Friday, March 29, 2024

Evaluating Waterfall and Agile Software Development Methodologies

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With the arrival of a new web development project in a company, everyone engages in a proactive discussion on which development methodology is to be adopted for implementation of that project. The deliberation lingers on whether waterfall is the apt methodology to be followed, or one can go agile on that project. Which is the better option? This often results in heated debate where two separate groups emerge, voicing their opinion about each of the development methodologies. The ultimate focus of such discussions is always directed towards supporting either of the two methodologies in an attempt to prove it to be the better one to handle the project.

loopBefore you join such a group in sharing your opinion, you need to know what a development methodology is and what options are available for a developer to follow. A development methodology is nothing but a way of organizing the entire task of software development. There are two major ways to execute the tasks involved in software development – Waterfall and Agile. Waterfall is the older and traditional approach of software development, while Agile is relatively newer. However, both are usable and mature methods to develop software, which are adopted depending on the specification and requirement of the project. Let us take a close look at both these methodologies.

Waterfall follows a linear approach when developing software. It works on a series of events where one phase completes and progresses to another lined up in the sequence. The stages included in this model are gathering and documenting requirements, designing, coding and unit testing, performing system testing, performing user acceptance testing, fixing any issues and finally delivering the finished product. Each of these stages needs to be completed in order to move on to the next one. Moreover, there is a stage gate between each of these phases; such as requirements have to be reviewed and approved by the client before the designing team, which is the next stage, can start working on it.

The advantage with this model is that planning of the entire software development lifecycle is done beforehand. The developers and customers agree on the full scope of the project and deliveries in the beginning only, so the progress of the project can be easily measured. Another advantage of this model is that members involved in a particular phase of one project can work simultaneously on other projects as well. This is mainly dependent on the active phase of the project. Say testers can set up test scripts with the help of requirement documentation, while the coding is in progress. In addition to this, Waterfall model ensures less involvement on part of the client. Except for status meetings, reviews, approvals and anything else, the presence of the client is not mandatory once the requirement phase is over.

When there are so many advantages of Waterfall methodology, this seems to be quite a good option for software development. However, the benefits do not come alone. These bring their share of issues as well. The prime issue waterfall entails with it is the effectiveness of the requirements. Probably the most challenging part of developing software is gathering and documenting requirements in a manner that seem meaningful to the client. At times, presenting minutely detailed documents can intimidate clients and not help them to visualize the final outcome of the app. Although mockups and wireframe can give them a fair idea, but putting all the elements together to get a good picture of the final product might still seem a bit daunting for clients.

This leads to the obvious drawback that this model possesses is high possibility of dissatisfaction on part of the client, when the ultimate software is delivered. Since the client gets to see only the final product, there are chances that the client might provide feedbacks that bring forth numerous changes after the delivery. The problem arises in implementing those changes as this becomes extremely difficult and costly. Keeping the positive and negative aspects of Waterfall in mind, let us try to understand Agile software development methodologies slightly better.

Agile is an iterative approach to software development that focuses on fast delivery of app incorporating all functional components. The entire development process in this model takes place through phases that are called sprints. Each sprint is expected to be completed within a stipulated time duration that includes a list of pre-planned deliverables. These deliverables are prioritized by the client depending on their business value. In case any sprint fails to be completed within that time frame or the client wishes to share some valuable feedback on the work that has been done till then, the entire task plan is rescheduled and reprioritized. This is mainly done to incorporate the latest information and plan the future sprints properly.

After completion of every sprint, the client is expected to review and evaluate that. So that any further improvement if suggested by the client can be very well integrated in the next sprint. The advantage of this model is the client gets clarity about the development phase. With frequent and early opportunities to see the deliverables, changes can be brought in at any stage of development of the project. This way the client develops and enjoys a sense of ownership on the project. Since, agile can create and deliver a basic version of working software, it can allow clients to start marketing the app, while it is being created; so the time to market the product gets reduced as well.

This is definitely more flexible model than Waterfall, and can work wonders for teams that are dedicated to one particular project only. However, there are some issues with this model as well. Since, this model demands high involvement of clients, some people might not prefer to opt in favor of this. It is simply due to the reason that they might lack time or interest to take a look at every phase of development. For them, this active participation might not be called for. But, clients who can manage to participate in various sprints of the software development and see their product getting shape in front of their eyes; this is definitely a good option to go for.

Analyzing both the models, it can be certainly said that each holds definite grounds, and offers separate share of benefits. Depending on the requirements and priorities of clients, they can either go for Waterfall or Agile, whichever suits them best. After all, the ultimate goal of achieving amazingly engaging software is the motto, irrespective of the methodology to be adopted.

Agile is an iterative approach to software development that focuses on fast delivery of app incorporating all functional components like advanced IIS performance monitoring. The entire development process in this model takes place through phases that are called sprints. Each sprint is expected to be completed within a stipulated time duration that includes a list of pre-planned deliverables. These deliverables are prioritized by the client depending on their business value. In case any sprint fails to be completed within that time frame or the client wishes to share some valuable feedback on the work that has been done till then, the entire task plan is rescheduled and reprioritized. This is mainly done to incorporate the latest information and plan the future sprints properly.

About Author: Kristina Louis is a Professional content writer and an engineering college student. She likes writing blogs and posts on Mobile Apps Development .Kristina have written a number of articles for various web-sites like http://www.qaitdevlabs.com/ .

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