Governance · tool 5 of 14
Stage Gates
Stage Gates: creates decision points where the project must earn the right to continue.
Best for: Large, costly or risky work · Time: 30–60 min per gate
Domain: Governance · Focus area: Monitoring and Controlling
How it works
A gate is a planned review with exit criteria set in advance. The outcome is a real decision: continue, change, pause or stop. Gates work when stopping is genuinely possible.
- Write the exit criteria before the stage starts.
- Make one person responsible for the decision.
- Treat “stop” as a valid outcome, not a failure.
How to apply it
- Mark the stages where the cost of being wrong jumps.
- Write three to six exit criteria for each.
- Send evidence, not slides, before the meeting.
- Record the decision and its conditions.
Before signing the build contract: design approved, top risks owned, budget confirmed, sponsor still committed.
If no gate has ever stopped or changed a project, you have meetings, not gates.
Use it
- Playbook: I inherited a failing project
- Playbook: Should we stop this project?
- Case study: Denver Airport Baggage System
- Case study: Zillow Offers
Quick check
Which outcome should a stage gate allow?
Sources
- PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition, and The Standard for Project Management (PMI, 2025)
- Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2®, 7th edition (2023) (summary of changes)
Last reviewed 2026-11-02 against the PMBOK® Guide, 8th edition · Practitioner review pending · How this guide is made