Waterfall vs Agile Methods of Development Loren Hills References McCormick, M. (2012, August 9th). Waterfall vs Agile Methodology. Retrieved June Sunday, 2015 from mccormickpcs.com: http://www.mccormickpcs.com/images/Waterfall_vs_Agile_Methodology.pdf Base36. (2012, December 13). Agile &Waterfall Methodologies - A Side-By-Side Comparison. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from Base36 smart solutions: base36.com Mikoluk, K. (2013, September 9). Agile Vs Waterfall: Evaluating The Pros and Cons. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from Udemy blog: https://blog.udemy.com/agile-vs-waterfall/ Zolyak, A. (2013, April 12). 8 Benefits of Agile Software Development. Retrieved June 16, 2015 from Segue Technologies: http://www.seguetech.com/blog/2013/04/12/8-benefits-of-agile-software-development …show more content…
Both methodologies conduct the same activities such as, define, gather, analyze, design, test, implement and maintain, just in different styles. Basic Project/ Development Principles The table below highlights the similarities with regards to the development principles, such as Planning, lock down of requirements and documentation. Each method varies in how it is done, but is similar in the fact that the principle is adhered to. (M. Steven Palmquist, 2013) Waterfall Principles Agile Principles Plan the work Shorter term plans contain more detail, while plans further out on the time horizon contain fewer details. Lock down requirements to prevent gold-plating and scope creep No requirements added to an iteration once it has started. New requirements are evaluated by stakeholders and prioritized, thus preventing gold-plating and scope creep. Capture all details with extensive documentation There is an overall plan. There are requirements descriptions. There are cost and schedule estimates. Building Blocks Both Agile and Waterfall models work with the same project and programmatic building blocks, such as scope, cost, schedule and …show more content…
There is a cross section of projects ranging from a few weeks to a few years. There are also a wide cross section of customers, those capable of articulating clearly their requirements and the ones that are not clear on their requirements and the overall outcome to be achieved. The level of programmers within the Information Technology Department, where development work is executed, range from intermediate to advance or above average programming competence. The Waterfall approach is easier to manage and can be utilized for projects where there are clear requirements and the project is determined to be a long term one. Also, this method may be best suited given the organization’s requirements for thorough documentation and project accountability, when it comes to budget and cost. The Agile methodology can be used for projects where the requirements as well as the expectation from the end product are not as clear. The developers that are above average in terms of their competence can also use this method. In addition, the Agile method is also best suited for the projects that would require rapid
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
This is not a comprehensive guide to scrum or agile, but rather a brief introduction. And, aims to help you understand the agile framework and know what to expect, and the additional value you receive, when working with an “agile” organization.Let’s get started.
There are possible techniques which can provide solutions for securing this method such Scrum Methodologies, Dynamic System Develop Method (DSDM) to name a few.
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.
From my perspective, though not being privy to a genuine cost analysis, yet being well versed in areas that do impact our financial well-being – most notably where challenges in back-end scenarios could be met more immediately and internally rather than hired out and realized on an external vendor’s own timeline – I will provide an analysis that clearly displays the benefits of agile methodology over our current use of waterfall. With this essay, I intend to provoke change, though I do understand that further consideration and discussion will be required prior to any realization of meaningful change.
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
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.
Agile Software Development: The iterative development strategy focuses on incremental delivery of usable software ("What is Agile Software Development?", 2017)
how they should be applied, none have used project data to clearly conclude which one is
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.
Comparing articles that tackle the Waterfall Method and the Agile Management Approach: A Comparison and Contrast
The organization understood the agile methodology would help reduce development costs and reduce burnout because the team would not be putting in long hours for long periods of time to work the project. Additionally, the developers could be working to develop software at the same time the business requirements were being gathered and reviewed. One process that the team was working on did not impede the progress that another area of the team was working on. The agile methodology empowered our team to continuously plan and re-plan throughout the entire development processes.
Waterfall life cycle model and Agile methodology are the methods to implement and develop software. The initial methodology used by company is Waterfall methodology consists of sequential steps for the designing of software. One can predict cost, duration and requirements of the project in this method. This method is primarily used when organization knows what the end product of the project is. Proper planning is required before the start of the project.
Over the last 13 years, since the publication of Agile Manifesto, Agile has become very popular and there has been a steady rise in the adoption of agile development methodologies resulting into an increased volume of successful projects and highly motivated and self-organized IT development teams.
This is the phase where the requirements are noted, feedback regarding requirements are obtained from users