Stage gate-like process

The objective of the EvP stage is to develop a relatively fast and inexpensive assessment of the market prospects and technical merits of the concept. The following deliverables are required for a project to move into the EvP stage. 

The concept should be presented in the form of an executive summary. As the first element of evaluation, it is a GO/NO GO criterion. This means that this section of the deliverables must be clearly commimicated for the project to even be considered. The concept is made up of five parts the vision, targeted product(s), targeted technology, targeted market(s), and the intended benefits to the customer. In contrast to the other deliverables, there are no increasing hurdles for this criterion. The concept should, however, be reassessed constantly and may change as the project moves toward commercialization. 

The project team must indicate that our product meets the market need as opposed to competitive products (see market attractiveness). This indication should be based on feedback from potential customers. If the project s target customer is a customer of one s business, feedback should come from the end user. 

The product must not only meet the needs of the market today, but must also be able to maintain its position in the future. The team must also indicate that there is a sustainable competitive advantage, with respect to the market. Such advantages could include being first to market, existing infrastructure, synergies, existing sales force, etc. 

The team must also give a qualitative description of the value chain, and indicate where the product will be positioned. 

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Like discovery-driven planning, stage-gate design places checkpoints in the development process for review of progress and outcomes. However, it only focuses on the pre-launch phase of the product life cycle, not the post-launch phase. Discovery-driven planning extends further into the product life cycle, covering both before and after launch periods of the product life cycle. 

In a company like Volvo, which works with complex technical products with many sub-systems, the stages typically consist of several parallel processes carried out in different departments, and different deliverables are brought together at the gates it is only here that they may affect the requirements set up in the other subsystems. 

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