The Stage$-$Gate innovation method has been widely adopted by businesses. There are many variations, ranging from as few as $3$ stages to as many as $15$ and including agile and lean techniques. Regardless of the variation, the s applied whereby projects are developed sequentially and move through decision gates to filter out less promising ideas. This better ensures benefits such as

Innovation Funnel, risk management

Linear Efficiency Path, total quality control

Hurdle Jumping Filter, resource prioritization

Project Benchmark Metric, gradual budget allocation