Iterative methodology can be one of the best suited lifecycle methodologies in building

these requirements given there can be multiple requirements discoveries as the project team

continues to deliver. In these approaches, full scope and requirements are not known from the

beginning and it evolves throughout the lifecycle (Dash, 2020). For example, on delivering first

phase of the bedroom, the client might come up with changes in finishing etc., which needs to be

incorporated and waiting to complete the whole project and then taking requirements changes

will throw the project back to start and is a recipe for project failure.

House Project

Bedrooms Bathrooms Pool Patios

Bathroom Half- Layout

Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Bathroom
1 2 3 1 2 bathroom Non-
3 Enclosed enclosed
Digging Patio Patio
Toilet
Flooring Flooring Flooring Toilet Toilet

Specificatio Specification Specificatio Sink Steel install Flooring

s ns Sink Flooring
ns Sink

Finishing Finishing Finishing Bathtub Bathtub Plumbing/electrical

Enclosed
height Decorations
Utility Utility Utility Shower Interior
Shower finish
Decorations

Water filling

Figure 1: WBS for the House Project

 When using this iterative methodology, we will start with top-most level which says what

the project is about, which in our case is a House project. Next level will decompose and

breakdown this house project in individual deliverables which are Bedrooms, Bathrooms, Pool

and Patios. Bedroom is further broken down in iterations of 3 for 3 bedrooms, so that learning

from first deliverable can be incorporated to second bedroom and then the third bedroom. This is

where iterative lifecycle becomes very useful to the project, as we don’t need to build all 3

bedrooms and then take feedback for whole. Decomposing to the task level is very critical as it

prepares the team for better estimation, resource handling and scheduling (Wysocki, 2019). As

shown in Figure 1 above, we are iterating each step and delivering in iterations each step. For

example, for 2.5 Bathrooms, we are delivering Bathroom 1 in terms of toilet, sink, bathtub and

shower. Now, let’s say the project team delivers this and client says they would require some

modifications in this, the team can quickly incorporate those in this build and can further use this

learning or requirements change in building Bathroom 2 and Half-bathroom 3 which helps in

quickly adapting to changing requirements as well as keep schedule intact for the project

delivery.

References

Dash, S. N. (2020, August 21). Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) in Traditional and Agile Life

Cycles with MS Project. MPUG. https://www.mpug.com/work-breakdown-structure-wbs-

in-traditional-and-agile-life-cycles-with-ms project

Wysocki, R. K. (2019). Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme, Hybrid (8th

ed.) [E-book]. Wiley.