Speeding Between the Gates

Consumer behaviour is changing fast, and brands need to be more efficient at bringing innovations to the market that meet growing consumer expectations. The traditional stage-gate project management technique isn’t optimised for this challenge, and organisations need a new agile stage-gate system to launch next-gen ideas.

The majority of organisations follow a stage-gate process. It’s a tool to manage and allocate scarce resources to create winning ideas, by weeding out the ones with lower potential. However, the risk-averse nature of organisations has meant that the amount of “gates” has increased over time, making the process slow, elaborate and obsolete in providing cutting-edge innovations that meet consumer needs.

Speeding Between the Gates provides a solution to stagnant ideation processes: an agile stage-gate framework where multiple stakeholders and teams can launch an innovation without losing the initial intended promise, originality and ability to disrupt.

How is the new agile stage-gate different from the traditional?

While there are similarities between the two, the new agile stage-gate builds on the advantages of the traditional, with some modern improvements including:

• Different project leads and teams dedicated to one initiative
• Shared goals, a single vision and a clear roadmap
• More discipline and planning while remaining agile
• Better team commitment, delivery and value

To go from a traditional model, to an agile stage-gate system, it will require more than a few pilot projects. Core procedures need rewiring, capabilities need time to develop, and a culture of constant improvement needs to be adopted.

Ipsos InnoSprint: An Agile Stage-Gate system geared for success

Agile processes call for agile collaboration tools that bring marketers, consumers, and researchers together. Ipsos InnoSprint works across all touchpoints of the development journey and is split into three phases: Discover, Define and Develop:

• Discover: Strategic assessment and identification of innovation territories
• Define: Design, iterate and optimise the most promising ideas and concepts
• Develop: Fuel your innovation pipeline via iteration and the right tools

The paper then continues to showcase the success of InnoSprint with an in-depth case study by a key actor in the consumer healthcare space.

Discover more Ipsos solutions for innovation testing.