Agile and waterfall- which method ensures success for your project development
Tags: Agile Methodology, Waterfall Methodologies, Software Development

Agile and waterfall- which method ensures success for your project development Techcedence Jul 6·3 min read

One of the important decisions faced during project implementations is “Which development methodology should we use?” And this is one topic that gets a lot of discussion. If it is not something you’ve worked with before, then to put it very simply, it’s a way of organizing the work of software development. While there are many different project management approaches, the choice should be made keeping the nature of your business and its requirements in mind.

Out of all the methods, the two basic, most popular methodologies used are agile and waterfall methodology and both of these are usable and mature methodologies.

Would you like to know how both approaches differ from each other? And which one should you go for when it comes to your next project? You’ve come to the right place!

Waterfall

Non-agile, is a traditional method for developing software. It splits the software development lifecycle into 6 stages where one tackles the challenges one stage at the time. One can only proceed to the next stage when the current stage is completely done. The usual stages are:

Requirements

Analysis & Planning

System and Software Design

Coding

Testing

Deployment

It is called a “plan-driven process” due to its rigid structure, as you need to have a clear plan when certain things are done, how they are done, why they are done to successfully use this methodology.

Agile

Agile has an incremental, iterative approach to software development unlike the waterfall approach that has a rigid structure and demands that the product be completed one phase at a time. Agile methodology is a lot more flexible and open to changes as it revolves around the idea of breaking down project requirements into smaller parts of user-functionalities, called “user stories” which are prioritized and delivered continuously in short cycles called “iterations”.

Customer satisfaction is primarily the end goal of the agile approach, as the focus of each iteration will be built around the idea of providing a higher quality solution to the customer.

In order for the agile approach to bring actual results, cross-functional teams work in “sprints”. The ideal duration of a sprint is 2 weeks but there are teams who even run 1 week and 3 week sprints. As a best practice, It is always better to have the sprint duration not exceed beyond 3 weeks. The goal of every sprint will be to build usable software which will then be given to the customers to test. Once the customer gives their feedback, it is used to develop a plan for the future iteration of the product. Work in agile methodology is organized into a backlog that is prioritized based on the business/customer value.

While none of the two methodologies is per se better or worse than the other one, the agile methodology works better in most cases as the development approach provides flexibility and enables a lot of ‘testing on the go’ in order to create a valuable product.

So, if you are not sure which methodology would be the best for your intended project, don’t you worry! At techcedence we understand that every business is unique, and can help you figure out which is the better model for your project.

Would you like to talk to us about your project? Contact us today, we’re always happy to hear from you.

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