Investigating the risk management potential of a stage/phase-gate project management approach

Abstract

The paper investigates the potential of a stage/phase and gate process as a general approach to manage project risks. The use of stages/phases and gates as a project management approach is well established in literature and industry. However, the approach has primarily been used for product development projects, and opinions differ as to the number of stages/phases and what tasks should be completed in each stage/phase in general. Furthermore, the risk management potential of such an approach is not well established in literature. The risk managing potential that is considered in this investigation is both overall and within project phases by considering project lifecycle phases as stages. A case study is presented to illustrate this potential for progressively lowering risk through such a stage/phase-gate project management approach.