StrategyIntermédiaire

Agile Inception Deck

A set of ten structured questions that help a team build shared understanding before a project begins — developed by Jonathan Rasmusson. Used to align stakeholders, set realistic expectations, and surface the most important risks before a line of code is written or a workshop is designed. More lightweight than a formal project charter, more thorough than a kickoff meeting.

Durée

4h–8h

Taille du groupe

4–12 people

Matériel

Whiteboard or large wall, Sticky notes, Markers…

Source

Workshop Weaver

Comment l'animer

1
Block a half-day with the full team and key stakeholders.
2
Work through the ten inception questions together:
3
1. Why are we here? (the elevator pitch)
4
2. Create an elevator pitch (who / for / who / unlike / our product / does)
5
3. Design a product box: what would make someone pick this off a shelf?
6
4. Create a NOT list: what's explicitly out of scope?
7
5. Meet your neighbours: who are all the people and systems we interact with?
8
6. Show the solution: draw a high-level architecture or workflow
9
7. Ask what keeps us up at night: top 3 risks, honestly
10
8. Size it up: rough estimate of timeline and cost
11
9. Be clear on what's going to give: quality, scope, time, or budget?
12
10. Show what it's going to take: the team composition needed
13
Capture outputs on one-page per question. Review together at the end.

Conseils

The NOT list (question 4) is the most underrated — it prevents scope creep before it starts.
Question 7 (what keeps us up at night) requires psychological safety. Go last if needed.
Don't rush. The discomfort of answering these hard questions before the project starts is the point.
Revisit the inception deck at every major milestone — not just at the start.

Variantes

Lean Inception: a 5-day workshop version by Paulo Caroli for complex products. Mini Inception: just questions 1, 4, and 7 for smaller projects.

Contextes d'utilisation

Project kick-offStakeholder alignmentNew product developmentAgency project start

Méthodes associées

FacilitationDefinition of Done Workshop

DecisionPre-Mortem

FacilitationSprint Planning

Team BuildingWorking Agreements

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Method descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from Workshop Weaver.