Formal (change order) and informal scope changes (unknown complexity), and new risks and risk assessments should be Gate topics. To be effective Gates should address the two key causes of project failure, scope changes and risk. At the Gate Review the project manager reviews progress made to-date, changes since the last Gate Review, and the plan for the work between this Gate and the subsequent Gate. Gate reviews provide management specific points in the project life cycle when further progress entails higher investment and commitment. A structure that can be swung, drawn, or lowered to block an entrance or a passageway.The Gate is there to make sure these events and information are considered. Outside events and information also influence the outcome of the Gate. However, unlike the game where a spin of a wheel determines the outcome, the project manager has a significant influence on whether he or she will encounter and вЂњladderвЂќ, a вЂњchuteвЂќ, or just the project path ahead. Like this childhood game, applying the idea of project Gates is like the game of вЂњChutes and LaddersвЂќ. Landing on a вЂњchuteвЂќ, which resembles a slide, causes the player to immediately slide back to a previous position, and forces the player to retrace the path just taken with all its hazards. The ladders, which bypass any intervening hazards, allow the player to immediately advance a significant way along the path. There are entrances to either a вЂњladderвЂќ or a вЂњchuteвЂќ at several places along the path. In this game each player moves their token along a path according to the spin of a wheel. Chutes and Ladders В® for Project ManagersДЇor several decades the child's game вЂњChutes and Ladders В®вЂќ has been a popular pastime. Only when this body is in agreement, should the project go forward. Lastly Gates are a project management integrating function since all project factors are considered simultaneously with all stakeholders and resource providers. Within a Project/Program Management Office, Gate Reviews are also a means of project management process deployment and process change management. Gates and Gate Reviews also provide a formal means of controlling project risk, monitoring scope changes, and maintaining stakeholder interest. Project Gates and Project Gate Reviews are both concepts that provide key communication opportunities as projects move through the project processes and application specific elaboration steps.

For example, depending on the application area progressive elaboration may include feasibility, planning and design, construction, and start-up or top-level design, detail design, implementation, test, and then acceptance. Communication is also required as projects move though the phases appropriate to their application (technical) domain. Communication is needed to effectively close the project. Communication is ongoing during execution and control. Communication is needed to establish the project plan. Communication is needed to initiate the project. Project Management is about communication.

Gate key plus