What is Waterfall? “Waterfall” is not a single methodology. When people talk about “Waterfall”, they are not necessarily referring to the pure original phase-driven approach defined by Dr. Winston Royce in the 1970’s.
“Waterfall” has evolved significantly since those days and there are many variations that might still be considered to be “Waterfall”. For example, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) and its many variants probably would be considered “Waterfall”.
Again, when people use the word “Waterfall”, they are not generally talking about a specific methodology; they’re talking about a style of methodology. You will find more detail on that in this article:
The common denominator of these methodologies is that they are “plan-driven”. They emphasize trying to achieve predictability over the costs and schedule of a project plan. They do that by nailing down the requirements in detail upfront and controlling any changes once the project is in progress.
Please check the articles associated with this category for more detail:
Agile Versus Waterfall How many times have you heard people compare Agile versus Waterfall? But, if you really think about it, I don’t think that’s a very meaningful comparison and it’s out-of-date. The result of this confusion is people tend too see these two alternatives as binary and mutually-exclusive choices and they try to force-fit […]
What Is the Truth About Agile versus Waterfall? Read More »