How to run a website kickoff readiness review
Use a six-input checklist to identify actual blockers before booking production time.
A kickoff meeting and a production start are different decisions. You can discuss a project before every input is ready, but committing delivery time requires knowing what the team can actually use. A short readiness review exposes that difference without turning kickoff into an endless questionnaire.
Review the next phase, not every possible deliverable
List the work scheduled immediately after kickoff. Homepage design may depend on an approved message and brand files; a later case-study section may be able to wait. Mark those dependencies explicitly in the project plan.
Open Gather’s free kickoff checklist as a starting point. It covers six common input groups, but a real project may need more. Add project-specific questions in the free checklist starter rather than assuming the default list covers every integration or approval.
- What work begins next?
- Which input blocks that work?
- Who can resolve the missing item?
Inspect rather than count
Suppose five inputs are reviewed and one is missing. If the missing item is the final approver, the risk differs from a missing optional photo. The tool shows counts, not an automated go/no-go decision.
Open important file links and confirm the delivery team has access. Check whether copy is approved, images can be used, and platform invitations go to the correct account. Do not put credentials into the checklist.
- Usable format and permissions
- Approved version and decision owner
- Access granted through the actual platform
Leave with a decision and an owner
For each blocker, record the owner, next action and agreed date. Decide whether to begin the unblocked work, move the production start, or reduce the first phase. Write down which option the team chose.
Use the free tool to download a request for outstanding items. In a saved Gather workspace, collect the client’s text answers and file links and review them as they arrive. Treat the readiness review as a decision record, not a promise that a checked box guarantees delivery.
- Begin, defer or narrow the first phase
- One owner for each open dependency
- A time to check the remaining inputs