SOP-042 — Phase-gate decision (the CPTO evidence-bar procedure)

SOP · owner: CPTO. Layer: SOP/Runbook (docs/canon.md). This SOP is the CPTO’s strategic evidence-bar procedure for the five gates; the decision mechanics (quorum, the 48h SLA, the COO tie-break) live in docs/sop/gate-quorum.md (SOP-005, Operations) and are not restated here. The five gates and their bars live in docs/methodology.md — linked, not restated.

Interface Contract

Inputs: concept brief / phase deliverable + research evidence ← from <gate-deliverable producer> · trigger: review requested
Inputs: Ideate→Plan gate package ← from Innovation Director · trigger: gate package ready
Inputs: interpreted gate-evidence (pursue / pivot / drop) ← from Design Research Director · trigger: gate evidence ready
Inputs: CGEO GTM viability finding ← from CGEO · trigger: review passed
Outputs: concept / phase question to de-risk → to Design Research Director · trigger: de-risk commissioned
Outputs: concept routed for parallel GTM review → to CGEO · trigger: concept routed for GTM review
Outputs: approved concept (Ideate→Plan) → to Project Manager · trigger: gate package ready
Outputs: product brief (Build→Grow) → to CGEO · trigger: product brief delivered
Outputs: gate assessment → to PA (for the Principal) · trigger: briefing posted
Outputs: gate assessment / ADR → to Archivist · trigger: artifact approved
Handoff trigger (in): a phase deliverable plus its Design Research evidence is ready for the gate
Handoff trigger (out): the CPTO records a gate assessment (advance / return-for-revision / escalate) against committed evidence
Definition of Done before handoff:
- [ ] Gate criteria for the specific gate assessed against committed evidence (not a deliverable read from memory)
- [ ] Ideate→Plan only: (a) named riskiest assumption + tested result; (b) Design Research evidence supports the concept or gaps are explicitly named; © scope consistent with docs/concept.md; (d) CGEO GTM finding incorporated — and if not returned within 48h of routing, escalated to the Principal with a specific question
- [ ] COO notified concurrently when COO-cluster Directors (PM at Plan→Build, Q&R at Build→Grow) are engaged
- [ ] Build→Grow only: product brief produced and delivered to the CGEO
- [ ] Grow→Operate only: repeatable growth signal jointly validated with the CGEO against the flywheel
- [ ] Written gate assessment routed to the PA for the Principal’s awareness
- [ ] Learnings captured to docs/knowledge/ if the gate surfaced one
- [ ] Assessment/ADR handed to the Archivist (0 drift)

concept routed for GTM review and product brief delivered are now registered phrases (docs/handoff-triggers.md, Wave-2 block). The Ideate→Plan concept handoff to the Project Manager uses the canonical gate package ready (the same phrase SOP-044 emits and SOP-068/070 consume — concept approved for plan was folded into it, reuse-beats-add). The review requested input declares a placeholder producer (<gate-deliverable producer>), making it the CPTO’s gate-deliverable fan-in sink (§3.1 R1). CGEO / Project Manager edges are pending (roles not yet authored, §3.1.1 R3); review passed / briefing posted / artifact approved already existed.

Purpose

Make the CPTO’s strategic assessment at each of the five gates predictable and falsifiable — advancing the venture only on real evidence, never on a narrative dressed as data — so a fresh CPTO instance could run a gate from this SOP without the incumbent.

When to use

Whenever a phase deliverable and its Design Research evidence are ready for one of the gates (Ideate→Plan · Plan→Build · Build→Grow · Grow→Operate · Operate→Ideate). Run in concert with SOP-005 (which owns who signs and the SLA); this SOP owns what the CPTO checks the evidence against.

Flow

flowchart LR
  A["Deliverable +<br/>evidence ready"] --> B{"Evidence<br/>real &amp; committed?"}
  B -->|no| R["Return for revision /<br/>escalate (evidence gap)"]
  B -->|yes| C["Assess against<br/>this gate's criteria"]
  C --> P["Parallel: route Ideate<br/>concept to CGEO for GTM"]
  C --> D{"Bar met?"}
  D -->|advance| E["Gate assessment →<br/>PA / Principal"]
  D -->|hold| R
  E --> H["Hand off:<br/>PM / CGEO / Archivist"]
  classDef s fill:#1d4ed8,color:#fff,stroke:#1e3a8a
  classDef d fill:#0f766e,color:#fff,stroke:#134e4a
  class A,R,C,P,E,H s
  class B,D d

Text fallback: deliverable + evidence ready → is the evidence real and committed? (no → return for revision or escalate the evidence gap) → assess against this gate’s criteria (for Ideate, route the concept to the CGEO for parallel GTM review at the same time) → is the bar met? (advance → write the gate assessment to the PA/Principal; hold → return with named remediation) → hand off downstream (Project Manager at Ideate→Plan, CGEO product brief at Build→Grow, Archivist always).

Steps

Confirm evidence is real and committed. A sign-off against a deliverable read from memory does not count. Absent evidence is a hold, not a vote (SOP-005).
Assess against this gate’s criteria (docs/methodology.md):
- Ideate→Plan: (a) named riskiest assumption with a tested result; (b) Design Research evidence supports the concept, or gaps are explicitly named; © scope consistent with docs/concept.md; (d) CGEO GTM finding incorporated. Route the concept to the CGEO in parallel at the start of your own assessment.
- Plan→Build: the plan has milestones, metrics, and operational specifics (coordinate with the Project Manager and Design Research Director).
- Build→Grow: the working slice passes the rubric/DoD and is measured (coordinate with Engineering + Q&R). Produce and deliver the product brief to the CGEO (what is launching, for whom, what the slice does).
- Grow→Operate: a repeatable growth signal exists, jointly validated with the CGEO against the flywheel model.
- Operate→Ideate: no open Critical blocks the next loop.
Notify the COO concurrently when engaging COO-cluster Directors (PM, Q&R) — a notification, not a permission request.
Decide: advance · return-for-revision (named remediation) · escalate. For Ideate where evidence is weak/contested, escalate to the Principal with a position. If the CGEO finding is not returned within 48h of routing, escalate to the Principal with the gap named and a specific question (proceed / wait / re-route).
Write the gate assessment and route it to the PA for the Principal’s awareness.
Hand off downstream — approved concept → Project Manager (Ideate→Plan); product brief → CGEO (Build→Grow); assessment/ADR → Archivist. Capture any learning.

Roles / approvers

Run by the CPTO (the strategic evidence bar). The Principal confirms every advance (SOP-005). The Design Research Director supplies the gate evidence; the CGEO returns the GTM finding (Ideate) and jointly validates the growth signal (Grow→Operate); the Project Manager receives the approved concept; the COO confirms operational/quality readiness and breaks decision-mechanics ties (SOP-005). The CPTO does not own delivery sequencing, the project plan, the audit, or the threat model.

Guardrails

Evidence over momentum — never advance on a narrative dressed as data; say so out loud when evidence is thin.
The gate must not stall silently — if the CGEO finding lapses past 48h, escalate to the Principal with a decision, do not wait indefinitely (JD Ideate criterion (d)).
Methodology integrity is CPTO+Principal; mechanics are Operations — do not re-decide quorum or the SLA here (SOP-005 owns them).
A bare “no” is not a verdict — a hold names the remediation (SOP-005 verdicts).
Best available model always (GR-1); co-create rules (GR-3); personal info is PA-only.

Job aid: JA-042-ideate-gate-checklist.md. See also: docs/sop/gate-quorum.md (SOP-005, mechanics) · docs/methodology.md · docs/units/cpto-cluster/operating-model.md · docs/handoff-triggers.md.