Tools for Stage-Gate*

The Stage-Gate* model presumes that the activities of product innovation can be bundled into logical "stages", such that the activities of one stage are largely completed before the next stage is begun. This most efficiently preserves the option not to go on.

The well-built Product Innovation Process provides project teams with guidance about which activities belong in which Stage, either in the form of key activity tables, flowcharts, deliverables, key decision-making criteria or the like.

Fuzzy Front End

often officially, the Assessment Stage

Development Pipeline

Commercialization

The Stage-Gate model presumes that the decision to move from one Stage to the next will be made at a "Gate". So major decision-making gains some insulation from the rest of project activities.

Gate decisions are made by Gatekeepers. A project's Gatekeepers are those principal stakeholders who are responsible for the outcome and/or resources of the project.

Gates may take several forms. The most formal Gates are face-to-face meetings between member representatives of the project team and the Gatekeepers. Ample experience suggests this is the best form. But it is also the most consumptive of people's time and of project cycle time. Both can be greatly minimized by good process management.

see also
Gate Documents
Deliverables

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