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Sage
SAGE phase · P1

S Scope.

Scope is the first SAGE phase. The program has cleared P0 Intake and is now inside SAGE. The job of Scope is to establish the baseline — define the problem with evidence, identify initial stakeholders, and decide whether the program is worth running — before any plan is built.

Primary activities

  • Frame the problem with the Scope artifact, grounded in evidence.
  • Develop the Roots artifact (5 Whys, optionally with a fishbone) so the plan targets the real problem rather than its symptoms.
  • Identify initial stakeholders and their engagement expectations — who sponsors, who decides, who's affected, who needs to be informed.
  • Establish a target high-level schedule, resource plan, and budget plan. These are inputs to later gates, not commitments yet.
  • Create initial TAP Log entries for credible initiation threats — risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies.
  • Determine the delivery methodology for the program: DE (Digital Enablement) or OPM (Operations Program Management).

BEARINGS in Scope

Only one BEARINGS letter lives inside Scope: B — Baseline. It's represented by two artifacts that together establish the problem and its causes.

  • B Scope What's happening, to whom, and the evidence.
  • B Roots Why it's happening — structured questioning, not speculation.

Exit criteria: Initiation Gate

Scope ends when the program passes its Initiation Exit Gate — a readiness check that the baseline is documented, stakeholders are identified, and the workstream methodology (DE vs OPM) is locked. The next phase is A Assess, which turns the problem into a plan.

Duration

Typical duration: ~10 days. Longer for ambiguous or politically complex problems; shorter for well-scoped continuations of prior work.