Most project failures don’t happen at the end.
They just finally get noticed there.

The truth? A huge chunk of failed projects were already in trouble before the kickoff meeting ended — or in some cases, before it even started. But hey, everyone nodded, so we must be good… right?

Wrong.
Misalignment is the silent killer of projects — and it usually starts before anyone writes a line of code, designs a slide deck, or sends a status update.

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The Real Problem: Everyone Thinks They’re Aligned

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Here’s what misalignment actually looks like:

• The sponsor wants a scalable platform.
• The PM thinks they’re delivering a quick MVP.
• The engineer just got told it has to be done in two weeks.
• And nobody agreed on what “done” even means.

But sure, let’s “kick things off.”

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Why Kickoffs Get Rushed (or Completely Ignored)

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A few common excuses:

• “We don’t have time for a long meeting.”
• “Everyone knows what we’re doing.”
• “We’ll figure it out as we go.”
• “We’ve done this kind of thing before.”

Translation: “We’re about to spend a lot of time fixing things we could’ve prevented in the first hour.”

Kickoffs aren’t red tape. They’re the part where you decide what game you’re playing.

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What a Real Kickoff Should Do (But Usually Doesn’t)

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An actual, useful kickoff isn’t just someone reading the project name out loud and saying, “Let’s go.”

Here’s what needs to happen:

• Define what “done” looks like. In English. With examples.
• Confirm who’s doing what. If everyone’s responsible, no one is.
• Identify what could go sideways. (Hint: Something always does.)
• Set expectations for updates, decisions, and escalation.
• Make sure everyone in the room is solving the same problem.

This doesn’t have to take all day. But skipping it completely guarantees you’ll spend many days later wishing you hadn’t.

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The Cost of Getting It Wrong

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Misalignment is expensive. It shows up as:

• Rework no one budgeted for
• Timeline slips that surprise no one — and frustrate everyone
• Stakeholders “confused” about what’s being delivered
• And, eventually, the classic: “Wait… who approved this?”

If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
You’re just underplanned.

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What to Do Instead

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Start here:

• Prep before the meeting. If you don’t know what success looks like, neither does your team.
• Run a real kickoff — with an agenda, not vibes.
• Assign real owners. Not “the team” — actual names.
• Capture decisions so you’re not reinventing them in week three.

Need a template? We have one.
Want us to run your next kickoff for you? We do that, too.

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Final Thought

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You don’t need a two-day workshop.
You need to get people aligned before they start running in different directions.

Because once the work starts, it gets harder to slow the train down.

FiftyOne Consulting helps teams start strong, plan smart, and stop reliving the same delivery disasters. If your last “kickoff” felt more like a shrug, let’s fix that before the next one.

📩 Reach out — or just drop a 🙃 if you’ve survived a kickoff that definitely didn’t kick anything off.

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