Project Management: Comparing Agile and Waterfall Methodologies Report

This report defines project methodologies and their role in project management, emphasizing their function in guiding project processes. It then compares and contrasts Agile and Waterfall methodologies, highlighting their similarities and differences in approach, processes, and suitability for different project types. The Agile methodology is presented as providing rapid and continuous product delivery, with flexibility and adaptability, particularly suitable for software development. The Waterfall model is described as a sequential, linear process with defined phases, suitable for projects with fixed requirements and clear deliverables. Finally, the report identifies how these chosen methodologies relate to the project life cycle, explaining their impact on planning, execution, and control phases, with reference to literature such as Cooper (2016), Lee et al. (2016), Gregory et al. (2016), Ahimbisibwe et al. (2017), Mitsuyuki et al. (2017), Merhout et al. (2017), Poston et al. (2016), and Vijayasarathy et al. (2016).

Report
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Contents
1. Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in project management..........................1
Project Methodology...................................................................................................................1
Role in Project Management.......................................................................................................1
2. Question 2:...............................................................................................................................2
Choose two methodologies from this list to compare and contrast.............................................2
Similarities and differences between them both..........................................................................4
3. Finally, identify how your chosen methodologies and processes relate to the project life cycle
(PLC):..............................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7

1. Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in project management.
Project Methodology
This is related to the system of practices, techniques and the procedures that contain all the
guiding processes for those who are working on the project management. They are not tool
specific rather they are the software reliant world with the methodology of the organisation
project and management software tool that are intertwined. With the change in the engineering
and the construction, there are different management processes where the system can work with
better management. (Cooper, 2016). For this, there is a need to focus on the software
development and IT operations so that it is easy to compare in between the methods of agile,
waterfall etc.
Role in Project Management
With the changed methodologies, there are steps which includes the initiation, planning,
executing, controlling and then closing the work. It is mainly focusing on the working of the
team to achieve the specific goals and then meet the requirements with specific success. The
project includes the designing with the unique products, services and the results that would
define the approach with the end of the time-constraints and the deliverables. The business works
on the repetitive and the other functional activities to produce the products with easy approach to
the technical and project management strategies. The primary constraint for this is the scope,
time, quality and budget that needs to be set with the optimisation of allocation for all the
necessary inputs and then applying them to meet the needs and the objectives. The complexity of
the present project is based on how mature and streamline practice is to manage the projects to
maximise the profit margins. (Lee et al., 2016). The organisations look in the proper
management with maximising the profit margins and looking into the optimisation, enhancement

of the productivity and building the bottom line standards. The parameters are marked with the
function related to the people, technology, communication and the resources that would lead to
maintain the project management practice with the capability to mark the strong and the rigid
methodology.
2. Question 2:
Choose two methodologies from this list to compare and contrast
The agile methodology is the best which works on providing the rapid and the continuous
delivery of the product for the customer. It works on the traditional method like the waterfall and
the other linear processes which are important for defining the requirements based on the
beginning and the end product setup. The Agile is defined through the end product and then
onset where there is a proper description of the prioritization process. There are non-static
requirements, flexibility, consistent change to handle the communication approach with the
improved culture and processes. (Gregory et al., 2016). The software development works with
the approach that holds the different types of the projects, where the users can work on the
lightweight project management so that they are able to deliver the work in the short timeframe
than the demand of Agile. The Agile works on the individuals and the interactions over the
processes and the tools, where the working software is set with comprehensive documentation.
The collaboration with the customer and then responding to the change in the plans is important.
There are needs for measuring the extreme agility in the requirements and then setting the short-
termed delivery cycles and the dynamic team culture which is restrictive for the on-time real
communication.

The waterfall model is the one which is for the industries and to work on the software
development with construction. It works towards the development and how they are able to
handle the high-level phases where:
a. The requirements specifications are required.
b. Designing
c. Construction
d. Integration
e. Testing and debug
f. Installation and maintenance.
The waterfall model includes the project management methods where every step is pre-planned
and laid in the proper manner. (Ahimbisibwe et al., 2017) Through this, there are possibilities to
make any changes in the customer’s needs and work on the sequences of the tasks which are
difficult to manage, otherwise. This needs to work on the software development projects with the
development through the fixed phases and the linear timelines. Here, the focus is also on
adhering to the requirements and delivering the project in single with the long cycle. The
requirements are set to define the top of the waterfall where each phase need to be completed
before the next phase can begin. The waterfall approach is the approach where the outcome on
the one phase acts as the input for the next phase in sequential manner. After the plan is found to
be approved, then there is a very little scope to adapt to the plans till there are changes based on
the requests change. the project works through the flow from the requirements, with designing
implementation and testing. The single cycle approach in the waterfall is to maintain and reflect
on the scope to adapt to the different changes with the disdain in the agencies which are
inefficient. The Waterfall methods can be easily working and predicting when the requirements

are fixed with the well-documentation and clear strategy setup. For this, the waterfall also need
to provide with the end results for the budget and the timeline with particular scope limits.
Similarities and differences between them both.

3. Finally, identify how your chosen methodologies and processes relate to the project
life cycle (PLC):
The agile software development works on the different sets of values and principles which is for
the software development till there are requirements to handle the solutions. It comes with the
collaborative effort for self-organisation of the cross-functional teams, where there are advocacy
planning, evolutionary development and easy delivery with improvement. The framework is
defined based on the software development and then working on the collaborative effect that
would advocate the planning, adaption and then setting the response to change. The methods are
depicted through the emerging rapid application development and iterative approach. The tasks
are delivered for the specific features where the individuals and the interactions are like the co-
location and the pair programming. (Mitsuyuki et al., 2017). The customer collaboration is also
for the requirements that cannot be easy gathered in the beginning but they are due to the various
factors like the customer interaction and response to the change. Here, the predictive planning is
for the adaptive software development metrics where the traditional waterfall model supports the

predictive approach. Here, the predictive models and the forecasting is based on the requirement
analysis and the planning. This helps in handling the changes as per the feature requirements.
The customer interaction is important in the agile methodology for the open communication with
minimised documentation features for the collaboration. There are approaches for the software
development to promote the teamwork and cross-training, where the functionality is based on the
development and demonstration of the processes. (Merhout et al., 2017). The resource
requirements are needed which are minimum and suitable for the fixed or the changing
requirements. The agile model also works on the strict delivery management process where the
functionality is mapped to deliver and work on the adjustments to meet all the required deadline.
This depends on the customer interaction with the higher level of the individual dependence
where there is a possibility of minimum documentation generated.
The waterfall model works on the project lifecycle where the designing approach is set to handle
the different processes with easy representation of the requirement analysis, system designing,
implementation and the testing. The requirement gathering and the analyses is for the setup that
needs to be evaluated based on the inputs from the system design and setting the small programs
which are called units. The next phase integration processes are through the integration and
testing that would be important for the functional and the non-functional requirements. The
product deployment is done through the customer environment where the maintenance comes up
when the client environment is set to fix the issues and the patches are released, thereafter. The
software of the waterfall model works on the requirements which are clearly documented, clear
and fixed, with the products stable and understandable technology. (Poston et al, 2016). This
would allow the departmentalisation and controlling the schedule with proper deadlines for each
stage of development so that the product can easily be set through the development process. This

moves from the concept, designing and the implementation, testing and installation that would
end up at the operation and able to maintain with the clearly defined stages. (Vijayasarathy et al.,
2016). Through this, there is a possibility of the development where the application is set in the
testing stage which is not documented in a proper manner, and amounts to the high risks.