Establish Phase Gate Reviews - Overview (2.1.10.P1)

At the completion of a major project phase, the team should take a short pause to ensure that the prior work was completed successfully and that the project team and the client are ready to proceed to the next major phase. Sometimes these criteria are called exit and entry criteria, or "gate reviews." These checkpoints are a way to validate where the project is and ensure everyone is ready to proceed. The basic checkpoints and questions tend to be similar from phase to phase, and even from project to project. Therefore, they tend to be good candidates for a checklist. Any final reviews at this time tend to be Quality Assurance related since they are focused more on the processes completed rather than reviewing any specific deliverables. The deliverable reviews should have been completed earlier in the phase.

Obtaining formal approval to proceed is important for a couple of reasons.

• The team needs to make sure that it does not get ahead of itself. For instance, if you begin the Design Phase without having the requirements finalized, you may end up with a design that does not fully meet the client needs, or you may have to spend effort and money on rework.

• You need to ensure that you still have sponsorship, budget and resources. Taking a checkpoint and obtaining formal approval to proceed will ensure that the project is still valid and that you expect that you will have the resources you need to complete the remainder of the work. If you proceed without formal approval, you may end up wasting resources on work that no longer has a high-enough priority to proceed.