmenting the original scope of work, how do we deal with that?

Your contract typically has the line items of the support services included. Your kickoff meeting is a great time to clarify these services, the possible scenarios that may come up, and the best way to work together when they arise.

8. Marketing

Identify the other marketing materials you need to prepare for the web development project.

Do social media accounts need to be set up? Will you have downloadable brochures and guides on the website?

Make sure you’ll also prepare for any traditional marketing materials. Identify any assets that the creative department must work on and when they must go live.

9. Review

By this time, both teams are probably exhausted, but it’s a good exercise to quickly run through the following:

• Deliverables
• Due dates
• Summary of the key points

Web development kickoff meeting best practices

Now that you have a sample of a web development kickoff meeting agenda, let’s go through some best practices:

1. Assign tasks as you go through each agenda item
2. State the intended results and outcome
3. Use a project management software to stay on track of deliverables

Let’s go through each one:

1. Assign tasks as you go through each agenda item

The web development agency’s project manager must assign responsibilities to the client and their teams as they go through each item. Then, the person accountable for a task identifies a deadline they can work with. I’d give them a little more time if I could spare it.

I also gently remind clients that if their deliverable is late, all dates are pushed back, and we typically will charge extra unless given 15 days’ notice. It’s harsh, but it keeps people accountable and, in the end, makes them a happier customer because their project is on time.

2. State the intended results and outcome

I typically start kickoff meetings with what I’ll be going over and what the client will be walking away with. Setting expectations is an important part of every client meeting to maintain efficiency and show that agencies take their clients’ time seriously.

Doing so also communicates with everyone why you are all meeting so that they can prepare mentally for the chat.

3. Use a project management software to stay on track of deliverables

After the kickoff meeting, I typically punch in the due dates into our project management software. Then I’ll run a quick report of what we’ve discussed.

Notetaking or transcribing apps powered by artificial intelligence (AI) can streamline this process. I recommend checking the app’s output for errors.

Then, I’ll share the report with the client via email as a reminder of the things we’ve discussed, along with a note thanking them for their time.

WebFX can run efficient web development kickoff meetings

If you want to start a web development project or redesign your website, consider partnering with WebFX.

We’re a full-service digital marketing agency with 28 years of experience designing websites that drive revenue for our clients, making us an industry-leading web design company worldwide and a top Fort Myers web design agency. Streamlining our processes and meetings helps us efficiently deliver your projects and save you time.

Call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to speak with a strategist about our web development services!