How exactly do you know that your department or organization is ready for Stage-Gate?
This is the 4th part in a multi part series. Read our previous articles “Kickstart your PMO processes with the Stage-Gate methodology”, “5 reasons for choosing Stage-Gate“ and “What do the critics say?“
Setting minimum criteria (especially quantitative criteria) that would qualify a department or a company for Stage-Gate® would be both useless and counterproductive.
It is much more interesting to consider the reasons why you would like to structure your processes, and the end result you are looking for.
Some of the classic situations we've encountered are:
- Your organization is growing quickly, and it is no longer possible to continue managing projects on an ad hoc basis. You need a way to structure your teams' work, and help them work together more efficiently, and get results quickly.
- Your teams are increasingly working cross-functionally, and they need a way to, work, synchronise and communicate better.
- You have been given high growth objectives, which are going to require you to stretch. You need to prove that you can deliver.
- You know you need to step up your PMO processes but most methodologies seem out of proportion with what you do. Maybe you've had some projects that failed to deliver the intended goal, or you feel your department is making the same mistakes over and over because they have not truly learned the lessons from past projects, and you want to remedy that. You are looking for a simple, straightforward way to develop your project management processes.
- Your company has gone through a merger or an acquisition, and you need to integrate the PMOs of the two entities to realise the sought-after economies of scale.
Stage-Gate can help with all those needs, from the largest Fortune 500 companies, to the smallest entrepreneurial firms, as Dr Cooper explains in this video:
Stage-Gate® is a registered trademark of Stage-Gate Inc.
