The Waterfall Model By Winston Royce Essay

The incremental model is an intuitive approach to the waterfall model. Multiple development cycles take place here, making the life cycle a “multi-waterfall” cycle. Cycles are divided up into smaller, more easily managed iterations. Each iteration passes through the requirements, design, implementation and testing phases. A working version of software is produced during the first iteration, so you have working software early on during the software life cycle. Subsequent iterations build on the initial software produced during the first iteration.

Using the waterfall approach the system developers will be able to focus on one piece of the system and move on each part separately. This will give the design team more time to focus on small sections of the new coding. Moving from one stage to the next means that each step has been checked thoroughly and is completed.

Written off as a dying approach to software engineering I found that the Waterfall approach process was in fact alive and largely in use according to a Queue opinion article (Neill, 2004). While surveying professionals for the article in Queue, the Waterfall approach was reported to be in use by a third of the professionals that responded to the survey (Neill, 2004). I could not help but wonder if the Waterfall approach was some sort of zombie process that was back from being presumed dead, or if the method was being used for convenience purposes. Before I would be able to answer these questions for myself I would have to look into why these presumptions were made in the first place.

This article by Phillip A. Laplante and Colin J. Neill of Penn State University explores the rumors of the demise of the waterfall model. The Waterfall process model progresses software products linearly from conception, through requirements, design, code, and test (Neill, 2004). The Waterfall method was developed in 1970 by Winston Royce when computer systems were monolithic, number-crunching entities with rudimentary front ends and users’ needs were filtered through the partisan minds of the computer illuminati building the systems (Neill, 2004). Most systems built in that time did not pay much attention to input from stakeholders, which is a good environment for the Waterfall method to work in – an environment where requirements seldom change after specification due to the fact that users are not involved in the development and therefore cannot provide feedback regarding incorrect assumptions or missing features (Neill, 2004).

The traditional development method requires the definition and documentation of a stable set of requirements at the beginning of the project. It was inherited by other projects mainly related to construction which focused on the completion of one phase of production before moving on to the next phase, for example, laying the foundations of a building first and then proceeding with the further stages (Bowes 2014). Similarly, in Waterfall, the requirement gathering and designing work is done upfront before any coding takes place. The basic notion behind the traditional development approaches is that the projects are comparatively less complex, linear and predictable with clearly defined system boundaries which makes it simple to plan and follow without having any room for changes (Spundak 2014). Moreover, traditional development method depicts the requirements document as he key piece of documentation. The gathering of all the requirements, getting a sign off from the customer and then starting with the development of the project gives the project a limit of

Because of the software development processes that abounded in the 1980’s and 1990’s, a small group of forward-thinking industry leaders coined the term “agile software development” in 2001 at a meeting in Snowbird, Utah. It was there that they created a more responsive way of looking at design standards and processes.

The streams model was developed John Kingdon in 2003. It is a powerful tool in understanding policy process. It consists of three parallel processes: problem streams, policy streams, and politic streams (Knaggard, 2015). These three parallel process can also go under multiple different names. Problem streams refers to policy problem that requires attention; issues that capture everyone’s attention (Howlett, Ramesh and Perl, 2009). Policy streams, also known as solution streams, pertains to many potential policy solutions that originate from communities of policy experts, also known as, ‘policy primeval soup’ in which policy ideas and solutions are formed, rejected, and selected (Howlett et al.). Lastly, political streams refer to social and political factors such as public opinion, election results, and demands of interest groups (Howlett et al.). Kingdon states that when the three streams joined at a critical moment, it would constitute a policy window (Chow, 2014). When this window opens, the issue becomes part of the policy agenda and policymaking steps will follow (Chow). The convergence of streams is determined by the presence of policy windows and the actions of policy entrepreneurs (Chow). Policy entrepreneurs, actors who introduce and promote ideas, will the spend time to increase their chances of getting an idea placed on the decision-making agenda (Chow).

In 2001 a group of individuals came together to form the “Agile Manifesto” This was to address Dr. Royce’s earlier discussed issues with the traditional method of software development and a possible methodology to solve this ever existing problem. The agile Manifesto was birthed and thus 4 major values and 12 principles for the agile methodology was set.

can stand alone as the sole development strategy. Verner and Cerpa (1997) observed a relationship between the size of a department and the preference to utilize a prototype. They also discovered many of the aspects of a waterfall approach that made it widely used still hold true. Developer communication and project control have long been seen as positive characteristics of the waterfall approach. The increased control is the result of the rigid, phased structure that defines a waterfall development plan. A drawback to this development strategy is the lack of feedback that we see in the scrum or agile method. This lack of feedback makes having a complete requirements essential, the lack of which can mean an unsuccessful or scrapped project.

The Waterfall method uses documentation at the onset of the project that clearly defines the software requirements. The creation of the documentation and source code usually takes a significant amount of time. This time consuming process is usually circumvented when using an Agile approach (Arken, 2008). The process, however time consuming, is also extremely important. By clearly defining the goals and objectives of the project, stakeholders like the customers and developers are on the same page at the start. Another clear benefit to having documentation of project requirements is realized whenever there is a change of personnel during the project lifetime. The creation of documentation helps prevent project failure if one or

In the world of business and project management, there are certain ways in which projects get completed. Many of these ways are known as models or methodologies. Most of these models stem from the SDLC, or the Software Development Life Cycle (Tutorials Point). One of these alternative models is known as the V-Model or V-Method.

Waterfall/Traditional Approach: The traditional approach is a linear approach to software development where project goals, scope and timeline are decided and finalized prior to commencement in project activities. A waterfall project consists of various stages and each stage begins only when the predecessor stage is commenced. The project plan is predefined and provides the framework for the project execution. There are several advantages of adopting a waterfall method. The waterfall method is simple and linear; therefore there is no overlap between different phases. The requirements and plan are rigid and there is an agreement among all parties on project deliverables which serves as the basis for planning, designing and monitoring. Having clear and predefined requirements and design ensures better quality and error tracking efficient as identifying specific errors at design phase is simpler that testing phase. Also, project team members can have prior knowledge of their requirements and thus prepare in advance for the active project. Along with the abovementioned advantages the waterfall method has a few drawbacks. The design and requirements are often based on assumptions and sometimes what seems feasible on paper runs into roadblocks during actual implementation. The requirements and specifications are frozen

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.

1) Waterfall method: The waterfall model is a sequential design process, used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily

The Waterfall Model is a sequential design process, often used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the