9/12/2019 Agile vs Waterfall: Pros and Cons, Differences and Similarities – GanttPRO

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Agile vs Waterfall: Pros

and Cons, Differences and
Similari es
Pavel Kukhnavets
November 24, 2016 3 minutes

What is the most important in a project?

Let’s say, any project can be divided into two key

stages: planning and management. However, the

most important element in any project is its result.

It doesn’t ma er what so ware development

methodologies you use, the final result is Why
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measure of all the work done.

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Agile methodology vs Waterfall

model
In this ar cle, we determine the main features of two

well-known project management methodologies and

the difference between Agile and Waterfall models.
It should be easy to define strengths and weaknesses

of each method using friendly project scheduling

so ware with Gan charts.

If you have only a general and superficial opinion

about these methodologies, you can find out all the

details, studying the main advantages of Agile

project management methodology and the features

of Waterfall methodology.

If recall briefly:

Waterfall project methodology is a model in which

every stage of a product’s life cycle takes place in

sequence. The progress flows steadily downwards

through these phases like a waterfall.

Agile so ware development methodology is the

model that proposes a sequen al, linear and itera ve

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Agile versus Waterfall: how to choose

between two methodologies?
Waterfall SDLC methodology, which is more
tradi onal for so ware development is losing its

popularity. It happens because Agile model is now

being increasingly adopted by companies worldwide.

There was a research in 2015 from the Standish

Group with interes ng results: Agile method

produces a higher success rate than Waterfall

methodology. That’s why Waterfall is gaining the

reputa on of the tradi onal and old-fashioned way

of thinking.

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Agile development vs Waterfall: the

side-by-side comparison of the models
1. In Waterfall model so ware development, the
process is divided into different phases. Agile

proposes to segregate the development lifecycle into

sprints.

2. In Waterfall, development process should be

implemented as one single project. Then this project

is divided into phases. Agile contains a set of

different projects that are the itera ons of the

different stages. They are focused on improving the

quality and feedbacks from users.

3. Waterfall so ware development model is

structured and o en rigid. O en project managers

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prefer Agile as a more flexible model.

Project Management Produc vity Team Management Agile Updates T
4. According to the itera ve Waterfall model in

so ware engineering, all the project phases are

completed at a me. In Agile they follow an itera ve

development approach. So some of the phases can

appear more than once.

5. There is no chance to change the requirements

once the Waterfall project development starts. Agile

is more flexible and allows changes in the project

development requirements. Even a er the planning

has been completed.

6. One more difference between Waterfall and Agile

is their individual approach towards tes ng and

quality. According to Agile, tes ng is usually

performed concurrently with programming. In

Waterfall, tes ng phase comes a er the build phase.

7. Waterfall approach does not require the

par cipa on of customers, as it is an internal

process. However, Agile methodology focuses on

clients sa sfac on and involves them to par cipate

throughout the development phase.

8. Waterfall itera ve model is good for projects with

clearly defined requirements and without expected

changes. Agile allows changing and evolving the

requirements.

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HowProjecttoManagement
use Gan Charts
Produc vity in
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choosing between Waterfall

and Agile?
Project managers say that it’s be er to visualize

every project’s stage. A Gan chart is the most

convenient way to do it.

Gan PRO solu ons offer to use helpful Gan charts

that can visualize every project and help to choose

between Agile and Waterfall methodologies for your

project. You can try to apply the charts for any

project, not only for so ware development.

Once you’ve decided which method to u lize, you

can further refine the process to best fit your project

objec ves.

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What are your thoughts about “Waterfall vs Agile”

topic? Do you know any special benefits of Waterfall

and Agile methodologies? Feel free to share them!

Agile Project Management Tips

Read also

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