When everyone is aligned around objectives, goals, and KPIs, there’s more comfort in giving individual teams the freedom and independence to work toward achieving them rapidly. The speed and flexibility of Sprints dovetail nicely with a continuous feedback loop and ongoing experimentation and tweaking.Īnother environment where Agile can thrive is one with a clearly articulated and well-supported product strategy. While they may prefer the “sound” of rapid iteration and constant activity, they may not be comfortable with the lack of visibility and oversight required for Agile to thrive truly.Īgile works well for projects that prize learning and are seeking or refining their product-market fit. Organizationally, stakeholders must be mentally and emotionally prepared for Agile, which is likely a relatively new concept in many industries. That independence and creativity is prized in Agile, but may not be a great fit for larger or more complex initiatives. Individual teams don’t have the option to “go rogue” on their particular piece of the puzzle. It can also be easier to map out dependencies and structure the overall project plan in a waterfall setting. Development teams will be less resistant to detailed product requirements documents and design specifications since that’s what’s expected. Waterfall is particularly useful for large, complex projects with very specific and unchanging requirements. Strict adherents of Agile or waterfall might insist it’s appropriate for any situation, but in reality, different types of projects are better suited for one versus the other. Waterfall would look something like this: Comparing the Two methodologies Side by Side: They figure out the best way to allocate their resources to meet the requirements of each initiative, consulting with the Product Owner or subject matter experts from lines of business when necessary. Thus larger projects are broken down into smaller pieces so that progress can be made during each Sprint.Īside from receiving their priorities and use cases from the business, Agile product management teams are self-organizing. The goal is to deliver value to the customer or user as quickly and often as possible. This cadence dictates how much work is completed during a given period. In an Agile environment, you are divvying up work into Sprints, which are time-based bursts of activity, typically one-to-four weeks in length. It was conceived specifically as a reaction to waterfall’s perceived shortcomings. What is Agile?Īgile is the new kid on the block, relatively speaking, and prizes rapid iteration, autonomy, and flexibility. It is, however, primarily a linear process beginning with requirements and terminating in a final release or completion of the project. Moreover, all of the requirements for each step is completed before the next begins.Īlthough there are dates and schedules in a waterfall environment, each stage and project lasts until completion unless the rolling out initiative was specifically designed to be in phases comprised of multiple projects that build on one another.Ī healthy waterfall environment doesn’t employ a “throw it over the wall” mindset where stakeholders pass on responsibility to the owner of the next phase. Throughout the life of the project, there are well-defined stages with formalized hand-offs from one to the next. Waterfall is the “old school” way of managing projects. Let’s begin by covering the basics of each philosophy. That’s not to say that Agile and waterfall can’t coexist in the same organization, but for a particular project, it’s usually a “one-or-the-other” inflection point. Once you choose one path, it’s quite challenging to change course for that project, so it’s not a decision to take lightly. Understanding what these two approaches are and how they differ is important for anyone involved in product development, organizational change, program management, or almost any other kind of structured project.Īgile and waterfall often represent an irreversible fork in the road for any initiative. There’s no shortage of processes, frameworks, and philosophies when it comes to project management, but they ultimately fall into one of two camps: Agile vs.
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