Agile Methodology: How Does It Compare To Waterfall Methodology?

Agile Methodology: How Does It Compare To Waterfall Methodology?

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Agile methodology and waterfall methodology are two of the most popular software development methods out there, but what exactly are their differences anyway, and which one should you be using for YOUR project? Heres a list of both methods key features, and how they compare to one another.

Agile
Instead of having just one person leading the entire project and dictating tasks, an agile project will have individual team leaders who operate semi-autonomously, with a project manager serving to simply oversee the entire project and not dictate much of what each team does.
In agile methodology, the project is broken down into separate task lists, each of which is then assigned to a team. The teams are required to complete their task lists efficiently and within a short, predetermined period of time usually within only a couple of weeks.
The leaders of an agile team are responsible for outlining their requirements, and the team will be in charge of completing those requirements, testing their output, and identifying any defects or problems in the early stages of development to prevent any costly changes or adjustments that usually occur in the latter stages of a project that uses waterfall methodology.
Client involvement does not stop upon signing the contract in agile methodology. The Client or Product Owner will have full access to the project throughout the entire development process, and can view the progress made by the teams himself.
Because the client is involved from start to finish and not just in the testing phase, this results in higher rates of client satisfaction.
This methodology is all about being adaptable and flexible. The real-time updates and quick reactions to any given situation during the development process allow the teams to get their work done within a short period of time.

Waterfall
The waterfall methodology follows more traditional manufacturing principles, which is divided into stages and is very linear. The first stage involves the entire project team analyzing what needs to be done, and then creating a prioritized list of tasks. Then they determine a deadline, which is often set several months from the day the project is started, unlike agile methodology wherein the deadlines come sooner.
After the initial planning phase, they move on to the design phase, wherein what resources and technologies are needed for the project are determined.
Then comes the actual coding phase, where they build the software which the client ordered them to create. After that, the team tests their output to see if everything is working, and has the client evaluate their work.
If the team notices a problem during the testing phase, that means they have to start over, wasting all that time and effort they put into it, when they could have saved more time if they opted to go for a method similar to agile methodology, which gets problems fixed fast.

Whether you choose to employ the agile or waterfall methodology for your software development project, there is one thing they both require you to have: a skilled group of people to do the work. While both methods have their own merits, the agile option has the upper hand because it employs more real-time troubleshooting and often churns out the desired product in a shorter amount of time than the waterfall method, which is ultimately good for both the developers and the clients.

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P.S. Agile manifesto authors reveal how to get management and clients to adopt agile software development. Click here to watch FREE video now: http://agiletv.co.uk/exclusive



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