Traditional “waterfall” approaches tend to consider scope as the driving force and calculate follow-up time and costs. “Agile”, on the other hand, commits resources committed over a limited period of time to deliver a product that is developed in a series of cycles.
Agile and waterfall approaches to project management consist of a set of techniques that should be adopted according to the goals of the project and the organizational culture of the delivery environment.
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Traditional (Waterfall) Projects: Pros & Cons
Traditional (Waterfall Projects) | |
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Works best when requirements are defined | Requires investment to establish scope and schedule before work begins |
Great for stable environments | Scope changes can be slow and negative effects increase over the lifecycle |
Teams are distributed so control can be managed through defined deliverables, milestones and dependencies | The risk of not showing anything until the end for money |
Best for limited skills and resources | Change increases effort and risk, so a rigorous change control process should be put in place to avoid scope creep. |
The plan is reproducible on similar projects |
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Agile Projects (Pros & Cons)
Agile Projects | |
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Useful when detailed requirements are unknown or subject to change | No advantage for projects where the scope and detailed requirements are well understood and change can be controlled |
Allow flexibility in appropriate courses. Requires regular feedback from stakeholders | Uncertainty about scope and schedule can unnerve stakeholders |
Teams are co-housed, multifunctional, and capable of collaborative collaboration | If the “team” is scattered, the effect is weak |
Early return on investment through regular delivery | Requirements management and backlog prioritization |
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