Agile Vs Waterfall Project

Managment Methodologies
Submitted to Dr.Khurram R Ghori

Subject: Project Planning and Controlling

Agile Methodology:
Agile is a project management methodology which uses short development cycles called
“sprints” to focus on continuous improvement in the development of a product or service.

Agile methodology is a practice that helps continuous iteration of development and testing in the
software development process. In this model, development and testing activities are concurrent.
This process allows more communication between customers, developers, managers, and testers.

After the beginning of work, teams cycle through a process of planning, executing, and
evaluating which ought to amend the final deliverable in order to fit the customer's needs better.
In order to make fully-informed decisions, continuous collaboration is highly needed, both
among team members and with project stakeholders.

Agile Methodologies Frameworks

Traditional agile project management can be categorized into two frameworks:

1. Scrum
A PM methodology is where a small team is led by a Scrum Master whose main job is to
clear away all obstacles to accomplish the work. Work is performed in short cycles called
sprints, but the team meets daily to discuss current tasks and roadblocks which needs
clearing. Simply scrum is focused on fixed-length project iterations.
2. Kanban
Kanban is a visual approach to project management where teams create physical
representations of their tasks, often using sticky notes on whiteboards or through online
applications. Tasks are moved through predetermined stages to track progress and
identify common roadblocks. The major focus on Kanban is to continuous release.

The Phases of Agile

These steps are being characterized as following intro different phases which are being
implemented in the company for the project’s completion.
 Requirement Gathering
 System Design

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  Implementation
 Testing
 Delivery/Deployment
 Maintenance

Waterfall Methodology:

Waterfall project management deals with mapping out a project into distinct, sequential phases,
with each new phase beginning only when the prior phase has been accomplished. The waterfall
system is the most traditional method for managing a project, with team members working in a
linear fashion towards a set end goal.

One of the most popular version of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) for software
engineering and IT projects is known as waterfall methodolody. It proceeds through a sequential,
single direction process that flows like a waterfall.

The Phases of Waterfall:

 Requirement Gathering
 System Design
 Implementation
 Testing
 Delivery/Deployment
 Maintenance

Proper planning is a major requirement in the waterfall system. A project’s requirements must be
clear upfront on every phase of the project and for everyone involved in a project must be well
aware of those requirements. Each team member should also understand what their role will be
in the project and what that role entails.

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All of this information must be thoroughly documented and then distributed to everyone on the
project.

Difference between Agile And Waterfall

Agile Waterfall

It separates the project development Software development process is divided into

lifecycle into sprints. distinct phases.

It follows an incremental approach. Waterfall methodology is a sequential design

process.

Agile methodology is known for its Waterfall is a structured software development

flexibility methodology so most times it can be quite
rigid.

Agile is quite a flexible method which There is no scope of changing the requirements
allows changes to be made in the project once the project development starts.
development requirements even if the initial
planning has been completed.

Test plan is reviewed after each sprint. The test plan is rarely discussed during the test
phase.

Agile methdology works exceptionally well Reduces risk in the firm fixed price contracts by
with Time & Materials or non-fixed getting risk agreement at the beginning of the
funding. It may increase stress in fixed- process.
price scenarios.

The Agile Team members are In the waterfall method, the process is always
interchangeable, as a result, they work straightforward so, project manager plays an
faster. essential role during every stage of SDLC.

Key Difference

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Agile allows changes in project development requirement whereas Waterfall has no scope of
changing the requirements once the project development starts.

Advantages of Agile:

 It is focused on client processes. Hence it makes sure that the client is continuously
involved during every stage.
 Agile teams are extremely motivated and self-organized so it likely to provide a better
result from the development projects.
 Agile software development method assures that quality of the development is
maintained

 The process is completely based on the incremental progress. Therefore, the client and
team knows exactly what is completed and what is not. This reduces risk in the
development process.
Disadvantages of Agile:

 It is not useful a very useful method for developing small projects.

 It requires an expert to take important decisions in the meeting.
 Cost of implementing an agile method is little more as compared to other
development methodologies.
 The project can easily go off the track if the project manager is not clear what
outcome he/she wants.

Advantages of Waterfall:

 It is one of the easiest model to manage. Because of its nature, each phase has specific
deliverables and a review process.
 It works well for smaller size projects where requirements are quite understandable.
 Faster delivery of the project
 Process and results are well documented.
 Easily adaptable method for shifting teams
 This project management methodology is beneficial to manage dependencies

Disadvantages of Waterfall:

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  It is not an ideal model forprojects which are gigantic
 If the requirement is not clear at the beginning, it is a less effective method.
 Very difficult to move back to make changes in the previous phases.
 The testing process starts once development is over. Hence, it has high chances of
bugs to be found later in development where they are expensive to fix.

Agile Methodology for the Project

Agile is a software development methodology which creates a software incrementally using
short iterations of 1 to 4 weeks so that the development process is aligned with the changing
business needs.

Adapting to change will be our new normal and companies need to be agile. The Coronavirus
(COVID-19) crisis has brought big, unprecedented challenges that require companies to
respond to a new business environment.

“Agile is first about mindset, and your thought process. Once you evolve your mindset there
are multiple ways to implement an agile way of problem solving”.

The most preferred implementation method for the role of being used is the agile
method. It is diagrammatically described as follows:

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The main steps include:

 Planning

The work starts with the development of the plan that includes the devising of the
process in which the entire project would be processed. It is defined and approved by
PMO.

 Analysis

This step is very important. Agile analysis is a highly evolutionary and

collaborative process where developers and project stakeholders actively work together
on a just-in-time (JIT) basis to understand the domain, to identify what needs to be built,
to estimate that functionality, to prioritize the functionality, and in the process optionally.

 Design

By introducing an agile design process, both agile and design can work together.
An agile design process allows you to use iterative as well as an incremental approach to
deliver design to the PMO.

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  Implementation

Agile Implementation is the process of executing a flexible project plan based on

developing small portions of a project at a time. Sprints are tentative and loose release
dates for those portions, which allow for continuous changes to the plan based on current
business needs.

 Testing and integration

Integration Testing Is Core. If it doesn't fit together it is not complete. Integration

testing is a type of testing in which components (software and hardware) are combined to
confirm that they interact according to expectations and requirements.

 Maintenance

The success factors of agile practices during development cannot be related to

maintenance, as maintenance differs in many aspects from development. ... Data is
collected by conducting two rounds of interviews among five different projects which
have adopted agile practices during software maintenance.

These steps are being characterized as following intro different phases that are being
implemented in the company for the project’s completion.

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Organization valuable agile practices PMO is currently implementing:

Deliver Work in Small, Meaningful Increments

Agile project management and software delivery breaks complicated large projects or product
requirements down into more manageable tasks tackled in short iterations or sprints to deliver
value to customers faster.

For the agile approach to work, you need to be comfortable starting small and iterating. “This
can be very liberating. You can understand very quickly what is working and not working for
your customer, stakeholders or organization and then improve your deliverables. This
prevents analysis paralysis,” says Scandlen. This kind of approach can be particularly useful
in times of uncertainty or crisis.

To deliver work incrementally, PMO is using an ‘agile scrum’ methodology that plans and
executes work in two-week sprints. An organization should accomplish work which is
directly tied to delivering value to our customers, stakeholders or organizations at the end of
each two-week cycle.

If you deliver work using small incremental approach, your project will be quite successful.

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Continuously Evaluate Plans and Requirements

The success of agile comes from the fact that you can continuously evaluate what is
important to our customers, stakeholders or organization. Agile scrum enables PMO teams to
quickly plan and execute stakeholder priorities.

When you work in smaller increments and do constant reflection, it allows you to hinge much
more quickly. You will solve the most relevant problems for your customers, stakeholders or
organization based on the current business environment if you continuously follow agile
method approach effectively.

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