We need a project process to allow us to organise the work for innovation projects and to ensure that the project is delivered in line with our definitions. We also use the process to provide clear go/stop decision points throughout the project.
Our project process uses three stages. It has some similarity with Agile-Stage-Gate, which was developed for innovation projects, and blends use of stages for verifying progress with agile development within stages.
We can also align the stages within the process with the UK Research Institute Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) which are typically used to measure development of innovative products, especially where public funding is deployed.
While the TRLs originated in physical manufacturing, they are also used for software innovation, however in projects such as ours, TRLs 2-7 (stages of developing prototype) will blend to reflect the agile development approach.
Some of our projects will output at prototype software product, such as a new MLOps tool. These projects may reach TRLs 4 to 7. Others may output research collateral, such as a research paper or output for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. These may reach TRL 2 or 3. The target TRL is defined in the project brief, part of the first stage.
Note that we started with a 5-stage process, but quickly learned that it wasn’t quite the right shape, so in the spirit of learning and adapting, we learned and adapted!
Here is our three-stage project process:
We define each stage with a name, objectives, activities and outcomes.
We have a stage gate between each stage where we decide if the project is ready to progress to the next stage or not. We use a decision process at each stage gate to determine if we should move to next stage, authorise more/different work within the same stage, or stop the project.
Next are our stage definitions.
