Running Effective Stage Gate Meetings

Summary

In 1986, Dr. Robert Cooper and Dr. Scott Edgett introduced a methodology based on state gates, which formalized the approach for new product development. This best practice offers guidelines for running effective stage gate meetings. 

In the Stage Gate process, each information-gathering stage consists of a series of activities (simultaneously performed by the various respective roles in the organization), ideally a brief team analysis of the results of the activities, and production of a set of deliverables for that stage. The stage is followed by a gate, which is a meeting to review the results and deliverables of the stage, and assess whether the development project should continue to the next stage. This is also a good time to re-prioritize if necessary.