Who This Is For
Most professionals have never been taught how governance systems like the Stage Gate process actually work.
If you understand it, you stand out.
This course will elevate your skillset, increase your credibility, and accelerate your career.
For Those Making Decisions
These roles need to ensure projects are well-defined and set up for success.
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Project Executives
Lead major capital projects and need to ensure clarity, alignment, and governance from the start. -
Sponsors & Gatekeepers
Responsible for approving funding and making critical investment decisions. -
Assurance & Risk Leads
Need structured reviews and governance to reduce exposure and improve predictability.
For Those Managing Projects
These professionals are in the trenches and need to execute well-defined projects.
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Project Managers
Responsible for planning, execution, and navigating complex stakeholder environments in early and later phases. -
Project Engineers
Often shape the scope, make technical recommendations, and need to understand gate expectations. -
Owner Representatives
Acting on behalf of the owner company, they must ensure processes are followed and value is protected.
For Those Facilitating or Supporting
These roles guide, train, and facilitate alignment and decision quality.
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Internal Facilitators
Help teams navigate opportunity framing, planning, and early decision-making. -
PMO and Governance Leads
Define and improve the delivery process and build organizational maturity. -
Trainers & Coaches
Want to teach and mentors others on how the stage gate process and framing tools work.
For Those Collaborating With Owners
These external professionals support projects and must understand the owner's processes.
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Contractors in Development Phase
Work with owners to define scope, evaluate options, and contribute to early phase deliverables. -
Consultants & Advisors
Support FEL, governance, assurance, or technical reviews and want to speak the owner's language. -
Framing Workshop Participants
Engineers, analysts, or leaders contributing to major early-stage workshops and needing clarity
Why This Matters
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According to IPA's 2025 data, the quality of project definition (FEL) has declined significantly over the past 5 years.
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Poor FEL = weak alignment, unclear scope, increased rework and massive cost overruns.
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The Stage Gate Process is the proven system that helps project leaders frame the opportunity, make better decisions, and reduce risk before execution.
Effective capital project delivery requires disciplined planning and execution.
A structured approach - ensuring that key activities are completed at each stage - is essential to reaching Final Investment Decision (FID) with confidence. Too often, projects fail to follow this critical process, resulting in missed FID opportunities and costly overruns in time and budget. This training program stands out for its clarity, practicality, and accessibility. Unlike many courses that are overly academic or complex, this program is designed to resonate across all levels of the organization - from senior leadership to front-line staff.
It ensures a shared understanding of the project lifecycle and the importance of rigorous stage-gating and decision quality.
In my own experience leading projects at Shell, a program like this would have accelerated team alignment and strengthened our execution readiness. It bridges the gap between theory and practice in a way few other trainings manage to achieve.
Damodaran Raghu
Kaleidoscope Energy LLC, Managing Partner,
Ex Shell General Manager
What You’ll Learn - Course Modules
Module 1: Why Projects Fail (And How To Fix Them)
Stop repeating the same mistakes. Understand the root causes of project failure and how decision gate process prevent them.
What You'll Learn: The governance gap costing your organization millions. How to spot failing projects early. Why most projects derail at predictable points.
Tools You'll Get: Project Failure Reflection Journey, Decisions vs Deliverables Mindset Activity, Decision Gate Organizational Maturity Assessment.
Content:
1.1 Four Reasons Projects Often Fail
1.2 Predictable Delivery With the Decision Gate Process
1.3 From Activity-Based to Decision-Driven Thinking
1.4 Assessing Organizational Maturity
Module 2: Breaking Down Projects With a Decision Gate Process
Learn the proven framework Fortune 500 companies use to govern projects from idea to delivery. This is the system that works.
What You'll Learn: The Decision Gate Process framework. How it works, how to categorize projects by complexity. How to scale governance appropriately. Who owns decisions and when.
Tools You'll Get: Stage to Gate Map, Scaling Governance Worksheet, RASCI Role Definition Tool, Gate Review Checklist, Failure Pattern Mapping Activity, Real case study of what happens when you skip phases
Content:
2.1 What is a Decision Gate Process
2.2 What is FEL
2.3 Categorization and Scalability
2.4 Roles and Responsibilities Across the Lifecycle
2.5 Common Pitfalls in the Decision Making Process
Module 3: Framing Opportunities
Stop pitching projects that get rejected. Learn how to frame opportunities so executives say yes.
What You'll Learn: The PATH Framework for building compelling business cases. How to prepare for and facilitate the opportunity framing workshops - the complete set of tools. How to align stakeholders, understand the current state, create the future state and the roadmap for the way forward.
Tools You'll Get: PATH Framework Guide, Opportunity Framing Checklist in Details, Project Snapshot, Opportunity Framing in PowerPoint and Excel. Bonus videos on how to prepare for and facilitate workshops.
Content:
3.1 What is an Opportunity Framing
3.2 How to Use The PATH Framework
3.3 How to Prepare a Grounding Presentation?
3.4 Issues Brain Dump
3.5 Opportunity Statement and Value Drivers
3.6 Scope and Project Boundaries
3.7 Definition of Success
3.8 Strategic Fit
3.9 Decision Hierarchy
3.10 Option Analysis
3.11 Strategy Table
3.12 Roadmapping
3.13 Stakeholder ID and Mapping
3.14 Action Plan
3.15 Deliverables and Assurance Plan
Module 4: Making SMART Decisions
Master the decision-making process that eliminates guesswork and bias. Know exactly when to say go or no-go.
What You'll Learn: How to run Decision Review Boards. Common decision-making biases and how to avoid them. How to document decisions so there's no confusion later. When decisions have gone wrong and what to do about it.
Tools You'll Get: Decision Log Template, Decision Review Board Guide, Decision Quality Wheel Tool, Spotting decision-making cognitive bias activity
Content:
4.1 The Role of Decisions
4.2 Running Effective Decision Review Board Meeting
4.3 Using the Decision Quality Wheel
4.4 Spotting Biases in High Stake Decisions
Module 5: Integrating Risk and Assurance
Catch problems early. Learn when and how to run assurance reviews that build stakeholder confidence instead of creating delays.
What You'll Learn: How to assess risk effectively at each phase. How to run assurance reviews that matter. How to build governance structure to support project success. Real examples of risk surprises and how to prevent them.
Tools You'll Get: Managing Risk Across the Lifecycle, Risk Register and Risk Matrix Tool, Comprehensive Assurance Reviews, Assurance Review Schedule Template, Case study on hidden risks.
Content:
5.1 How to Manage Risk Across the Lifecycle
5.2 How to Run Effective Assurance Reviews
5.3 Building Governance That Supports Project Success
2 X Bonus Modules
Ready to transform your organization? Learn how to implement the decision gate process across your entire portfolio and embed it for the long term.
Bonus Module 1 - focuses on rolling out the Decision Gate process in practice. It covers where to use the process, how to build continuous improvement cycles, how to run Lessons Learned workshops and how to implement the process using a clear six-month plan.
Bonus Module 2 - develops your facilitation capability. It covers the role of the facilitator, guiding principles, how to prepare, how to start workshops strong, keep energy and engagement high, and end with clarity, commitment, and next steps.
Choose Your Path to Project Success
Leading Capital Projects: Mastering the Decision Gate Process is available in multiple formats to meet your professional development needs:
Essential
From $1,997
Most Popular
You'll Get:
✔ Complete five-modules and two- bonus modules online training program
✔ Practical worksheets and templates you can use immediately
✔ Real-world case studies and examples
✔ Discussion forum for peer learning
✔ 12-month access to all materials
✔ Course assessment to validate your knowledge
✔ Monthly live office hours
✔ Acknowledgment of Completion
Best For:
✔ Individual project managers ready to master Stage Gate methodology now
Enterprise Solution
Custom Pricing
Volume Discounts Available
You’ll Get:
✔ Everything in Essential Package
✔ Private company access portal
✔ Online, in-person or hybrid delivery
✔ Customized case studies for your industry
✔ Materials in multiple languages available
✔ Additional Live Webinars
✔ Consulting Support
Best For:
✔ Company -wide training
✔ Immediate application
✔ Custom requirements
✔ Project teams in different locations speaking different languages
✔ Long-term partnership
✔ Cultural transformation
Why It Work
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Designed for real-world capital projects
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Combines best practices on front-end loading from oil & gas, mining, renewables
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Based on over 20 years of global project experiences
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Applicable to contractors, owners, and consultants
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Focused on doing the right work at the right time - not compliance
Joining this community has been a
game-changer. As someone who has led multi-billion-dollar energy projects
across the globe, I can say this:
the frameworks here are not theory - they’re
the real-world tools every serious practitioner should have mastered years ago.
The wisdom, mentorship, and structured clarity have sharpened my decision-making and reignited my passion for front-end excellence.
I only wish this existed two decades ago.”
Akin Oni
Global Megaproject Executive & Strategic Advisor
About The Trainer
Iwona Wilson is the co-founder of Wilson Biz Consulting, a current member of PMI Houston and a past president of PMI Coastal Bend.
She brings over 17 years of international experience in oil and gas, mining, and large-scale capital projects across the UK, Australia, and the USA. Previously worked for Woodside Energy, MWKL, Foster Wheeler and Institute of Quality Assurance in London.
Her first career was in Quality Assurance, where she became a qualified ISO 9001 Lead Auditor. From there, she transitioned into project governance, training, and facilitation, helping organizations strengthen decision-making, alignment and governance at the front end of projects.
She is also a Certified International Facilitator, recognized for her ability to engage teams, build alignment, and guide decision-making in high-stakes environments.
Iwona holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and Management from the University of Economics in Poland, combining technical expertise with a strong grounding in business strategy and leadership.
Her professional background includes leading opportunity framing workshops, strategic planning, organizational summits, front-end loading processes, FID readiness, and governance implementations for major operators and contractors.
She has worked alongside project executives, sponsors, and functional leads to simplify complex processes and ensure projects are set up for success from the start