There is an ongoing debate in the management space about the best way to manage a project. Agile vs waterfall are often set to battle so often that bringing them up a sure fire way to start an interesting discussion.
Some believe that agile is a fast, reckless, and choppy management system that always results in bloated budgets and scattered scope. Others feel that waterfall is outdated, slow, and weighed down by all the documentation.
We have a feeling the true answer lies somewhere in the middle. Whether you project requires one, the other, or a careful combination, we will walk you through choosing your perfect match.
We will cover the following.
- What is Agile?
- Advantages & Disadvantages of Agile
- What is Waterfall?
- Advantages & Disadvantages of Agile
- When To Use Agile
- When To Use Waterfall
- Combining Them
What is Agile?
Agile project management is a management style that is based on the Agile Manifesto, which details the 12 principles this concept is based on. It was created by developers who, in the early 2000s, were frustrated by the rigidity of waterfall or traditional project management.
The main pillars of this idea included
- People over processes
- Results over documentation
- Collaboration with customers over negotiation
- Response to change over following plans
Ultimately, agile project management encourages users to skip over the beginning phases of traditional project management, choose smaller goals, and spend iterations working on them with small, specialized teams. This style is most often used in software development, IT, marketing, and design because it allows the team to pivot and roll with change as needed.
In recent years, more and more organizations have been using agile on larger and larger scales because they recognize the importance of rolling with the punches. The structure is more fluid, allowing change to be implemented—even towards the end of the process.
The basis of agile is teamwork, collaboration, customer satisfaction, continued refinement of the end result, and breaking down tasks. Also, there tend to be much shorter deadlines than in traditional or waterfall.
Agile Phases
Every team needs to work towards a common goal, so the first steps are about understanding what you are working on and who will be on the team. Then, the team works in iterations that are cyclical until the goal is reached or until the constraints like budgets and deadlines are maxed—this depends on the needs of the customer or client.
Generally, agile project management follows the following pattern.
- Decide on project goals and concepts
- Decide how the project will be completed (team, features to prioritize, estimates of cost)
- Work in iterations, which will cycle until stakeholders are satisfied
- Deliver or release end-product
- Maintenance (updates after delivery)
- Withdrawal (only really applies to software development)
Advantages of Agile Project Management
In a fast-moving market, the agile methodology has plenty of advantages. Firstly, it enables teams to adapt to changes in requirements quickly. Second, it can help the team be more motivated to pursue a goal because of the focus on it. People enjoy knowing exactly what they need to work on rather than having their effort spread across too many goals.
Some additional benefits of using agile project management include
- It’s easy to start and do so suddenly
- Regular communication with clients and other stakeholders
- The feedback loop is shorter, which results in improved outcomes
- The primary focus in continuous improvement
- Increased visibility from clients
- It can handle sudden and drastic changes to scope at any time in the process
- It allows for regular testing and fixes of any issues
It’s not hard to see why agile is best suited to creative teams that would struggle with long, set plans and rigidity. Instead of having to get layers and layers of approval, change can just happen.
Disadvantages of Agile Project Management
But as with anything, there are drawbacks to using this system. For stakeholders, there is a much higher level of involvement required. That can be great for some and very annoying for others. When stakeholders have multiple projects, they can easily be spread too thin with agile project management, leading to more issues than benefits.
On top of that, it also requires the customer to be involved. Again, for some, that will be perfectly fine, but if your customer is uninformed about the work being done or the reason it’s being done, this could be an issue. The project manager in this setting does hold as much power as in traditional, which means that saying “no” to certain changes or adaptations may not be an option.
There are few set processes in agile project management because the focus is primarily on facilitation. Project managers might feel discombobulated by this system as there are few ways to judge progress or completion.
Furthermore, major changes—especially in software projects—can cause problems with engineering and architecture because it wasn’t made to support it, which results in additional cost and time to fix. The same goes for any other additional requests.
The last and most overlooked con of agile project management is how it requires a team that is extremely specialized. This system requires expertise, self-direction, and self-organization. Without those types of team members, the scope will drag on because people never know exactly what to work on, and management doesn’t work through tasks for them. Instead, they decide on general goals leaving team members feeling abandoned.
What is Waterfall?
On the other end of the management style spectrum, we have “waterfall” or traditional project management. Instead of quick deadlines and maximum flexibility, waterfall projects have little to no flexibility, a clear scope that is set at the beginning and an extremely structured timeline.
Each phase has to be completed to move on to the next one. There are generally only a few changes to the scope, and each one needs layers of approval. If the pre-determined scope is not completed, the project could be considered a failure.
The whole project moves on a single line, represented by a collective schedule. Feedback is incorporated during the planning phase, and any additional feedback has to be sought out as it is usually considered an accessory rather than a necessity. (We disagree with that method, but it tends to be the norm.)
Client participation is high initially, but it tapers off aggressively as things progress, which means there is little end-user feedback built into the system.
But this system is the way to go when you need to have succinct, clear, repeatable processes. It’s called “waterfall” because the project flows in one direction from start to completion.
Advantages of Waterfall
We admit our introduction to a traditional project was stiff, but we adore this structure. Traditional or waterfall project management is rarely abandoned when it fits because it works so well. Some reasons this system is so useful include the following.
- You are provided with a concrete plan from start to finish that you, your team, and your stakeholders can rely on.
- The team is able to establish project requirements.
- Due to all the upfront planning, you can consider potential risks and plan for them.
- Less coordination is required of different teams and departments because of the clearly defined sequence of events.
- The cost of each phase can be estimated and even controlled.
- There is more documentation completed throughout the whole project.
- The project manager has more power in this setting, enabling them to protect the scope from changes if needed.
Most projects you encounter—unless you are in specific industries—will have the waterfall structure.
If you’d like to learn more about traditional project management and its systems, you can do so here.
Disadvantages of Waterfall
Immediately, we must recognize that this management style is rigid. There is basically no flexibility involved, which can be difficult to navigate in the face of change.
Processes can take longer because of the need to complete each phase before moving on to the next. If there are mistakes or errors, the whole team has to slide backward, which can result in a lot of waiting. Stakeholders can hold up progress due to disagreements on desired outcomes.
It can be difficult to split and delegate work. If you have an issue waiting for you in the next phase, you likely won’t know until you are in it. And there is a genuine lack of engagement from stakeholders, which can cause poor project outcomes. Communication is not built in, you have to build it in.
Agile vs. Waterfall, Major Differences
Clearly, each system has it’s strong suits, but if you are still on the fence about which your project should use, let’s discuss some additional differences between agile and waterfall management styles.
Agile does teams the favor allowing the incorporation of feedback, gives them time to adjust, and enables them to build relationships. The connections span across the organiation and throughout different roles. Speaking of roles, the ones in agile project management are flexible and require adaptaion, making them self-organized.
Waterfall, on the other hand, has strict roles, chain of command, and processes. The plan is set and you work through it. Change is generally discouraged.
Agile requires continuous planning and adjustment as new information comes in. It accepts the fact that at the beginning of the project you know the least, so any planning done here is tentative. It’s almost implied that they will change.
Waterfall is designed for long-term projects that have a generally simple scope that is predetermined by a bunch of different parties. The scope of an agile project is determined by the customer or client, brought to the team, and worked on from there.
Communication in agile projects happens with all relevant team members and stakeholders at regular intervals, while traditional projects don’t have communications built in. The project manager has to take the initiative to communicate.
The last few differences include
- Agile projects happen faster and are delivered faster.
- Agile relies on a minimal amount of documentation.
- Traditional requires extensive documentation.
- Agile asks those involved to have flexible roles.
- Stakeholders in agile are much more involved than in traditional projects.
A Note On Combining Them, Agile vs. Waterfall
You may not even realize it, but you’ve likely been using some combination of these management styles for years. It looks like developing your long-term, over-arching goals with a waterfall structure. You align with team members, stakeholders, and any other relevant parties to fully understand what the project requirements are.
You then take that information, that plan, and break it down into phases or intervals. Inside of those sectioned pieces (depending on the nature of the tasks) you use an agile style, meaning roughly plan out what you’d like to see at the end and let ‘er rip.
It’s wild how often tems naturally fall into this combination system because it just… works. It insights creativity and allows the team to “do their thing” while continuing toward that greater goal.
Comparing agile vs waterfall means piting them against each other, but they really do work great together.
Sometimes, your stakeholders cannot proceed without some kind of budget analysis and management wants you to handle that thing, but setting the team up on a linear track will kill their momentum. That’s okay. Just adapt.
When To Use Agile vs. Waterfall
You have a unique perspective of your project, which means you will understand what it needs better than anyone. If you are in position where you get to choose how you handle the coming project and you are stuck in the trenches of agile vs. waterfall, we understand. Here is what we would tell you.
The best time to use waterfall or traditional project management is when you have the following considerdations and constraints.
- The project is based in construction, manufacturing, and engineering.
- The priority lies in reaching a single or handful of objectives.
- The project requires extensive planning and preparation.
- There are rigid quality control requirements to prevent safety issues and loss of life.
- You require a long-term commitment from team members, management, and stakeholders for best outcome.
Agile is best used in the following conditions.
- The project needs to be highly adaptable to change, not minimally.
- Documentation of the process is considered optional by both management and stakeholders.
- Feedback is necessary for best possible outcome and project success.
- Your product or outcome needs to compete in the marketplace, specifially one that changes quickly.
- The scope can easily turn complcated or already is, such as multi-department cooperation or multiple features.
When it’s time to choose a management system, you need to be honest with yourself. What can your team actually handle? Are the specialized and experienced enough to take the reins in the right direction? Can your stakeholders handle the additioanl workload or would you be ruffling some feathers with that?
Switching To Agile? Know This
If you have been running witha waterfall management style and you’ve recently decided to hop over to the dark side, we recommend that you do so carefully.
Your team can only work on projects that they actually have the capacity for. You cannot simply command them to be specialists in this new thing you’ve only heard of yesterday. If you do force it, you’ll end up losing time and money.
Also, managment in an agile setting does not hand tasks over to the team. The team also does not pull tasks from some management checklist. Instead, they pull it from the project backlog. So, the question is, can your management handle this guidance-based style that doesn’t give them as much power as tradiotnal?
Consider using a “roadmap.” That is a plan that you and everyone else KNOWS is going to change. You can display project-wide goals along with incremental ones. If the budget is the most pressing constraint, you can just write out the map based on that. Not to mention the ability to add new information as you learn it.
Switching is possible. Just do so with care.
Choosing The One For You, Agile vs. Waterfall
Each management style is useful, but how useful depends on the context of your project. If you are looking to invite more creativty into your next project, give agile a shot. Likewise, if you are needing more structure, documentation, and stability, waterfall will not let you down.
Let New Ideas Find You
Here at A.McBeth, Inc., we know it’s better to open our thinking caps, receive new ideas, and use them occasionally than act like we know everything. Project management is pretty uncomfortable with that attitude, so we are offering up new (and old) ideas all month long, so sign up to be notified the next time one pops up. You won’t want to miss it!
