Advantages Of Waterfall Methodology

Cost and resource needs are higher for traditional than Agile due to Waterfall’s sequential development phase of all requirements determined in the beginning, software design and finally implementation of master design. The need for all information up front takes substantial time to gather and the sequential design does not allow for project changes as the flow enters into the programming stage. With Agile, costs remain low because there exists an incremental and iterative approach to the project, meaning less time is used to collect all requirements up front, the

The project will be managed using a modified waterfall technique. In this approach, the initial two phases of the

For the past years, waterfall process had been used by small and big companies as an approach to development process. This approach looks like a waterfall where it shows a steady downwards flow. This approach of development is the most mature and disciplined.

Planning team capacity and developing a pace that is sustainable pace. Using sprint reviews and science fairs. This approach would be implemented in a similar format at my organization. Since agile encourages breaking work down into smaller chunks for delivery in increments, it would be more applicable. The traditional waterfall approach does not account for sudden changes, so it would not be appropriate in my organization.

Application requirements are provided by stakeholders and users for all development efforts. This is true for both agile and waterfall development projects. The difference is the amount of requirements that are provided. In the waterfall approach, all requirements are provided at the beginning of the project (Israr Ur Rehman, 2010, p. 2). Specifically, for a new application, the expectation is that stakeholders are able to provide all the requirements for the new application. Stakeholders, project managers, business analysts, users of the application meet to identify and document the requirements. Detailed application documentation is created, reviewed and signed off by the appropriate stakeholder (Ove Armbrust, 2011, p. 239). Following the agile methodology, requirements are defined for the phase to be delivered. The goal is to break up the application into iterations and define the requirements for the iterations or stories (Ove Armbrust, 2011, p. 239). In the agile implementations, the requests are stored in a backlog. This is the list stories remaining to be developed. Requirements documentation generated from a waterfall project is extensive; in contrast to agile where the documentation is limited to the story or stories to be developed (Ove Armbrust, 2011, p. 239). In my experience, the requirements documentation has been stored in a central repository to be referenced during the project.

Focus is kept on the recurrence of condensed work cycles and also at the functional product yielded by the outcome, but in waterfall technique only once chance is been given to the development team to keep the project aspects right. But under the agile technique each and every feature of development including the design, requirements, is thoroughly checked under its lifecycle (Mahfuj et al, 2012). There is always some time to steer in another direction if a team stops at regular interval say after every two weeks and re-evaluates the project done.

The waterfall model consists of five phases such as requirements, Design, implementation, verification and maintenance. The method is a sequential design process where progress is seen as flowing downwards in a steadily manner, each development phase has its own distinct goals. The model is similar to water flowing down a cliff it can only flow in one way and cannot go back up it is the same with waterfall development ,after a development phase is completed it proceeds to the next development phase you cannot go back.

In short, Waterfall can work well when everything is following the plan because the model rely on all specification and documentation which finished before implement it,

The important thing here to mention is that each method consists of activities specific only to them. These activities are yet another difference between the waterfall and agile method. The waterfall model emphasizes planning while the agile method stresses flexibility more. Waterfall model groups its activities in phases, where each phase is different and has its purpose. These phases include planning phase, analysis phase, design phase, implementation phase, and support phase. [1] Because the development process goes from phase to phase, it is crucial to carefully plan each one out. Once you move to the next phase, there is no going back. This model is very simple and easy to understand and use. However, when the system is put to a test, if it does not satisfy all the requirements, then the entire system must be redesigned, which is a very inefficient and costly job to do. This is the biggest weakness of the waterfall approach and that is why this model is best suited for systems with well-defined requirements as well as those with a lower chance to change in the near future. In contrast to the waterfall method, the agile method uses the iterative approach to systems development. This way, all the phases that are previously mentioned in the waterfall model are also present, but they are repeated in each iteration. For this reason, detailed planning is unnecessary because, at the end of each iteration, the prototype is tested and improvements are made. Also, it is much easier for clients to be closely involved with the whole process of development. Being able to actually see the system’s prototype not only helps clients in forming their image of what they can expect in the end, but also helps developers understand the clients’ vision of the system. Although the collaboration between developers and clients is positive and most certainly welcome, implementing all ideas that are

The waterfall method works well for certain scenarios but can be at a disadvantage in other aspects of the project cycle. Chatterjee explained that the waterfall method (Chatterjee,

Waterfall approach because it allows manager to control and schedule can be set with deadlines for each stage of project and most importantly the each phase of development proceed in separate order without overlapping with other.

Indeed, in an unstable environment, Traditional Project Management can lead to failure if changes are too impacting and important regard to the final product. Traditional Project Management involves a waterfall methodology to manage projects. It follows a weel structured stage plan. Those plans used to be quarterly, yearly or multiple yearly. For Marketers, it is often long and heavy as a whole project is managed in one time, from the planning to the deliverable, without real flexibility and real feedback. Marketing Managers use Waterfall because of the business priorities.

At no point in the process development can the next phase begin until the previous phase is completed. This is how the waterfall method received its name, it begins at the top and works its way down towards the bottom, and at no point can the process be reversed. Youssef Bassil in his article titled “A Simulation Model for the Waterfall Software Development Life Cycle”, defines the water fall method as the following, “The Waterfall model defines several consecutive phases that must be completed one after the other and moving to the next phase only when its preceding phase is completely done. For this reason, the Waterfall model is recursive in that each phase can be endlessly repeated until it is perfected.” There are certain situations where the waterfall method is advantageous in application and that involves the following; a short time frame, there3 are no unclear expectations, the technology is understood, the requirements are fixed and the product propose is stable.

Emerging evidence seems to indicate the debate over which project management methodology is optimal continues. Agile approaches which include Iterative and Adaptive models (i.e. Scrum) are at one end of the spectrum. Traditional approaches which includes Linear and Incremental models (i.e. Waterfall) at the other end. With a growing demand to deliver quality products in rapidly changing global market, project managers are required to be creative in their selected approach. Which methodology should be used? Moreover, organizations may mandate a certain approach over another more suitable approach. Is one approach more effective than the other?

Agile methodologies are easy to implement in newly formed organizations where processes and procedures are changed every month. But in public sector organizations implementation of agile would be difficult.