Learn the Truth About “Agile” versus “Waterfall”

Learn How to Get the Best of Both Worlds

Agile History

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Agile History
In the 1990’s, a proliferation of new methodologies
began to evolve to fill this need:

Scrum

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

As a result of these advantages, in the 1990’s, a proliferation of new methodologies evolved to fill
this need.

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The Agile Manifesto

In 2001, the Agile Manifesto was created:

Defined four values and twelve principles

Defined the essence of what agile is

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

in 2001, in reaction to the proliferation of methodologies that had developed, the Agile
Manifesto was developed that defined four values and twelve principles that defined the
essence of what Agile is

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The Agile Manifesto Values

Individuals and Interactions Over Processes and Tools

Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation

Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

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The Four Key Values Are As Follows:

• Individuals And Interactions Over Processes And Tools

• Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation

• Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation

• Responding To Change Over Following A Plan

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The Agile Manifesto Values (cont.)
These statements are meant to be relative, not absolute.
For example:

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

It is very important to recognize that all of these statements are intended to be relative
statements and not absolutes. For example, “individuals and interactions” over
“processes and tools” does not mean that there are no processes and tools in an Agile
project. It means that the project relies more heavily on individual interactions to be
more adaptive rather than being bound by a rigidly-defined process and tools.

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The Agile Manifesto (cont.)

versus

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

Let me explain the concept of Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools a
little further.

In many traditional plan-driven processes such as the Waterfall approach, the emphasis
on control required people to follow a well-defined process. A more adaptive process
requires you to control the process rather than the process controlling you. This kind of
atmosphere is particularly important in an environment that requires creativity and
innovation.

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The Agile Manifesto (cont.)
“Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation”
Does not mean that there is no documentation at all in an agile project

versus

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

Similarly, “Working Software Over Comprehensive Documentation” does not mean that
there is no documentation at all in an agile project.

Many traditional plan-driven projects and, in particular, the Waterfall process can be
very documentation-intensive. For example, in a true Waterfall process, documentation
is a require deliverable at the end of each phase to show that you have successfully
completed the requirements of that phase.

Documentation in an Agile project should be used intelligently where it provides value

and documentation should never be an end-in-itself. Many times online electronic tools
that are designed to facilitate collaboration and communication take the place of
hardcopy documentation.

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 The Agile Manifesto (cont.)
“Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation”
Does not mean that contracts are incompatible with an agile approach

versus

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

“Customer Collaboration Over Contract Negotiation” does not mean that contracts are
incompatible with an agile approach. Very few people get a blank check to do an Agile
project without any expectations of what the cost and schedule of the project will be so
there is generally some kind of a need for managing customer expectations about costs
and schedules.

In a traditional, plan-driven project, there is typically a contract with the customer to

deliver a solution that meets the defined requirements within a given cost and schedule;
and naturally, to achieve that objective, the requirements need to be relatively fixed.

In an Agile project, there is more of a spirit of partnership between the customer and
the project team – both sides acknowledge that the requirements are somewhat
uncertain and are likely to be at least somewhat redefined or clarified as the project
progresses and both sides work collaboratively in a spirit of partnership and trust to
develop a solution and manage cost and schedule tradeoffs as the project progresses.

Agile has been successfully used in a broad range of contracting situations from fixed-
price contracts where the requirements for the contract deliverables are fairly well-
defined to more loosely defined contracting situations where only the broad-based
contract objectives are defined. The important thing is that the level of flexibility in the
contract should be consistent with the nature of the requirements and both sides need a
mutual understanding of the level of uncertainty in the requirements and how the
contract will be managed.

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The Agile Manifesto (cont.)
“Responding To Change Over Following A Plan”
Does not mean that agile projects are totally unplanned

versus

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

“Responding To Change Over Following A Plan” does not mean that agile projects are
totally unplanned.

A traditional, plan-driven project attempts to develop a detailed plan for a project

upfront prior to the start of the project and attempts to control changes to that plan to
manage the scope of the project as the project progresses. An example would be a
construction project where there would be a fairly detailed plan for constructing a
building prior to the start of construction.

An Agile project doesn’t attempt to do a detailed plan for the entire project upfront prior
to the start of the project. It uses more of a “rolling wave” planning process, some level
of planning is done upfront based on the level of uncertainty in the project, but much of
the detailed planning is deferred until later in the project when more and better
information will be available to make those decisions.

It’s similar to the kind of planning you might do for taking a vacation. When you plan a
vacation, you don’t typically plan what you’re going to do down to the last detail for
what you’re going to do every day that you’re on vacation. You probably have at least
some goals for things that you want to do that may or may not be rigid and cast-in-
concrete but there’s typically some level of flexibility built into your plans to develop
more detailed plans once you’re on vacation and have a better idea of what you want to
do.

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So, What Do People Really Mean by “Agile”?

“Agile” is not a single, discrete methodology

It is a way of thinking defined by the

Agile Manifesto Values and Principles

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

Just as the term “Waterfall” has been widely misused, the term “Agile” has also been widely misused.

When people compare “Agile” to “Waterfall”, it sounds like there is a single discrete methodology
called “Agile” and that is not the case.

“Agile” has a much broader meaning and is really a way of thinking defined by the Agile Manifesto
Values and Principles rather than a single discrete methodology like Scrum

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 NEXT LECTURE:
CHOOSING THE RIGHT
APPROACH

© 2018 High Impact Project Management, Inc.

In the next lecture, we’re going to discuss a general approach for choosing the right
approach to fit a project.
Thanks for taking the time to do this lecture and I’ll look forward to working with you in
the rest of the course.

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