How to make your stage-gate process more effective? Reduce organizational politics. How? Read On!
The Stage-Gate process is a framework that is used to manage project and program life cycles. It includes a series of gates, or decision points, that determine whether a project should continue or be terminated.
At its core, the stage-gate is a risk management tool that allows organizations to make better decisions about which opportunities are worth pursuing. It does this by breaking the development process down into individual phases or stages, and then using information-gathering and goal-setting techniques to determine whether or not a project should move on to the next stage. This way, tasks can be more easily monitored and potential problems can be identified and addressed early on. This approach is simple yet powerful, and it has helped many organizations achieve success.
Stage gates are often used in new product developments, software launches, and business-wide changes. Many large organizations use stage gates to handle the numerous moving parts associated with these types of projects. The stage gate process is particularly useful for project teams working across disparate departments and locations. For this reason, stage gates are often used for project portfolio management (PPM) and demand management related projects.
Essentially, the Stage Gate Process is a way for managers and steering committees to make decisions about moving forward (or not) with a project. The number of stages in the process can be customized according to what's being targeted, and it can be adapted to integrate with agile and lean management techniques. In each stage, different factors are considered in order to make a decision about whether to move to the next stage or not. The process is based on a waterfall management approach but has been updated to integrate with agile and lean management. The American Association of Cost Engineers first developed the process in 1960, and NASA adopted it as the Phase Gate Process to test and evaluate project development.
Stage-Gate process brings structure and discipline into any investment's life-cycle that leads to more efficient allocation of resources. However, its effectiveness depends on following an objective, data driven, and fact based evaluation of projects. Many factors can derail this process with the most prominent one being organizational dynamics. Unfortunately, no organization is free of politics. So, it is imperative for senior leadership to acknowledge this issue and reduce its impact on the process.
We refer you to an excellent discussion on the impact of organizational dynamics on the state gate process. CIOs will learn the factors driving ineffective stage gate processes and how to mitigate the risks they posed by them. Excellent Read! (300 pages)
This case study on stage gate process effectiveness will help you understand:
- What is the stage gate process?
- What are some shortcomings of the stage gate process?
- What is organizational politics and power dynamic?
- How does politics affect investment effectiveness in organizations?
- What role does politics play in the stage-gate process?
- Does political influence have a meaningful impact on investment performance?
- Can we design a stage gate process which is immune from organizational politics and influence?
- What are the factors that define political influence in the stage gate process?
- How do we control these factors to insulate the stage gate process?
Understanding the specific factors that affect stage gate performance is the key to mitigating the risks they pose. CIOs can learn how to overcome politics and design a stage gate process based solely upon rigorous evaluation criteria. MUST Read!
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