Agile vs Waterfall: What’s Best for Your Projects? | Techsaga Corporations

This article will help you to explore the benefits and drawbacks of two prominent software development methodologies i.e Waterfall and Agile.

We will be emphasizing on suitable use of one technology over another, or you may combine practices of both-for your product initiative.

You need to navigate the best development methodolgy before undertaking any project, and which approach can be used in the project as a team.

Techsaga, Agile Transformations Company in Noida, helps you accelerate your agile evolution in rapid digitization with the latest digital technologies, as Techsaga has well adapted to the new digital realities of the business world. This involves assessing your current maturity levels, identifying key short- and long-term opportunities in Agile, optimizing Agile adoption, planning the integration of Agile with other software delivery initiatives, and recommending the right tools and solutions to accelerate your Agile efforts.

Making decisions about development methodology is important and you need to ensure that major project development approaches are right for your initiative.

In simple terms, Agile or Waterfall methodologies help you to manage actual tasks of a project that must be organized and acted on.The world leaders in the industry have argued that Waterfall is dead, however, most of the organizations are still using traditional methodology in their process and still being widely used today.

Each software development project poses its own unique challenges and according to requirements, organizations need to decide which development methodology is the best and can be best suited for your product’s development. Appropriate tools, technologies and processes that can result in successful product delivery.

The Waterfall Development Methodology

Waterfall development methodology is a traditional software development approach and follows a prescribed set of parameters and dependencies.

Generally more suited to less complex projects or projects with pre-defined requirements, processes and roles for team members. The key characteristic is that each step in the software development process must be approved by the project stakeholders before the team is allowed to move to the next step, hence the term ‘waterfall’ is used.

The Waterfall development process follows these key elements:

• Gather all requirements up front
• Design
• Development
• Testing
• Deployment/Delivery

End result or final outcome is a large product.

The Agile Development Methodology

The Agile development methodology is an iterative approach, where project requirements evolve with the time, and requirements and solutions fall in place with the time. Agile approach relies on cross-functional teams which finds best solutions using an iterative process, contrary to traditional Waterfall method. Here in Agile development, being a collaborative approach it defines the roles and responsibilities and plans the entire project before any development work begins.

The Agile development process involves following steps:

• Establish a few initial requirements
• Design
• Develop
• Test
• Deploy
• Evaluate the outcome or results
• Feedback
• Establish new requirements based on feedback & modify the plan until you achieve the final desired product

Choosing Waterfall or Agile for Your Project:

We should list the factors involved while considering the methodology and help you decide which is more suitable for your project.

Requirements and Regulations:

Agile: Initial product requirements need to be discussed and strict regulatory requirements.

Waterfall: If your project has strict regulatory requirements, then choose a Waterfall software development methodology.

Few Initial Product & Regulatory Requirements:

Agile: If your project development has few initial requirements and doesn’t need to meet strict regulations, an Agile development methodology is better and will result in project creativity and decreased time to market.

Existing Organizational Processes

Strict Processes in Place

Waterfall: Strict organizational processes that they have to adhere to, trying to introduce Agile processes cross-functionally could be challenging, and so the Waterfall methodology will be more suitable.

Lenient Processes in Place:

Agile :If your organization doesn’t have strict rules for employees to follow operational processes and have freedom to work flexibly, then Agile offers enough benefits to introduce the methodology.

Waterfall: If the product owner doesn’t want a hands-on approach, then a Waterfall approach provides an environment to get involved only during milestone project check-ins, because requirements and project expectations are defined in detail from the early stage.

High Product Owner Involvement:

Agile: Agile development methodology allows for the product owner to be deeply involved with the hands-on approach. Clearly specifying the product requirements, and the product owner ultimately makes all decisions on the scope and the functionality of the product.

Using Agile in Regulated Environments

One important aspect of Agile development methodology is that product owners can reap the benefits even if the project is handled with strict regulations or guidelines.

Agile can still be used for projects which are highly regulated, and this software development methodology can be deployed with some modifications that will need to be made and documentation can be re-aligned in accordance with the new changes made to the product.

As a company that specializes in Agile software development, our teams at Techsaga are constantly executing projects to meet an array of regulatory requirements and security standards. Techsaga deploys an Agile development methodology to meet the unique prepositions and specific requirements of the projects.

At the end of the day, you need to evaluate the workflow, organizational processes, structure of your collaborating teams, and also need to ensure that given project timelines can be met with Waterfall, Agile, or a hybrid model in an assigned budget.

Make Decision Before you Start:

Best way to get forward is considering your key project goals and determine the variables, dependencies and activities related to your project.

Analyze the success factors and identify the metrics that are critically reviewed by each approach which can work best for you.

Techsaga, a leading IT company in Noida, believes that partners take leverage of our expertise with the technology, training, and development resources. Unmatched customer experiences, unparalleled satisfaction and a broad portfolio of capabilities will undoubtedly take your business to the next level.