Waterfall is a method of project management that allows a project to be completed in stages and then moved towards its final release to consumers. Waterfall is a method of project management that involves creating a large plan and then executing in a linear fashion. This allows for the possibility of any changes to the plan. As such, no one invented waterfall – instead, we gave it a name once we realized that there are other ways to manage projects (like agile project management).Waterfall was the first software development methodology, inherited from the manufacturing and construction industry where you can’t afford to iterate (after you’ve built a tower or a bridge you can’t go back to “improve” the foundation). Waterfall is often compared to Agile because it is more susceptible to frequent changes. The main difference is that waterfall is not able to react well to frequent changes. This is why it is often criticized in the software development community where frequent changes are the norm. Project Management Frameworks and Methodologies
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All tasks in waterfall projects are organized by type of activity. Each project follows the same phases. Requirements – where we analyze business requirements and document what software is needed.
Design – Where we select the technology, create diagrams, and plan software architecture
Coding – This is where we solve problems and create code
Testing – This is where we verify that the code works as it should without breaking anything
Operations – We deploy the code to a production environment, and provide support
Once you put all the activities on a Gantt chart, you get something that looks like the slopes of a waterfall, hence the name.Usually, 20-40% of the time is spent on requirements and design, 30-40% on coding, and the rest on testing and operations.Activities on waterfall projects have to happen in the exact order and one set of activities can’t start before the previous one ends. Planning is crucial for waterfall projects. If you don’t plan well, a phase can be delayed and push the next phase behind, which can lead to a project being late. It is impossible to predict how much time you will spend on a particular task or how much time you will spend debugging. The waterfall is therefore risky.
Extensive documentation is essential. Because you can’t go back and do the same thing, you must create extensive documentation. This will ensure that knowledge doesn’t disappear if someone leaves. You don’t need to spend time training new employees. They can easily familiarize themselves with the project documentation and plan their time better. This allows for more efficient planning.
