There are several variables to consider when determining which approach is better, that I lump together and call "the context of the company".
- The nature and type of work: -- Can it be broken down into smaller pieces and delivered incrementally and iteratively? -- Are you experimenting/exploring to figure out a solution, or is the solution known? -- Is it really a project, or is it ongoing development and release of enhancements and bug fixes? - What is the team flow? Things can always be improved, but if your way of working is more closely aligned with one approach than the other, it may not be a simple matter to just change. - The culture of the company and how they view work. -- What does management expect? Are they more comfortable with the illusion of certainty or transparent ambiguity? -- Some companies have a defined approach that project managers are expected to follow. Some are more flexible than others.
The best approach, right now, might not be the best approach tomorrow - context can change and you can incorporate guided continuous improvement principles into whichever approach you are currently using, be it agile, waterfall, or a hybrid approach.
Here are some examples:
- Construction tends to work better with a more waterfall or predictive approach, although there is room for a hybrid approach in some cases. I wouldn't try and apply Scrum to a construction project. - Agile can be a great fit at for software development at a company that develops software for sale, assuming people and culture don't get in the way. - Hybrid or waterfall are often a better fit at an established business where there is software development, but it's tied into business processes. I've managed multiple projects where we had more traditional planning, training, and implementation, across multiple teams while development was done iteratively and incrementally. Saving Changes...
For a comprehensive explanation, I would suggest reading PMI's "Choose your Wow" (way of working) guide. It covers many different agile delivery models as well as traditional (waterfall) delivery and when they make sense. Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Mohan, those are approaches rather than model and there is not best approach. The best approach is the one that best fits your project environment so for some projects predictive approach might be a better fit than an Adaptive approach and vice versa. Many organizations these days do adopt a Hybrid Approach. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The problem with this statement is this: Agile (like Lean) is an approach. Waterfall is a life cycle. You can use agile with waterfall without any problem. You can find information and practical cases from 1970 up to date, including it the Apollo program. With that said, unfortunately, this is a missuses of terms in lot of places and organizations that, in my personal opinion, contributes to general confusion and jeopardize the work of lot of people whom are trying to implement agile. I am not saying this because of you. It is a general practice to use this terms in this way. Saving Changes...
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