What is the Difference Between Agile and Waterfall?

What is the Difference Between Agile and Waterfall?

The traditional waterfall methodology for software development is rapidly losing its popularity as Agile methodology is now being increasingly adopted by companies worldwide for software development.

Waterfall basically is a sequential model where software development is segregated into a sequence of pre-defined phases – including feasibility, planning, design, build, test, production, and support. On the other hand, Agile development methodology follows a linear sequential approach while providing flexibility for changing project requirements, as they occur.

Here are some of the differences between Agile and Waterfall Methodology:

The phases of the waterfall methodology are:

  1. Conception: The idea stage, when developers decide what they want to design and why. 
  2. Initiation & Analysis: This stage involves gathering and documenting what the software development project will require – including system and software requirements for the product or project.
  3. Design: In this stage, developers determine how they want their piece of software to work and determine which pieces are necessary to code.
  4. Construction & Coding: This stage involves coding each unit of the software and testing it along the way, as well as integrating units according to the software architecture from the design phase.
  5. Testing: This involves testing the software system-wide; it may include user testing, bug testing, and going back through to fix any specific issues. 
  6. Implementation: In many cases, this means delivering the ‘finished’ product to the customer or rolling out the system-wide software. 

The software development process is divided into different phases in the Waterfall model while Agile methodology segregates the project development lifecycle into sprints

Waterfall is a structured software development methodology, and often times can be quite rigid, whereas the Agile methodology is known for its flexibility

One of the major differences between Agile and Waterfall development methodology is their individual approach towards quality and testing. In the Waterfall model, the “Testing” phase comes after the “Build” phase, but, in the Agile methodology, testing is typically performed concurrently with programming or at least in the same iteration as programming

While Waterfall methodology is an internal process and does not require the participation of customers, the Agile software development approach focuses on customer satisfaction and thus, involves the participation of customers throughout the development phase

There are several different flavors of agile development that all share some basic similarities. These include:  

  1. Extreme Programming (XP) 
  2. Scrum
  3. Kanban
  4. Lean Software Development 
  5. Agile Unified Process

The Waterfall model can be regarded as a stringently sequential process, however, the Agile methodology is a highly collaborative software development process, thereby leading to better team input and faster problem solving

The Waterfall model is best suited for projects which have clearly defined requirements and in which change is not expected at all, while Agile development supports a process in which the requirements are expected to change and evolve. Thus, if you are planning to develop a software that would require frequent overhauls and has to keep up with the technology landscape and customer requirements, Agile is the best approach to follow

The Waterfall model exhibits a project mindset and lays its focus strictly on the completion of project development, while Agile introduces a product mindset that focuses on ensuring that the developed product satisfies its end customers, and changes itself as the requisites of customers change

Reference

  • Difference between agile and waterfall approaches | APM . 2020. Difference between agile and waterfall approaches | APM . [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/agile-project-management/difference-between-agile-and-waterfall-approaches/. [Accessed 19 September 2020].

  • TrustRadius Blog. 2020. What is the Difference Between Agile vs Waterfall? | TrustRadius. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.trustradius.com/buyer-blog/difference-between-agile-vs-waterfall#:~:text=The%20two%20main%20development%20methodologies,completed%20iteratively%20in%20a%20cycle.. [Accessed 19 September 2020].

  • 10 Differences between Agile and Waterfall Methodology - FWS. 2020. 10 Differences between Agile and Waterfall Methodology - FWS. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blog.flatworldsolutions.com/10-differences-agile-waterfall-methodology/. [Accessed 19 September 2020].

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