SAGE phase · P1

S Situation.

Situation is the first SAGE phase (formerly Initiation). The program has cleared P0 Intake and is now inside SAGE. The job of Situation 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 a structured situation statement, grounded in evidence.
Run root cause analysis (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 PAT 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 Situation

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

WS01 Situation Statement What's happening, to whom, and the evidence.
WS02 Root Cause Analysis Why it's happening — structured questioning, not speculation.

Exit criteria: Initiation Gate

Situation 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.

Keep reading

The SAGE process — the four phases at a glance
A Assess — the next phase
B Baseline — the BEARINGS letter that lives here
PAT Log — how SAGE tracks problems across the lifecycle