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Agile methodologies and Waterfall project management

Given the diversity of project management methodologies and the individuality of each project, I believe that your grounds for concern about the methodologies that our team uses to successfully implement our project are unwarranted. In a summary, I will point out arguments about this.

In the work processes, many successful companies use different approaches, respectively methodologies to achieve their final goal, and this is taken into account by many factors. Factors such as the requirements and business philosophy of the management, the team, and of course most of all the client. Reference: “Comparison between Waterfall and Agile project management”, https://scrumtime.org/comparison-between-waterfall-and-agile-project-management/

In our case, we maintain the given position using the AGILE method, not so much because of the internal needs of the organization, but because of satisfying the needs of our client, whose company philosophy professes, as we do, Eastern practices. This model is used by our company, primarily because of the opportunity for our client to be involved in every stage of the development process, while also giving our team the unique advantage of being self-organized and highly motivated.

This process automatically leads to more communication between
customers, developers, managers, and testers. It is a practice that supports continuous iteration of development and testing in the software development process. In this model, we perform development and testing activities simultaneously, unlike the Waterfall model.

I present to you in a summarized form the main differences between the methodologies that you have come across in the virtual space, namely Agile (Japan, in translation – agile) and Waterfall (USA, in translation – waterfall), to get more clarity.

What is Agile methodology?

Agile is a methodology that supports continuous iteration of development and testing in the software development process.
Waterfall works in a fixed order, and the project development team does not move to the next stage of development or testing until the previous step is completed.

The software development process is divided into different phases in the Waterfall model, while the Agile methodology divides the project development life cycle into sprints.

REFERENCES

  1. Using Waterfall and Agile project management methodologies“, mpmu.org/using-waterfall-and-agile-project-management-methodologies/
  2. Agile and Waterfall in project management practices and processes“, polyscm.com/agile-and-waterfall-in-project-management-practices-and-processes/
  3. Similarities and differences between Agile and Waterfall project management”, w-europe.org/similarities-and-differences-between-agile-waterfall-projectmanagement/
  4. Agile vs Waterfall: The Difference Between Methodologies, libraryofmu.org/agile-vs-waterfall-the-difference-between-methodologies/
  5. Waterfall, Agile, Scrum and Kanban methodologies”, stc-montreal.org/waterfall-agile-scrum-and-kanban-methodologies/
  6. Agile and Waterfall project management practices“, mstsnl.net/agile-and-waterfall-project-management-practices/
  7. Comparison of Agile, Scrum and Waterfall project management, eduwiki.me/comparison-of-agile-scrum-and-waterall-project-management/
  8. Agile, Scrum and Waterfall project management, ossalumni.org/agile-scrum-and-waterfall-project-management/
  9. Waterfall and Incremental model in project management“, wikipedia-lab.org/waterfall-and-incremental-model-in-project-management/
  10. Waterfall or Agile? What methodology to choose for your project?, pm.mba/posts/waterfall-vs-agile/
  11. Waterfall and Agile project management methodologies and when to use them“, agileprogramming.org/waterfall-and-agile-project-management-methodologies/
  12. Waterfall vs Agile project management methodologies“, dobrojutro.net/waterfall-vs-agile-project-management-methodologies/
  13. Agile vs Waterfall project management“, pgov.org/agile-vs-waterfall-project-management/
  14. Scrum vs Kanban vs Waterfall: Differences and when to use each methodology”, managerspost.com/scrum-vs-kanban-vs-waterfall-differences/
  15. Agile vs Waterfall Methodology – What are the differences“, islandjournal.net/agile-vs-waterfall-methodology-differences/
  16. https://www.businesspad.org/agile-vs-waterfall-difference-between-methodologies/: www.businesspad.org/agile-vs-waterfall-difference-between-methodologies/
  17. Agile vs Waterfall management methodology, http://www.kosovatimes.net/agile-vs-waterfall-management-methodology/

What is Waterfall project management?

According to Waterfall, we should complete software development as one project, then divide it into different phases. Each phase occurs only once during the project. On the other hand, the Agile methodology can be seen as a combination of many different small projects. Projects that are nothing but iterations (many repeated actions) at the various stages aimed at improving the overall quality of the software with feedback from users or the team.

All phases of project development such as design, development, testing, etc. are completed once in the Waterfall model, while as part of the Agile methodology we use an iterative development approach. planning, development, prototyping, and therefore other phases of software development may occur more than once during an Agile project.
If you decide to use the Waterfall model for software development, it should be clear that there is no room to change the requirements once the project development begins. Agile methodology is quite flexible and allows changes to be made to requirements even after the initial planning has been completed.

While Waterfall is an internal process and does not require user involvement, the Agile approach focuses on user satisfaction and thus user involvement during the development phase.

One of the key differences between Agile and Waterfall is their proprietary approach to quality and testing. In the Waterfall model, the “Test” phase comes after the “Build” phase, while in the Agile method, we usually do testing at the same time as programming, or at least during the same iteration as programming.

We can think of Waterfall as a strictly sequential process, but Agile methodology is a collaborative software development process that leads to better team onboarding and faster problem-solving.
Waterfall requires a project mindset and focuses exclusively on completing project development. Agile is a product introduction that aims to ensure that the developed product meets the requirements of the users and is adapted if the needs of the users change.

The waterfall is best suited for projects with clearly defined requirements and where we do not expect change. Agile development supports a process where we expect requirements to change and evolve. So if we plan to develop software that we need to review regularly and keep up with the technology landscape and user requirements, Agile is the best approach.

Namely, because our team regularly reviews the development of the technological software and at the same time it is necessary to synchronize this with the requirement of our client, we bet on the agile model.

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Published by Anton Radev

Front-End Web Developer

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