Agile, Waterfall, and the Big Principle they Highlight

If you are subscribed to a few Project Management feeds, blogs or newsletters (like this one), you're probably seeing it too...

I am talking about the constant flow of 'Agile versus Waterfall' arguments.

They usually go like one of these:

1. Agile is so much better than Waterfall because...
2. Waterfall is out-dated compared to Agile because...
3. Agile fails to match up to Waterfall because...
4. Waterfall is what you should use because...

Where do I stand on the Agile versus Waterfall debate?

Yes, I've even been asked this question by a student.

Well, the answer is clear: 'to one side'. Because I refuse to get drawn into it. There have been several reasons for this, over the years:

• I don't know enough about Agile
• It's not my argument
• I haven't got the time

But there is one reason above all. And it highlights an important principle that Project Managers need to understand.

Always be suspicious of 'either/or' and 'A versus B' arguments

Unless, of course, you're shopping on a tight budget.

These kind of arguments imply a moral choice or (stronger still) an absolute right-wrong distinction.

Have you ever read a really good novel, or seen a truly great movies, or watched a fantastic TV drama series?

One thing you'll notice that lifts all these above cheap novels, B movies, and trash TV is complexity. The plots and characters reveal that there are no easy answers nor clear distinctions between right and wrong. Eve the Jedi do some bad things.

Those appeal to us because we recognise the truth in the situations. Simple right and wrong distinctions only ever apply in the simplest of situations.

Projects are Complex

They are not simple. So what on Earth makes some people think that easy right/wrong choices about big issues will characterize project management?

The binary distinction between Agile and Waterfall is bogus

There is no right and wrong here. The most you can hope for is good and poor. Usually the best you'll get is 'okay and a bit better'.

So what does this mean about the fake binary divide between Agile and Waterfall?

Simply stop applying it. They are two ends of a spectrum of ideas about how to approach a project. Indeed, in the hands of some writers, they are cartoonish extremes.

But if you are serious about Project Management, it's time to take a serious approach to the debate. Avoid yes-no, right-wrong, this-that arguments about anything. Look deeply at the situation and ask:

'what is its character and, therefore, what does it need?'

Be Broad in Your Approach

Draw from Agile, Waterfall, Change Management, Operations, Services... Call on anything and everything in your experience to design the right solution to get the job done. 

And if you ever hear a trenchant argument that sounds like 'this-not-that', look for ways to reframe it as 'this and that'.