Concept: Product Stage Gating |
Stage gating defines a roadmap for progressing a product from initial concept to final release.
Relationships
Related Elements | Monitor and Control Portfolio
Main Description
A stage-gate model is a roadmap for progressing a product from initial idea to availability, with specific decision points or gates at which you decide whether to approve the product's progression to the next stage. Stage gating can reduce investment risk, because you approve funding at incremental intervals, with multiple opportunities to review and re-examine a product's execution, expected benefits, risks, and outlook. Not all products will make it through all of the gates; some may be stopped at the outset, while others may be stopped partway through. This concept page defines stage gating based on the Stage-Gate® model of the Product Development Institute (PDI). ### Stages The stages you define for your product will depend on your processes and level of formality. You may define different stage-gate models for different types of products. For example, a brand-new product would follow a different path than a minor upgrade to an existing product; a highly strategic or business-critical product would differ from a less strategic product. A product typically begins in an idea or concept stage, and progresses through one or more evaluation stages to establish feasibility and business case, before a gate approval to release it to development for implementation. After a product is in development, it might go through stages for implementation, validation, and approval for release or launch. Each stage consists of a set of activities and deliverables to be completed by a cross-functional team. The team gathers information and completes work to reduce project uncertainties and risks and to advance the state of the product artifacts. The deliverables are input to the gate decision and to the next stage. ### Gates Gates are at specified points of the Stage-Gate model. At each gate, decision-makers assess whether to continue investment in the product based on these factors: Execution results from the current stage. Are the required deliverables complete and of required quality? Current business case. Will the product produce the desired benefits, return on investment, and strategic impact? Plan for next stage. Does the investment for the next stage fit within the organization's resource capacity, prioritization, and risk, and is the plan reasonable? The outcome of the gate decision is one of the following decisions: Proceed to the next stage, with continued investment Cancel the project where it is and stop all investment Suspend the project at this stage for possible future progression Redirect the product team to revise the work in the current stage and come back with additional information or deliverables The formality of the gate decision depends on your organization and processes, and that may vary by project type or by gate. Although it's advisable to document the outcome of each gate decision, you can do this either formally with an artifact state transition or with more informal documentation.
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