Idea-to-Launch Gating Systems: Better, Faster, and More Agile

The original Stage-Gate process was created in the late 1980s to meet the need to build best practices into new-product projects in a more systematic and disciplined fashion (Cooper 1990). Indeed, the original Stage-Gate idea-to-launch system was based on an in-depth study of successful intrapreneurs within major corporations as they drove new products to market. Their practices provided the foundation for that early stage-and-gate model. Overall, the Stage-Gate process has had a positive impact on the conception, development, and launch of new products. It has proved a flexible and powerful tool, evolving to incorporate new practices, such as portfolio management, continuous improvement through post-launch reviews, effective ideation (via the addition of Stage 0, Discovery), and spiral or iterative development for constant product validation (see, for instance, Cooper 1994, 2008, 2011). But the RD it's not context-based; and it is too bureaucratic (see, for instance, Lenfle and Loch 2010). Some authors have taken issue with these criticisms, arguing that most of the perceived failings of Stage-Gate can be chalked up to faulty implementation rather than flaws in the underlying approach (Becker 2006), and some of the deficiencies have been corrected in recent evolutions of the approach (Cooper 2011). But issues do remain, and a handful of leading firms are rethinking and re-inventing their idea-to-launch gating systems, seeking to add flexibility and speed while retaining the useful structures of Stage-Gate. These hybrid systems, which allow for iteration and continuous evolution, represent the future, not just of Stage-Gate, but of new product development. The Evolution of Stage-Gate What these leaders have developed is a system that, at first glance, looks a lot like the traditional process: there are still stages where work gets done, and there are still gates where decisions are made (Figure 1). But the details of the process and its function are quite different, incorporating build-test-revise cycles and flexible decision structures to accommodate different kinds of projects. What emerges is a more adaptive and flexible idea-to-launch gating process that's also leaner, more dynamic, and significantly accelerated, one that can adapt to fluid requirements and evolving designs while it provides the right level of control and support for each project's level of risk and likely rewards. Adapting to Changing Requirements "Sharp, early and fact-based product definition" was a fundamental principle of the original Stage-Gate model (Cooper 2011, 2013). But in today's fast-changing world, a stable product definition early in the process is just not possible for some businesses and projects. Customers may not be clear on what they want (or need)--as Steve Jobs, never a proponent of traditional market research, famously said, "People don't know what they want until you show it to them" (Isaacson 2011, p. 567)--or requirements may change while development is in process--a new customer need, a new competitive product, or a new technological possibility emerges, and the original product definition is rendered invalid. The next-generation idea-to-launch system is adaptive, meaning it adjusts to fluid information--for example, changing customer requirements. Rather than requiring a product definition to be completely stable once the concept moves into development, the newer systems accommodate and even thrive on changing requirements and evolving designs. …