I am about ready to jump on a webinar on Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
Agile Meets Waterfall: How to Manage Multiple Methodologies
January 14, 2014
11:00am — 11:59am PSTSPONSORED BY
MODERATED BY
Agile methodologies have had tremendous success in task-oriented teams and are increasing their penetration into the enterprise. Still, Agile is just a tool, and not all projects, business processes, and corporate cultures are natural fits. But managing multiple methodologies can be an enormous challenge without the right approach.
Since I am talking on the subject I decided to write a bit first as notes to myself.
So, what is Waterfall Methodology? Here is a post that compares Waterfall and Agile. I’ll pull out nuggets that gives you the high level concepts.
What is the waterfall methodology?
Much like construction and manufacturing workflows, waterfall methodology is a sequential design process. This means that as each of the eight stages (conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, implementation, and maintenance) are completed, the developers move on to the next step.
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Advantages of the Waterfall Methodology
1. The waterfall methodology stresses meticulous record keeping. Having such records allows for the ability to improve upon the existing program in the future.
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Disadvantages of the Waterfall Methodology
1. Once a step has been completed, developers can’t go back to a previous stage and make changes.
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What is Agile?
Agile came about as a “solution” to the disadvantages of the waterfall methodology. Instead of a sequential design process, the Agile methodology follows an incremental approach.
Developers start off with a simplistic project design, and then begin to work on small modules. The work on these modules is done in weekly or monthly sprints, and at the end of each sprint, project priorities are evaluated and tests are run. These sprints allow for bugs to be discovered, and customer feedback to be incorporated into the design before the next sprint is run.
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Advantages of the Agile Methodology
1. The Agile methodology allows for changes to be made after the initial planning. Re-writes to the the program, as the client decides to make changes, are expected.
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Disadvantages of Agile Methodology
2. As the initial project doesn’t have a definitive plan, the final product can be grossly different than what was initially intended.