Reviews during the project Reviews during the execution of the project provide additional check points where the objectives and general `state of health' of the project can be assessed. Reviews related to stages and gates Within the staged framework these are at the gates prior to starting new stages, for example, at the Development Gate, the Trial Gate and the Release Gate. In such cases, the review should focus on the decision to proceed with the project (or not) and, if so, check the adequacy of prepa- ration for the next part or stage of the project. For long stages, intermediate reviews should be planned into the project schedule. For long stages, intermediate These should be event driven (i.e. a particu- reviews should be planned into the project schedule. These lar milestone has been reached such as should usually be event driven (i.e. signing a major contract) rather than time a particular milestone has been driven. It is good practice to plan reviews reached such as signing a major such that one is due approximately every contract) rather than time driven. three months. Notwithstanding this, it may also be appropriate to review a project prior to the regular quarterly business refracts. These reviews should confirm that the costs, timescales and project targets remain achievable and that the expected benefits will be delivered to the business. Finally, the project management practices should always be assessed to confirm that they are being implemented effectively. The `health check' tool included in Project Workout 26.1, later in this chapter, can be used to assist in this. Reviews related to deliverables When project deliverables are produced, they need to be reviewed and approved against predetermined criteria. The criteria may be docu- mented in any convenient form; however, I have found the `product description' to be a useful fall-back in the absence of anything else. A product description defines the following: 450 PA R T F O U R · M A K I N G P R O J E C T S W O R K F O R Y O U