What is Waterfall Quiz Explanations

1. Which statement is correct regarding the origin of the Waterfall approach?

• The Waterfall approach was originally created in 1995 by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland

• The Waterfall approach was originally defined by Dr. William Royce in 1970

• The Waterfall approach was created in response to many of the control problems that were
created by Agile

• None of the above

Explanation:
The first answer is not correct. Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland are the creators of Scrum.
The second answer is correct. Dr. William Royce originally described the Waterfall approach in a
paper that was published in 1970.
The third answer is not correct. Agile was created in response to many of the problems in the
Waterfall approach that were perceived to be very cumbersome and bureaucratic.

2. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a Waterfall approach:

• Attempts to Define Detailed Requirements Upfront Prior to the Start of the Project

• May be Broken Up into Phases with Phase Gates to Approve Phase Transitions

• Change Control May be Implemented to Manage and Limit Changes in the Project as it
Progresses

• Requires breaking up the project into iterations

Explanation:
The first three answers are all characteristics of a Waterfall approach.
The fourth answer is the only one that is not a characteristic of the Waterfall approach. The
Waterfall approach does not require breaking up a project into iterations. In fact, it typically
attempts to deliver all of the requirements at once

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 What is Waterfall Quiz Explanations

3. A Waterfall approach is best suited for projects that have high levels of uncertainty

• True
• False

Explanation: “Waterfall is not well-suited for project that have high levels of uncertainty because the
change control discipline that is a normal characteristic of a Waterfall project would be make the
project extremely cumbersome.

4. A Waterfall project minimizes scope creep by putting in place a change control mechanism to
control changes to requirements once they are approved.

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is true. The objective of a change control mechanism is to minimize
scope creep by putting in place a disciplined process for managing changes.

5. What were some of the major problems with the original Waterfall approach?

• Problems in the requirements or design might not have been discovered until the final testing
phase which is late in the project and, at that point, any changes to address those issues might
be very expensive and time-consuming

• Because of the emphasis on change-control to manage the scope of the project to control
project cost and schedule, the process became inflexible and many times met cost and
schedule goals but failed to deliver the required business value

• The customer for the project might not see the completed requirements until final testing was
complete so opportunities for user feedback and inputs as the project was in progress were
limited.

• All of the above

Explanation: The first three answers were all major problems with the original Waterfall
approach; therefore, the fourth answer “All of the above” is the correct answer.

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 What is Waterfall Quiz Explanations

6. Iterative approaches such as the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and its variants solved a number
of problems in the original Waterfall process by breaking up the project into iterations. The result
of the evolution of these iterative approaches was that the use of the original Waterfall approach
rapidly declined for software development

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is true – the use of iterative approaches like RUP in the 1980’s and
1990’s solved a number of problems in the original Waterfall process by breaking up the project into
incremental deliverables. An iterative approach like RUP does not have as much adaptivity as an Agile
approach but it is a significant improvement over the original Waterfall approach.

7. The Waterfall approach was called "Waterfall" because the outputs of one phase flowed into the
next phase as inputs like a "Waterfall"

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is true – The Waterfall process is called “Waterfall” because the output
of one phase typically flows into the next like a Waterfall.

8. In the real world today, the word "Waterfall" is very widely misused because a true "Waterfall"
approach is not widely used any more for software development.

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is true. A true “Waterfall” approach as defined by Winston Royce in the
1970’s is not widely used any more for software development yet people continue to widely use the
term “Waterfall”. When people say “Waterfall” today it could mean almost anything but it general
means any kind of approach that is heavily plan-driven.

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 What is Waterfall Quiz Explanations

9. A Waterfall project is more likely to result in maximizing the business value the customer receives
from the project than an Agile approach.

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is false. Because a Waterfall project relies so heavily on defining all the
requirements for the project upfront and then using change control to minimize changes, it makes it more
difficult to adapt to changes that might improve the business value it produces. The Waterfall project is
designed to provide control over the scope of the project in order to provide predictability over the project
costs and schedules. For that reason, there are many Waterfall projects that meet their cost and
schedule goals but fail to deliver the required business value.

10. A Waterfall approach would probably be a good approach for a construction project such as a
building construction project where there is a requirement for predictably managing the cost and
schedule of the project

• True
• False

Explanation: This statement is true. A Waterfall process is optimized around managing the cost and
schedule of a project that has relatively well-defined requirements