The method

Investment governance articles for sponsors and PMO leads

Articles on stage gates, business cases, capex and opex, benefits tracking, and governance frameworks, written for the people who answer for the investment.

Definition

Design principles in the business case

A design principle is a decision rule, agreed before the work starts, that settles a class of future trade-offs and states what the choice costs. This article covers how to write one, who sets it, and how a gate uses it.

7
min read
Definition

Investment governance, and what it asks that project governance doesn't

Investment governance is the practice of deciding, repeatedly and on the record, whether the money committed to a change program is still well spent. This article separates it from project governance and lists the four records it needs.

7
min read
Definition

Capex and opex for technology investments

Capital expenditure is money spent to acquire or create an asset used across several periods and written down over time, and operating expenditure is consumed in the period it is incurred. This article covers how the split changes approval, NPV, and payback for technology investments.

6
min read
Framework

A project governance framework that survives contact

A project governance framework is the standing arrangement of decision rights, gates, records, and reporting that an organisation uses to decide whether an investment continues, changes, or stops. This guide sets out its parts and how to keep them working in a program's worst week.

7
min read
Definition

What is project governance?

Project governance is the arrangement of decision rights, accountabilities, and records that determines who can commit money to a project, on what evidence, and where the reasoning gets written down. This article covers the roles that carry weight and three ways governance fails.

7
min read
How-to

How to write a business case

A business case is a written argument that asks a named person to commit money to a specific piece of work and states the expected return. This guide covers the five sections, the financial measures, and how to keep the case current after approval.

7
min read
Definition

What is a stage gate?

A stage gate is a scheduled decision point in a project where a sponsor decides whether the work continues, changes, or stops. This article covers the six stages of a technology investment, how gates fit with agile delivery, and where they go wrong.

4
min read

Benefits tracking software: what it is and what to look for

Benefits tracking software records the returns a business case promised and measures them after the project closes. This article covers why benefits go missing, five features to look for in a tool, and the governance gap that software cannot close.

min read

Business case software: what it is and what to look for

Business case software holds a business case as a structured record connected to delivery work. This article lists four features to look for and says when a template or spreadsheet is enough.

min read

Stage gate software: what it has to do, and when you don't need it

Stage gate software puts current delivery evidence in front of the decision-maker at each gate, records the decision with its reasoning, and keeps the gate schedule visible. This guide covers how to evaluate the options and when a one-page template is enough.

min read

Project portfolio management in Jira

Jira project portfolio management is the practice of planning, tracking, and governing many projects at once inside Jira. This guide covers what native Plans does, what roadmap apps add, and the investment record that neither keeps.

min read

Try the method on a live Jira project

Tollgate keeps the business case, the gate decisions, and the payoff record in one place, next to the delivery they pay for.

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