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Stage-Gate®: the structure of a typical process

 1) Stage-Gate® definition     2) Stage-Gate® structure     3) Presentation on Stage-Gate®    Order the Stage-Gate package   


Idea   Preliminary
investigation		 Business case   Develop-ment   Test and validation   Production and
full launch
  Idea screen
   Preliminary approval
 		  Project approval   Review of
development result
   		Product release
   Review of business results

Stages are cross-functional
Each stage includes a number of prescribed and cross-functional activities derived from proven best practices. Activities during the stages are carried out in parallel, not in sequence. This ensures an efficient and rapid project execution.

   stages are cross-functional - all relevant areas and departments of the company contribute
   each stage is preceded by a decision point, i.e, the gate.

Gates are the critical decision points
Gates are the critical points in the process where project decisions are made. The possible decisions are Go, Kill, Hold or Recycle.

The gates are also:
  checkpoints for quality control:
     Has the stage been carried out in a quality fashion?
     Has the project team done its job well?
     Is the project still attractive from an economic and business standpoint?
     Are the action plan and the path forward sound?
  project prioritisation and resource allocation decision meetings

At the end of a gate meeting, a clear and well founded decision is made. In case of a GO decision, sufficient resources and visible support are committed by the the gatekeepers to the project leader and the team.

Gatekeepers
The gatekeepers are a team of senior managers who own the resources and have the authority to make the Go/Kill decisions at gates. The gatekeepers:
  are from a different functional areas and can commit resources
  have a pre-set list of criteria and rules - they can't play favorites

The Benefits of the system
  it puts discipline in an somewhat chaotic series of events
  it improves the quality of execution
  it speeds up the project
  it ensures a complete project - no critical steps are omitted
  it leads to a better project selection and focused resources

A well implemented best practice system helps you ..
  to keep the schedule in the majority of your projects,
  to shorten time to market by 30% or more,
  to improve your new-product success rate by 10-30%.

And this actually increase your company's profits by millions, frequently by just as many millions as your company's annual development budget.

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                          © Jens Arleth, 2009