Project Kickoff: how Ubiminds and you align expectations and get everyone set up for success

So maybe you’re pairing up with Ubiminds for the first time. Or you want to share your experience with someone else, and this is the shortest way to do it! Either way, here’s a quick summary of how our Project Kickoff goes and why it is so crucial for us to successfully curate you the team you deserve.

What is Project Kickoff and why is it important?

This is the official handover from the Customer Engagement to the Customer Success Team. It’s a quick, 40min call where we take a deep dive to understand:

• Your business goals and strategic positioning;
• What the product roadmap has as next deliverables;
• How candidates should fit into your Software Development Lifecycle culture;
• If there is any way we can make HR processes easier.

At the end of the day, it’s all about setting a budget, agreeing on timing, and aligning overall expectations so we can indeed operate as #OneTeam. At this stage, Customer Engagement has already understood that your team is a good fit for nearshoring distributed product teams, and your Customer Success Manager will be running diagnostics so we can strategize the best possible process to build or scale your operations.

Ubiminds doesn’t charge for sourcing and recruiting new members for your team, just for the work the engineers will carry out once they’re placed on your team. That’s how much we trust our custom-curation processes, and it’s also why we’re extremely thoughtful towards who we bring on to your team and how.

Desired outcome and deliverables of this stage

Having a successful Project Kickoff means we are able to submit vetted candidates within 10 days. That’s right: you will be introduced to two or three people that have the grit, motivation, and skills your team needs. Added bonus: we make sure they are nice to work with, too! 😉

By the end of the Project Kickoff call, we should have:

1. Introduced the Customer Success Manager to the key stakeholders within your digital product team;
2. Established direct communication channels and routines between both our teams for seamless interactions;
3. Agree on the role’s challenges, requirements, responsibilities, and perks.

In sum, the objective here is to establish the hiring strategy by studying your needs to set in motion an interview plan and any other technical assessments we may need. To make this encounter as productive as possible, there are some good practices you should look into:

How to prepare ahead so you reach Project Kickoff ready to go

Step 1 – Decide on stakeholders

Choose the team that’ll be involved and lock down the necessary time commitments from everyone. Before the submissions start rolling in, it’s important to understand who’ll be responsible for each step in the process:

• Serve as the point person to Ubiminds’ Customer Success Team;
• Manage all communications and schedules;
• Perform first-round interviews;
• Perform second-round interviews;
• Review any exercises or presentations.

Step 2 – Define your internal interview process

Define your recruiting & hiring process. Establish a process and each of the steps defined, and agreed upon by everyone involved in the hiring process, as well as possible take-home tests. If you’re not sure how to do this, we have plenty of expertise to share. Feel free to ask for support!

Step 3 – Identify Non-Starters

Come to an agreement on what your non-starters on. Identify what are the types of candidates that just won’t work for you. Knowing what these are from the start saves everyone time (both candidates and your hiring team). What are the traits or technical barriers that, in all likelihood, means they’ll not make it through the process – or worse, if they did, would likely lead to problems going forward.

It’s important to know that this prep work makes a big difference in how we structure to support you. For each new client, we organize a squad made up of sourcers, recruiters, and success managers with the specific skillset to deliver on the agreed outcomes. More likely, you’ll have at least four professionals working any job positions you open.

Looking ahead: what are the next steps?

We take all this input and establish tactics used to attract and vet candidates. We debrief our team so everyone has clarity on how, where, and in which ways we should relate to candidates on your behalf. This is especially important so we remain retention-focused. From the very first interaction, we like to inform talent what career paths look like. That is one of the reasons why Ubiminders stay with you as long as you need – feel free to ask about our attrition rate!

Sounds interesting?

If you’re not familiar with Ubiminds yet, have a look at this comprehensive guide of what we do. If you’re already a client, reach out to your Success Manager for further information. Not a client yet? Talk to Ubiminds by filling the form below:

Scheila Farias Silveira

International Marketing Leader, specialized in tech. Proud to have built marketing and business generation structures for some of the fastest-growing SaaS companies on both sides of the Atlantic (UK, DACH, Iberia, LatAm, and NorthAm). Big fan of motherhood, world music, marketing, and backpacking. A little bit nerdy too!