Design Review Gates

Design review gates are formal checkpoints in the development process where a project must demonstrate specific maturity criteria before advancing to the next phase. Common gates include: Conceptual Design Review (CDR — does the concept address the requirements?), Preliminary Design Review (PDR — is the design approach feasible?), Critical Design Review (CDR — is the detailed design ready for production?), and Test Readiness Review (TRR — has the system been verified for operational testing?). At each gate, a review board evaluates the design against defined criteria and decides: pass (proceed to next phase), pass with conditions (proceed but resolve specific issues), or fail (return to previous phase). The practitioner's insight: gates work only when the review board has genuine authority to stop a project.

When to use it

When managing multi-phase projects where errors in early phases are expensive to fix later, designing quality-control processes that prevent premature advancement, evaluating whether existing checkpoints have genuine decision authority, or structuring development processes with clear maturity criteria at each stage.

How it can help

Gate review thinking applies to any multi-phase process where early decisions constrain later options and errors compound. In product development, venture capital (funding rounds as gates), hiring (phone screen → interview → offer as gates), and project management, gates force explicit go/no-go decisions rather than the default drift toward completion regardless of emerging problems. The key insight — that gates only work when the review has genuine stop authority — helps you evaluate whether your quality checkpoints are real or performative. A hiring process where every candidate who reaches the final interview gets an offer isn't using gates; it's using a conveyor belt.