Analysis of Project Management Methodologies: SDLC and Agile

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of project management methodologies, focusing on the Waterfall model and its comparison with Agile methodology. It explores the roles and benefits of different methodologies in project management, including fulfilling stakeholder requirements and improving team communication. The report also discusses the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and its relationship with the Project Life Cycle (PLC), highlighting the importance of each phase. Furthermore, it examines the similarities and differences between Waterfall and Agile, emphasizing the importance of planning, design, and testing in both approaches. The document concludes by summarizing the key aspects of project creation, planning, control, and implementation, providing a comprehensive overview of project management methodologies.

Project Management Methodologies
Assignment -1
Student Name Student ID
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Introduction
Project methodology described as a set of rules and principles which is used to manage the
project which has a certain starting date and end date. Project methodology is a process which is
used to develop the best plan so that project can be completed successfully. In the assignment
below it describes the methodology of project management and its role. I have chosen
methodology of waterfall and paralleled it with agile methodology. Later the relationship is
described between PLC and waterfall methodology.
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Project methodology described as a set of rules and principles which is used to manage the
project which has a certain starting date and end date. Project methodology is a process which is
used to develop the best plan so that project can be completed successfully. All the outcomes are
mentioned in project plan and judgment is made according to the project plan. All the sources,
techniques, methods and technologies which will be used in the project are also mentioned in
project methodology plan. Project methodology is used to control overall management process
by doing effective project planning and decision making (Rodrigues, & Bowers, 1996).
Role of Methodology in Project Management
In managing a project, the project methodologies have a crucial role. There are various project
methodologies like PRINCE2, AGILE XP, Waterfall, and Agile Scrum. I have chosen Waterfall
model as a type of project methodology. Waterfall model methodology use technique in which
the process goes in a forward direction toward a conclusion. There are certain phases of waterfall
model which is used to develop any project. In the waterfall model, all the documents are made
in advance which includes all the user requirements, variations, and results of the process.
Another role of waterfall model is that we can predict the release date of the product if there is
no change in the project plan. All the analysis, the design is made early in waterfall model so that
no changes need to performed later. Waterfall model is best when all the requirements are
mentioned early before starting the development of the product. Waterfall model is a very basic
model and changes are very expensive in this model because all the requirements are mentioned
early so changes are expensive in waterfall model (McAvoy, & Butler, 2009).
Achievements Gained using Methodologies
 Stakeholder requirements are fulfilled.
 A common language that can be understood is developed for the team so that they can
understand the expectations.
 Conflicts are determined and quickly resolved.
 Methodologies don’t get mixed with each other.
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 The team learns some lessons and determines a solution that is further implemented
(Hwang, & Chang, 2011).
Various techniques used for managing various projects of project management. I have chosen
methodology:
Waterfall
Waterfall methodology also called SLDC (Software Development Life Cycle) considers a clear
approach that focuses on planning and executing the right way by making delivery in a non-
interactive way. This method is simple to be understood as the plan formed is easy and simple to
execute. The manager of project uses waterfall methodology to plan the complete work and is
executed for focuses on requirements or needs and delivering project within long cycle.
Figure 1: Model of Waterfall
The model of waterfall initially contains requirements that need to be defined properly. Then
work cascading takes place similar to water flow down from the waterfall. In the model
described overlapping can’t take place that explains every phase completely before the next
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phase beginning. In the approach of the waterfall, the generated output of 1phase making the
input of next phase working in a sequence (Bassil, 2012).
After the approval of the plan, scopes are provided to modify and adapt plans and changes are
made accordingly. The complete process which includes identification of needs and leading to
project design, implementation, performing testing and maintenance. In this methodology, things
can be manipulated even after its completion as it uses the approach of the single cycle but it
becomes difficult to modify things after it reached the stage of testing. Waterfall proves to be the
best approach used when we possess fixed requirements as it delivers more predictable and
anticipated results within the provided timeline, scope and budget (Ruparelia, 2010).
Project management outlined agile methodology as another methodology in knowledge
Difference between Waterfall and Agile
Agile Waterfall
The killer application is produced. It checks the product quality and certifies it.
Dependency on automated testing. Independent of automated testing.
It possesses a common team, no separate team. It possesses a separate team.
Continuous integration. Integration in end.
Light documentation and process. Heavy documentation and process.
Developers need more energy and time (Balaji,
& Murugaiyan, 2012).
Developers need less energy and time
(Thummadi, Shiv, Berente, & Lyytinen, 2011).
Similarities between Waterfall and Agile
 Both perform testing in large batches.
 Both perform design and architecture after analysis.
 Both perform planning at project beginning.
 Both receive approval at every stage (Palmquist, Lapham., Garcia-Miller, Chick, &
Ozkaya, 2013).
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PLC emphasizes on phases, skills, knowledge, tools, and methods for project management. It
consists of five steps:
 Explanation
 Planning
 Execution
 Closing
 Evaluation
Figure 2: Relation between SDLC and PLC
Waterfall methodology forms a relation with PLC during the step of execution of the plan of the
project. Waterfall focuses on creating and implementing product of the project. It is PLC’s
part of all activities related to development occurs during the process of execution of PLC.
Execution is PLC’s step for project planning that is also performed in SLDC. The steps are:
 Planning
 Designing
 Analysis
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 Support and maintenance
 Implementation
PLC has closing and evaluation as its last phases and they can only be implemented after PLC
completion so for that SDLC or waterfall plays a crucial role (dos Santos, Zorzo, & Marczak,
2016, April).
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Conclusion
I successfully completed assignment of project management methodology. The assignment
above explains how to create, plan, control and supply a project along with proper
implementation before its completion. I have mentioned waterfall or SDLC methodology and its
assessment with agile methodology. The latter relationship is described between PLC and
waterfall methodology.
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References
Balaji, S., & Murugaiyan, M. S. (2012). Waterfall vs. V-Model vs. Agile: A comparative study
on SDLC. International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management, 2(1), 26-
30.
Bassil, Y. (2012). A simulation model for the waterfall software development life cycle. arXiv
preprint arXiv:1205.6904.
Dos Santos, R. A., Zorzo, A. F., & Marczak, S. (2016, April). Towards an SDLC for Projects
Involving Distributed Systems. In ICEIS (1) (pp. 158-165).
Hwang, G. J., & Chang, H. F. (2011). A formative assessment-based mobile learning approach to
improving the learning attitudes and achievements of students. Computers & Education, 56(4),
1023-1031.
McAvoy, J., & Butler, T. (2009). The role of project management in ineffective decision making
within Agile software development projects. European Journal of Information Systems, 18(4),
372-383.
Palmquist, S., Lapham, M. A., Garcia-Miller, S., Chick, T. A., & Ozkaya, I. (2013). Parallel
worlds: Agile and waterfall differences and similarities.
Ragunath, P. K., Velmourougan, S., Davachelvan, P., Kayalvizhi, S., & Ravimohan, R. (2010).
Evolving a new model (SDLC Model-2010) for software development life cycle (SDLC).
International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 10(1), 112-119.
Rodrigues, A., & Bowers, J. (1996). The role of system dynamics in project management.
International Journal of Project Management, 14(4), 213-220.
Ruparelia, N. B. (2010). Software development lifecycle models. ACM SIGSOFT Software
Engineering Notes, 35(3), 8-13.
Thummadi, B. V., Shiv, O., Berente, N., & Lyytinen, K. (2011). Enacted software development
routines based on the waterfall and agile software methods: socio-technical event sequence
study. In International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems (pp. 207-
222). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
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