CANOD / PRACTICAL GUIDES
Five questions for a clearer project kickoff.
A simple starting point when the work is yours, but the team does not report to you.
A meeting invitation is not yet a shared plan. Before asking people to start, write down the answers to these five questions and ask the people doing the work to correct them.
1. What will be different when we finish?
Describe one visible result and who will accept it. “Improve onboarding” is a direction; “the next five new hires can complete the approved checklist without asking where the files live” gives the team something to discuss and test.
2. What is outside this first version?
Name the work you are deliberately leaving for later. A short boundary makes a new request easier to evaluate: does it support the agreed result, or does the scope need to change?
3. Who can commit to the next step?
Ask for an owner and a realistic date for each immediate action. When nobody reports to you, availability is a conversation. If someone cannot commit, find out which decision or priority needs to change before writing their name against a deadline.
4. What decision could stop progress?
Identify the missing approval, dependency or resource most likely to block the first milestone. Write down who can resolve it and when the decision is needed. Keep an unresolved assumption visible rather than presenting it as an agreement.
5. How will we handle changes?
Agree where updates will live and how new work will be assessed. A useful question is: “If we add this, what changes about the date, scope or available time?” End the meeting with the next check-in and the decisions still open.
COPY INTO YOUR NOTES
Your one-minute recap.
Result: [what changes, and who accepts it]
First-version boundary: [what is in and out]
Next actions: [owner, action, agreed date]
Open decision: [decision maker and needed-by date]
Next update: [where and when]
Send the recap to participants for correction. Label unknowns clearly and keep one shared version.
KEEP A COMPACT REFERENCE HANDY
The Accidental Project Manager
CANOD's short guide covers scope, ownership, difficult conversations, risks and weekly updates. See the book details and Amazon reader sample to decide whether it fits your work.
Explore the bookPublished by CANOD, October 26, 2026. The onboarding example is illustrative.