Give design reviews teeth
Run a design review as a decision gate with explicit criteria, evidence, and outcomes.
The move: separate comments from gate decisions. A useful engineering review asks two questions at the same time: What should be improved? and Is this deliverable ready to move to the next stage? Many firms answer only the first question. They collect comments, assign fixes, and assume the package is progressing. That is dangerous because the most important issue may be a readiness blocker, not a comment count. Run the review as a gate. Define the gate criteria before the meeting. Bring evidence for each criterion. Then end with one of five outcomes: go, conditional go, rework, hold, or scope…
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