Waterfall Methodology Essay

The Waterfall methodology was created by Winston Royce in 1970 and is based on the idea of "...progressing linearly from conception, through requirements, design, code and test..." (Neill, 2004). One of the main assumptions about this method is that the requirements will change very little if at all and that users will not be involved in development or be providing much feedback (Neill, 2004). A really good definition given by Laplante and Neil on this methodology is, "This model of development assumes that requirements are set, stable, and fully evolved before analysis begins, because development progresses linearly through the phases from requirements through system deployment. A phase is revisited only if artifacts created in that phase fail inspection review, or test. If you run into people who dispute this argument, remind them that water doesn 't flow up a waterfall" (10).

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 rigid methods employed by the Waterfall approach makes it easy to manage because the team cannot move onto the next stage if all of the

Agile Development Methods (Agile) and the Waterfall Method (Waterfall) are two different styles of designing and managing the Soft Development Life-Cycle (SDLC)

The two reports attempt to explore the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing agile software development over the waterfall model. As described in the reports, more and more organizations are considering the agile process approach versus the more traditional waterfall approach. The agile processes evolved in the late nineties and began to emerge as a primary software development method. While organizations are moving towards agile processes, it is unclear which process is the most used. Article A details a survey in which 153 developers were asked to describe their software development processes. The waterfall method was the most used software development method. However, Article B details that 36 out of 66 projects analyzed revolved around the agile methodology. Nonetheless, both articles conclude that one method or approach is not a best fit for all projects.

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.

Agile techniques should be used to solve the current issues faced by the company as agile techniques normally being used by the software industry help the business to act in response under the unpredictable situations faced. In Agile methodologies opportunities are been provided to evaluate whether the project is under the direction all through its development cycle. All this is being accomplished with the help of regular tempo kept in work, and the teams must show a product which is having the desired potential.

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.

In addition to flexibility and responsiveness, Agile project management focuses on continuous planning, execution, and feedback. Agile methods are designed to adapt quickly to changes; whereas more traditional methods focus on planning the future in detail. Agile methodologies are able to more efficiently bring advances to a project (City A.M., 2015). Research shows that agile methodologies are increasingly popular because it helps employees avoid delivering a wasting time completing a project that is later realized to be the complete antithesis of what was truly needed (Pozzebon, 2015). In short, “agile methodologies enable you to do is deliver something quickly but then adapt it and change it at a given point in time based on what you now know and what you 've already implemented” (Sunday Business Post, 2012)). Agile is juxtapose to traditional project management. Traditional project management methodology is focused on the sequential lifecycle of a project, referred to as waterfall. Waterfall projects are common in the construction of infrastructure such as the construction of a bridge, electrical substation or a highway. The waterfall

In 1970 Winston W. Royce created the “Waterfall Method” which eventually became very popular with managers due to the logical flow from beginning to end. Winston’s original design involved 6 steps; requirements, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance it was later on when people started to customize the design and changed the requirements phase into the idea phase or just split the requirements phase into planning and analysis. As we move into the future the Waterfall method is very popular in software development since it is ridged, systematic, and sequential.

Agile software development is a conceptual framework for software engineering that promotes development iterations throughout the life-cycle of the project. It provides opportunities to assess the direction of a project throughout the development lifecycle. Its objectives are as it focuses on customer value. It creates a flow of value to customers by “chunking” feature delivery into small increments. Software developed during one unit of time is referred to as an iteration, which may last from one to four weeks. Agile model believes that every project needs to be handled differently and the existing methods need to be suitable for the project requirements. In

incremental development process makes it the opposite to the rigid requirement needs of the Waterfall method. Agile methodologies are open to change as the project starts and progresses. The contrasting requirements need of the two methodologies, is one of the main contrast points in today’s project life cycle processes. There is a constant struggle between the two processes even in today’s business landscape. I have worked at Google as a program manager - mobile and after Google, I worked at a satellite manufacturing company called Space Systems Loral. The former is a software company and latter is a hardware company. At Google, they have embraced agile methodologies for software development, as the company is very progressive in nature. They are also very open to feedback from their users, and therefore agile allows them to take in product suggestions and address users’ needs with no predetermined rigid requirements from clients or users for initial requirements. Work is done in mini project or sprints format and when there is a need to shift directions, everything already worked on is scrapped if not necessary, and then a complete reset occurs. Since the project’s initial framework is not known at the time the project starts, the final product can deviate drastically from what was initially envisioned. At Space Systems Loral, being that it is a hardware satellite manufacturing company, they inherently have to adopt the waterfall methodology for their needs.

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 agile development model, the development of software is in incremental, rapid cycles. It is building new features on previous functionality with each small incremental release. The software quality is maintained by rigorously testing each release. It is useful for time critical applications. The most well-known current agile development life cycle model is Extreme Programming (XP).

Waterfall model is based on sequential process that is used in software development process. It takes place in steps. It is called as waterfall because it moves step by step in downward direction. As seen in manufacturing and construction site, each process is well structured and carried out step by step, in software development Waterfall model carries out all phases in sequential manner. All the phases like Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, Implementation and Maintenance are carried out in a sequential manner, step wise. It is stated that the first formal description of Waterfall model was made in 1970 in the article written by Winston W. Royce. Though the first use of waterfall model was made in 1976 in the article written by Bell and Thayer.