Delivery approach

The method is chosen, the cadence is not

A capital project and a software portfolio need different plans. They need the same discipline: a fixed rhythm, an owner on every item, and a decision recorded the day it is made.

The range

Waterfall to SAFe, and most programs live in between.

The choice is set by how expensive a late change is. Where that cost is high the plan is fixed early; where it is low the plan re-forms each increment.

Plan fixed earlyPlan re-forms each increment

Waterfall

Stage gates

Capital projects where the design is fixed before the steel is cut, and a change late costs more than a change early.

Hybrid

Gated increments

Most real programs. A fixed outer contract and schedule, with iterative delivery inside each stage.

SAFe

PI planning

Software portfolios with many teams and a moving target, where the plan has to re-form every increment.

The cadence

What governance looks like on an ordinary week.

Governance is a rhythm before it is a document. Its only real test is whether that rhythm survives a difficult month.

  1. Weekly
    Delivery check

    Progress against the baseline, blockers named, and every new risk given an owner before the meeting ends.

    OutputUpdated registers
  2. Every increment
    Re-forecast

    Cost to complete and date to complete, recalculated from actuals instead of the last commitment.

    OutputForecast at completion
  3. Monthly
    Steering committee

    One pack, one version of the truth, and the decisions the committee actually has to make listed on the front page.

    OutputDecision log entries
  4. Per stage
    Stage gate

    The five questions below, asked against evidence. The program does not proceed on intent.

    OutputGate decision — pass, hold, or stop
  5. At closure
    Handover

    Scope reconciled against the contract, documentation filed, open items either closed or formally transferred to an owner.

    OutputSigned closure pack
The gate

A stage gate asks five questions. All five need an answer.

A gate that can be passed on optimism is not a gate. These are asked in the same order every time, and a "no" holds the program until it becomes a "yes" with a date.

  1. 01

    Is the scope for this stage complete, and evidenced?

  2. 02

    Does the forecast to complete still fit the approved budget?

  3. 03

    Is there float left on the critical path, and how much?

  4. 04

    Which risks carry into the next stage, and who owns them?

  5. 05

    Is the next stage resourced and ready to start on the date?

Bring us the program.

The first conversation costs nothing, and it usually clarifies more than it commits.

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