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.
Copione di facilitazione
- 1
Open the day by stating the goal out loud: shared understanding, not a project plan. Post the ten questions as the agenda, agree working rules, and start a parking lot for detail that belongs in planning rather than chartering.
30 min - 2
Work questions 1 and 2: have everyone write their own answer to 'Why are we here?' before any discussion, compare the answers, then draft the elevator pitch together using the for/who/unlike/our-product template. Don't move on until one sentence survives everyone's edits.
60 min - 3
Run questions 3 and 4: split into pairs to sketch the product box — name, tagline, three bullets that would make a buyer pick it up — then build the NOT list as a full group. Push for at least five explicit 'not doing' items; a short NOT list means scope creep later.
60 min - 4
Cover questions 5 and 6: map the neighbours — every person, team, and system the project touches — then have the most technical people sketch the solution on one whiteboard while everyone else challenges what's missing.
60 min - 5
Take questions 7 and 8: ask 'What keeps us up at night?' and let the room write risks silently before reading them aloud, then size the project in months, not weeks — and say the number directly to the sponsor.
60 min - 6
Close questions 9 and 10: set the trade-off sliders — which of scope, time, budget, and quality gives first when pressure hits — then list the team and skills actually required, including what is currently missing.
45 min - 7
Walk the wall: read all ten one-pagers back to the group, ask each person 'What here is wrong?', capture corrections, and agree a concrete milestone date when the deck will be revisited — not 'later'.
30 min
Suggerimenti
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.
Errori comuni
Compressing ten questions into two hours — the uncomfortable conversations are the point, and rushed sessions trade discomfort for hollow consensus
Running the workshop without the sponsor, then presenting the deck as a fait accompli they proceed to unpick question by question
Accepting a vague NOT list — items marked 'we'll decide later' are exactly where scope creep enters; push for explicit, uncomfortable exclusions
Filing the deck away after kickoff — a deck that is never re-read at milestones stops being an alignment tool and becomes kickoff theatre
Variazioni
Lean Inception: a 5-day workshop version by Paulo Caroli for complex products. Mini Inception: just questions 1, 4, and 7 for smaller projects.
Casi d'uso
Quando usarlo
A project is about to start and every stakeholder carries a slightly different picture of what is being built, for whom, and why
Previous kickoffs produced enthusiasm but no durable record of scope boundaries, risks, or trade-off priorities — and it hurt mid-project
An agency or vendor engagement is beginning and expectations about scope, exclusions, and what gives when things slip need to be explicit before work starts
A team inherits a project mid-flight and must rebuild the context the original team carried in their heads
Quando non usarlo
The project is small or short-lived — a Mini Inception covering just questions 1, 4, and 7 delivers most of the value in about an hour
The sponsor or key decision-makers cannot attend — a deck built without them yields answers they will later override
The team needs an execution plan or backlog — the deck aligns direction and expectations; use story mapping or sprint planning for the how
Whether the project should exist at all is still contested — that is a go/no-go decision for leadership; chartering assumes the commitment has been made
Metodi correlati
Approfondimenti
Domande frequenti
How long does an Agile Inception Deck take?▾
Plan a half day at minimum and a full day for anything complex — roughly four to eight hours. Teams that compress it into two hours get agreeable but shallow answers; splitting it across two half-days works well when calendars are tight.
Who should attend an inception deck workshop?▾
The full delivery team plus the sponsor and any stakeholder who can veto scope or budget — typically 4 to 12 people. Running it without the decision-makers produces answers they will later overturn, which defeats the purpose.
Can you run an inception deck remotely?▾
Yes: build a shared whiteboard with one frame per question and split the agenda into two or three video sessions of at most two hours to manage fatigue. Silent individual writing before each discussion matters even more remotely, because video calls amplify the loudest voice.
What is the difference between an inception deck and a project charter?▾
A charter is a formal document usually written by one person for governance; the inception deck is ten questions the whole team answers together, so the alignment comes from the arguing, not the artifact. For a longer, product-focused format, look at Paulo Caroli's five-day Lean Inception.
What preparation does an inception deck workshop need?▾
Brief the sponsor on the format and secure their attendance, book the full block, and prepare a template or flip chart per question. Do not pre-write answers — the value is in the team authoring them together — but do circulate the ten questions in advance so nobody is ambushed.
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