THE STAGE GATE IDEA TO LAUNCH PROCESS – UPDATE, WHAT’S NEW, AND NEXGEN
SYSTEMS
Stage gate process = a conceptual and operational map for moving new product projects from idea to launch.
• This process improves effectiveness and efficiency.
• It maps out what needs to be done and how it needs to be done
• Based on premise that some projects and teams understand how to win.
Stages:
Composed of required and recommended activities
• Each stage designed to gather information à
reduce risk
• Each stage costs more than preceding stage
(project costs and risk increases)
• Activities within stage are undertaken in parallel
and by team of different functional areas
• Each stage is cross functional (no R&D, Marketing
or production stage)
Gates:
Serve as quality/control check à Go, Recycle, Kill, Hold decision.
• Deliverables need to be visible and are decided at the output of the previous gate
• Criteria against which the project is judged: Must meet criteria and Should meet criteria
• Outputs: Go/Kill/hold/recycle
MYTHS (MISCONCEPTIONS) ABOUT STAGE GATE:
• It’s not a functional (firm department) model, but a phased review process. à it’s cross functional
• Not a rigid lock-step process. Flexibility may be built into the model:
o Not all projects pass through all stages
o Activities and deliverables can be omitted of bypassed
o Activities can be moved to another stage
• Not a linear systems: Activities can be done sequentially, parallel and some overlap each other. Stages
can also overlap each other.
• Not a project control mechanism: Stage gate is a model to get resources for the project and speed
them to market using best possible methods
• Not a dated, stagnant system: Today’s model is not similar to the original model
• Not a bureaucratic system: Objective is a systematic, streamlined process, not a bureaucratic one
• Not a data entry scheme: Software and data entry tools are not included in the process
• Not a back-end or product delivery process: Most stages happen before development begins
• Not the same as project management: Stage gate is a macroprocess (overaching process), not a
substitute for project management methods, rather project management and stage gate together.
COMMON ERRORS AND FAIL POINTS:
PROBLEMS WITH STAGE GATE GOVERNANCE PROCESS: MAKE THE GATES WORK
• Gates with no teeth: Gates are vital to decision making process, therefore gates must have teeth
• Hollow decisions at gates: Once a go decision is made, resources should be approved as well. Not a go
decision and no resources are approved.
, o Gatekeepers are the senior people in the business who own the resources required for the
project. For major new projects, gatekeepers should be a cross functional senior groups (only
key resources) (heads of marketing, sales, technical, etc.) à Multifaceted view provided
better decisions. The gatekeeper can’t be the project leader.
• Gatekeepers behaving badly:
o Executive “pet projects” receiving special treatment and bypassing gates
o Gate meetings canceled
o No decision made at gate meeting
o Gatekeepers and resource owners missing meetings
o Single-person gate meetings of decisions
o Go/kill decision based on opinion
o Personal and hidden go/kill agenda
MISAPPLYING COST CUTTING MODELS TO INNOVATION PROJECTS
Cost cutting models like six sigma and lean are used inappropriately, the methods are implemented in the idea
to launch process. The problem that it doesn’t work is because these methods assumes a problem, but it doesn’t
allow for creative and right-brain behavior anymore, while this is necessary for the fuzzy front end.
DOING PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT WITHOUT STAGE GATE PROCESS: STAGE GATE IS
ESSENTIAL FOR PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT:
• Tough gates eliminate poor projects in early stage à Better portfolio
• Solid stage gate leads to data integrity: key tasks are built into stages, ensures better data acquired
• Difficult to compare and rank projects without good data
TOO MUCH BUREAUCRACY
• Deliverables overkill
Several factors create overkill:
o Not certain what information required, they overdeliver à make expectations clear on both
sides
o Firm’s own Stage gate system: overly detailed templates that must be filled in à only include
essential information needed for templates
o Much of information needed is not essential for gate decisions à only include the essential
information needed
• Demanding much non-value-added work: too much non value added work needs to be done à make
sure the process is slim, effective and trim – and it delivers results.
TOO MUCH RELIANCE ON SOFTWARE
• Many belief that a software tool is a substitute for the stage gate model, it’s not. It’s
• Some software requires a lot of extra unneeded work
• Many software firms oversell their software by telling it’s stage gate ready, when it’s not
Solution:
Take a very close look at the software and ask many questions
EXPECTED THE IMPOSSIBLE FROM A PROCESS
, Stage gate is not a stand alone model. Making the innovation process visible and transparent, the other
weaknesses in the firm’s approach and methods become even more transparent.
NO PAIN NO GAIN
Implementing the stage gate is a lot of work and the work for the model seems sometimes bureaucratic. The
system seems like a lot of extra work. However, it’s worth it.
Don’t confuse bureaucracy with intellectual laziness and sloppy execution.
NEXT STAGE GATE PROCESS – HOW COMPANIES HAVE MODIFIED, ADJUSTED AND
ADAPTED STAGE GATE
SCALED TO SUIT DIFFERENT RISK LEVEL PROJECTS
Not all projects have the same risks, therefore different versions of the stage gate can be applied. See picture
below:
A FLEXIBLE PROCESS
• The stage gate is flexible, no activities or
deliverables are mandatory. Every project is
unique and the team proposes a “go forward
plan”, which identifies what needs to be done.
• Activities and stages may overlap
AN ADAPTABLE PROCESS
The stage gate adjusts to changing conditions and
unstable information, the concept of spiral (Model to
ask customers for feedback, while developing the
product. Feedback is gathered in stage 2, 3 and 4 à allows developers to incorporate customer feedback and
market better products) or agile development is built in.
EFFICIENT, LEAN AND RAPID SYSTEM
Companies made their stage gate model lean with a value stream analysis. Value stream analysis = connection
of all process steps with the goal to maximize customer value, represents linkage of value added and non value
added activities. Value stream map = used to identify and document value streams in product innovation.
Questions to critically assess the value stream:
1. What work gets done at this step?
2. How well do we execute this activity? How long does it typically take?
3. Is this step/activity really needed?
4. How can it be made faster?
MORE EFFICIENT GOVERNANCE
• Use of scorecards to make better go/kill decisions à card to score the project on key criteria by
gatekeepers
