Projects need permission to become more expensive.
Complex opportunities often accumulate momentum through meetings, introductions and enthusiasm. That can create the appearance of progress while the underlying uncertainties remain unresolved. A disciplined project-development system does the opposite: it makes uncertainty visible, assigns the next question and limits additional commitment until the evidence is strong enough.
INDUX uses a seven-gate lens to explain that progression: Opportunity, Market + Feasibility, Project Structure, Capital + Partners, Approvals, Implementation, and Measured Impact. The names can change by sector, but the management principle is stable. Each gate should answer a different class of question.
Gate 1 — Opportunity
The first test is not whether the idea is exciting. It is whether a real problem, customer, public need or productive opportunity exists. The sponsor should be able to explain who benefits, who pays, why the opportunity matters now and what decision is required next.
Gate 2 — Market + Feasibility
This stage tests the assumptions that could make the concept impossible or materially different from the original idea. Demand, site conditions, utilities, logistics, policy, technical alternatives, operating inputs and implementation constraints should be examined before a preferred configuration hardens into a commitment.
Gate 3 — Project Structure
Once the opportunity is credible, the project needs a structure. Who owns the asset? Who contracts with customers? Which entity carries debt? Who operates the system? Which party controls pricing, procurement, hiring, technical standards and changes? The structure should make responsibility legible before partnership documents are signed.
Gate 4 — Capital + Partners
Capital discussions become more productive when sources and uses, revenue logic, operating costs, working capital, downside cases, risk allocation and governance are visible. The objective is not to produce a perfect forecast. It is to show how the economics respond when assumptions change and what each capital provider is being asked to accept.
Gate 5 — Approvals
Land rights, permits, environmental obligations, licenses, public approvals, technical standards, offtake agreements and financing conditions can sit on the critical path. A project is not implementation-ready if these dependencies are still treated as background tasks.
Gate 6 — Implementation
Execution requires a controlled baseline: scope, schedule, procurement strategy, cost controls, change management, quality, commissioning, workforce readiness, spares, operating procedures and management reporting. Financial close does not replace these disciplines.
Gate 7 — Measured Impact
Impact is the evidence produced after the system begins operating. Jobs, supplier participation, service reliability, productive capacity, skills, environmental performance and economic outcomes should have definitions, sources, owners, review dates and approval before they are published.
The management question
At every gate, executives should ask four things: What must be true? What evidence do we have? What remains uncertain? What decision are we making now? That turns project development from an accumulation of activity into a sequence of accountable choices.