How Does a Stage-Gate Process Work?
The Stage-Gate model is based on the belief that product innovation begins with ideas and ends once a product is successfully launched into the market. This has a lot to do with the benchmarking research that the Stage-Gate model design is premise on, and is a much broader and more cross-functional view of a product development process.
The Stage-Gate model takes the often complex and chaotic process of taking an idea from inception to launch, and breaks it down into smaller stages (where project activities are conducted) and gates (where business evaluations and Go/Kill decisions are made). In its entirety, Stage-Gate incorporates Pre-development Activities (business justification and preliminary feasibility), Development Activities (technical, marketing, and operations development) and Commercialization Activities (market launch and post launch learning) into one complete, robust process.