A gated methodology for the development of new products and services developed by Michael McGrath in his book Next Generation Product Development.

PACE stands for Product and Cycle-time Excellence, and relies on seven interrelated elements to ensure project success and minimize time-to-market.

These elements can be divided into two groups: four elements at the project management level:

  1. a gated NPD process,
  2. a small cross-functional Core Team empowered to make all decisions about the project,
  3. a structured development process that ensures consistency, and
  4. efficient use of development tools and techniques.

And three elements at the program/portfolio level:

  1. a Product Strategy Process that provides a framework for product development decisions,
  2. comprehensive technology management, and
  3. pipeline management which provides a framework for project prioritization, cross-project resource management and aligns functional capabilities and project requirements.

see also: new product development, gated process

related articles: webinar: the best (possible) product portfolio, webinar: measuring product development productivity and performance, planisware enterprise demo: combining agile and stage-gate for new product development