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Agile vs Waterfall

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Abigail Hutchings Senior Manager, Agile Transformation| Ryder Tamarac, Fl, United States
For Project Managers that have experience in combined agile & waterfall environments: What are the top 3 things you ask yourself before determining which methodology to use for a particular project?
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Sante Delle-Vergini, PhD Senior Project Manager| Infosys Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1. Are the requirements likely to change a lot?
2. Is waterfall working at the moment?
3. Is the organization mature enough or open minded enough to transition to Agile?
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nov 09, 2017 2:03 PM
Replying to Abigail Hutchings
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Thank you for responding and the article link. I look forward to reviewing it. I understand now that it can be a combination of both. Trying to learn more ie: agile and this was extremely helpful. Thanks again
You are welcome. Forget the article if you want. The important thing is to understand your organization from the point of view of systemic theory. It means that anything you introduce into your organization will impact the organization as a whole, its architecture which is the definition of organizational components are their relations. Just if you like to read a short article that was published by PM Network about what Agile is here comes: "Perfectly Positioned", http://www.pmnetwork-digital.com/pmnetwork/april_2016?pg=73#pg73
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Tom Björkholm Consultant| Knowit Connectivity Linköping, Sweden
Kiron Bondale and Sante Vergini has listed a number of important questions. Another important question is if the customer is prepared to be involved in the project continuously as required by Agile.

For more information about things to consider when answering the question "How Agile can this project be?" I recommend that your look into "Prince2 Agile".
https://www.amazon.com/Prince2-Agile-Stati...e/dp/0113314671
https://www.axelos.com/best-practice-solut...2/prince2-agile
"Prince2 Agile" is centered around the question "How Agile can this project be?".
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Peyman Mokhtarzadeh Sharabiani North Vancouver, Canada
What projects can Waterfall be suited to?

Waterfall projects are:
Projects where you’re working with other organisations or remote workers
Projects with a fixed scope, time and budget
Smaller, well-defined and simpler projects
Projects with an absent client.

What projects can Agile be suited to?

Agile projects are:
Projects where your organisation is responsible for the whole process
Projects with scope for changing requirements
Larger, undefined, complex projects
Projects with an involved client.

Until you know what the project is and other influencing factors, you’re not going to be able to decide which is best suited. Some (or all) of these factors should be taken into account when looking at methodologies:

Size of the project
Duration
Complexity
Organisational factors
Clients or stakeholders, external and internal
...
1 reply by Peter Ambrosy
Nov 12, 2017 5:54 AM
Peter Ambrosy
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You can apply agility also to waterfall-driven projects. Agility is independent from the project life-cycle (PLC). Project with an absent client is to me not a question of, to me it is a general question of basic understanding of roles and responsibilities, contract and risk management, overall project culture understanding. Agile projects do not exists. What exists are projects with involveld people having a common mindset how to get work done with agile practises.
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Peter Ambrosy Weinheim, Germany
Nov 11, 2017 5:09 PM
Replying to Peyman Mokhtarzadeh Sharabiani
...
What projects can Waterfall be suited to?

Waterfall projects are:
Projects where you’re working with other organisations or remote workers
Projects with a fixed scope, time and budget
Smaller, well-defined and simpler projects
Projects with an absent client.

What projects can Agile be suited to?

Agile projects are:
Projects where your organisation is responsible for the whole process
Projects with scope for changing requirements
Larger, undefined, complex projects
Projects with an involved client.

Until you know what the project is and other influencing factors, you’re not going to be able to decide which is best suited. Some (or all) of these factors should be taken into account when looking at methodologies:

Size of the project
Duration
Complexity
Organisational factors
Clients or stakeholders, external and internal
You can apply agility also to waterfall-driven projects. Agility is independent from the project life-cycle (PLC). Project with an absent client is to me not a question of, to me it is a general question of basic understanding of roles and responsibilities, contract and risk management, overall project culture understanding. Agile projects do not exists. What exists are projects with involveld people having a common mindset how to get work done with agile practises.
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