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Project kickoff checklist

A project kickoff checklist: define what done looks like, plan the work, name the risks and run the first meeting. Use it here, print it, or turn it into a Done project in one paste.

Most projects that go sideways were never properly started: they had a name and a deadline, but nobody wrote down what finished looks like. This checklist covers what to settle before anyone does the work — the goal, the plan, the risks and the kickoff itself.

In Done, a project like this is where an agent earns its keep: give it the goal and it proposes the plan, takes the research and first drafts, and leaves the decisions to you.

Define it

Plan it

De-risk it

Kick it off

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Use it in Done

  1. Press Copy and open Done. The template goes onto your clipboard as a list.
  2. In Done, open Settings → Data → Import and choose Paste a list.
  3. Paste it, check the preview and import. The heading becomes a project called “Project kickoff”, and each line becomes a task.

No account yet? Sign up free first; the import is waiting in Settings.

Copy and open Done

How to use this template

  1. Write the goal in one sentence and define what done means.
  2. List the deliverables and break each one into tasks.
  3. Name the risks, the dependencies and what's out of scope.
  4. Run the kickoff and share the plan.

Hand it to your agent

Connect Done to Claude, ChatGPT or any MCP client (it takes a minute), then paste this prompt. Your agent works through Done's own tools, under the same approval gate as everything else.

Fill in the parts in [brackets] before you send it.

Work only through the Done MCP connector, on my Done account.

I'm starting a project: [the goal in one sentence, and the deadline].

1. Call create_project to make a project for it.
2. Call create_task for one parent task named after the goal, in that project, with acceptance_criteria saying what done looks like and due_date set to the deadline.
3. Call propose_plan on that task with the plan and its steps: the deliverables broken into tasks, the risks you can see, and what's out of scope. Give the steps you can do yourself — research, outlines, first drafts — assignee "claude"; leave decisions and anything that needs my accounts to me.
4. Call render_plan on the task so I can see the plan laid out.

Don't start the work. The plan waits for my approval in Done.

Tools this prompt calls

  • create_project
  • create_task
  • propose_plan
  • render_plan

More templates

Your list, with an agent on it

Sign up with just an email, import a template, and hand the first task to Claude or ChatGPT.

Open Done