It’s Not Just Agile versus Waterfall
Designing your approach to project delivery is a strategic exercise, as there are several options. Here are questions to consider when choosing your approach:
How detailed will your requirements be? If your customer knows what they want and significant requirement changes are unlikely, traditional waterfall methods are appropriate. But pick only the waterfall tools you need. Limit project documentation to what will address risk. For example, you don’t need a procurement plan if you will purchase from a trusted supplier you have worked with before. Determine the tools you need based on the skill and experience you, your team, and key stakeholders have with the type of product you are delivering
What product are you producing? Agile, design/build or waterfall methodologies may or may not be suitable based on your project output. Building a house – think waterfall. A stand-alone web platform – think agile. But you could build either of those with a design/build approach if some requirements are well defined while others need to evolve. Consider how much flexibility you have in building your project’s products. Then choose the methodology that gives you the best chance of fulfilling scope and delivering on time.
What staff do you have available? Agile can be a fantastic way to deliver a product – but only if you have experienced staff. Transitioning to agile is not trivial, so having staff members experienced in agile is important. If you are adopting agile, you can go hybrid…building parts of your product with agile and others in more of a waterfall approach. Selecting a project methodology based on your current capabilities and what you are aspiring to learn is a productive approach.
What does your customer expect? The project successes and failures your customers had in the past will form their judgment around project methodologies. They will have expectations for what they see or don’t see as you manage the project. If nothing else, embrace being predictable. A customer who understands what you are doing and whose expectations are being met – even in the face of some diversity – will usually stick with you. You might be running a perfect project but if what you’re doing seems unpredictable to your customer, your position is tenuous.
Remember, it isn’t just agile or waterfall. Agile, design/build, a hybrid approach or waterfall with extensive or limited tools are all options as you decide on a methodology to deliver your project outcomes.
For more on project management methodologies, check out my Project Management Foundations course on Linkedin Learning.
Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash
