3.6 Milestones and review gates

A milestone marks meaningful progress, while a review gate determines whether the project is ready to proceed. “EDA drafted” is a milestone. “EDA quality issues resolved or explicitly accepted” is a review gate.

Useful review gates include:

• the problem is answerable with available evidence;
• variable definitions and units are sufficiently understood;
• major data-quality issues have decisions and owners;
• the analytical method has an appropriate validation plan;
• projections have documented assumptions and denominators;
• recommendations can be traced to findings; and
• report and presentation values reconcile with the analysis.

Proceeding through a failed gate without a documented decision usually creates more work later.