Process
Status Items Output None Questions None Claims None Highlights Done See section below
Highlights
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At the top of the waterfall is the requirements gathering stage, followed by design, development, integration, then testing, training and roll out. The approach is considered highly structured and managed, and it does work well for certain types of projects – in particular those that are unlikely to have evolving requirements and where there is certainty about the end goal. In a waterfall development approach, all of the analysis and requirement building is done up front. This is followed by a stage where all the design is done. Then the development is all done in one go. Later on there is a stage when all of the testing is done.
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Agile differs significantly from the waterfall approach to project management. It evolved in the face of continuous business change. It is helpful for when there are fewer certainties and when business requirements may adapt over time, or may not be well known, or both. When projects are run in an agile manner, they are iterative. Each stage is run incrementally and there is a lot of collaboration between people in varied teams. When project work is operating in an agile manner, all the different work streams happen at the same time and they all conclude at the same time. Analysis, design, coding and testing all operate concurrently, and they all finish together at the end of the sprint. This is quite distinct from taking a waterfall type of solution to project management. Another important difference is that in agile, teams are self-organising.
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To move back from mini waterfalls to agile development, stop looking at the development in phases of requirement production, design, development and test. Instead, go back to considering one aspect of what the user wants, developing a small part of this and checking in to see if it is right or how it could be better, and then continue building iteratively until the user is satisfied.