P0 Intake.
Intake is the filter that decides whether a program runs at all. It lives before the four SAGE phases because a badly-scoped or low-value request shouldn't consume the Situation phase to discover its fate. Requests arrive as problem statements, get scored, and either move forward into Situation or receive a documented no.
Why Intake is problem-first
Many PMOs accept intake in the form of "we need X tool" or "we need Y feature built." SAGE pushes back on this. Solutions in intake-speak hide the problem, skip the options analysis, and commit scope before anyone understands the shape of the work. So Intake requires a problem framing — what's happening, to whom, with what impact — before scoring.
The three stages of Intake
1. Request
A requestor submits the intake form: problem statement, affected population, evidence, desired outcome, and their own sense of urgency. The PMO acknowledges receipt and communicates when the next Intake Exit Gate review will happen.
2. Scoring and prioritization
The request gets scored on a lightweight ordinal rubric. SAGE uses a two-axis Value × Effort model on a 1–5 scale per axis: the business scores Value; technical teams score Effort. Rank order comes out of the combined scores; there's no fixed waterline — the decision comes in the next stage.
3. Intake Exit Gate
An approval body (typically the steering committee or a CFT) reviews the scored backlog and approves or denies each request. Approval includes a start-timeline commitment; denial includes a rationale. The decision is logged — both yes and no are accountable.
Deliverables
- Completed intake request
- Scoring / prioritization result with rationale
- Intake Exit Gate decision (approve or deny, with timeline or rationale)
What happens after Intake
Approved requests flow into P1 Situation, where a program manager is assigned, the problem gets further structured in WS01 Situation Statement, and the baseline is built.