Nader K. Rad

minimalist project management architect

It's neither Agile nor 'waterfall'


Some people consider a spectrum between Agile and the so-called 'waterfall' with every project falling somewhere on that spectrum:

This image shows the common misconception that there's a spectrum between Agile and 'waterfall' with no other option. It shows the spectrum with a line with Agile on one side and 'waterfall' on the other. There are a few dots in various places in the diagram to show where each example project falls in relation to being Agile/'waterfall'.

That's fiction, though. Most of them are not structured enough to be Agile or 'waterfall'; they are just... just CHAOTIC! This is the reality:

This image shows the reality, which is a triangle instead of a line between Agile and 'waterfall'. The new dimension in this image is CHAOS. The dots that represent projects are mostly near the CHAOS end rather than Agile or 'waterfall'.

It's important to understand this concept because acknowledging the CHAOS and moving away from it is the first and most important thing. Being Agile or 'waterfall' comes next. The sad reality is that some people, in an attempt to become more Agile, end up moving toward CHAOS rather than moving toward Agile.

Bonus point: 'waterfall' is a term created in the Agile community to refer to the predictive development approaches with a negative connotation. Both adaptive (Agile) and predictive development approaches are okay, and each works well for a certain type of product. Therefore, it's better not to use the word 'waterfall' because of its forced negativity.

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