Popular Project Management Methodologies - Waterfall Methodology

Let’s kick things off with a project management methodology definition so that we’re all on the same page:

According to the?Project Management Institute (PMI), a methodology is defined as “a system of practices, techniques, procedures, and rules used by those who work in a discipline. Lean practices, Kanban, and Six Sigma are project management methodologies examples”.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the more popular methodologies, in this article we will go through - Waterfall methodology

?Waterfall?is a linear, sequential design approach where progress flows downwards in one direction — like a waterfall. Originating in the manufacturing and construction industries.

Waterfall – planning projects fully, then executing through phases
        

Waterfall is a top-down approach to project management. During the early stages of a Waterfall project,?project managers?outline all the steps to the project upfront, including the schedule, scope, and budget. Waterfall involves investing a significant amount of time planning at the beginning stages of the project to?set requirements?and minimize the risk of problems arising later on during the process. With Waterfall, the current phase of the project must be completely finished before moving to the next phase.

The methodology emphasizes that you’re only able to move on to the next phase of development once the current phase has been completed. The phases are followed in the following order:

1. System and software requirements
2. Analysis
3. Design
4. Implement, build or Coding
5. Verification or Testing
6. Deployment, Maintenance & Operations

Waterfall is a project management methodology that stresses the importance of documentation. The idea is that if a worker was to leave during the development process, their replacement can start where they left off by familiarizing themselves with the information provided on the documents.

Using a software development project as an example, the Waterfall process usually includes stages that look like this:

Requirements

The Waterfall methodology depends on the belief that all?project requirements?can be gathered and understood upfront. The?project manager?does their best to get a detailed understanding of the project sponsor’s requirements. Written requirements, usually contained in a single document, are used to describe each stage of the project, including the?costs, assumptions,?risks, dependencies,?success metrics, and?timelines?for completion.?

Design

Here, software developers design a technical solution to the problems set out by the product requirements, including scenarios, layouts, and data models. First, a higher-level or logical design is created that describes the purpose and?scope of the project, the general traffic flow of each component, and the integration points. Once this is complete, it is transformed into a physical design using specific hardware and software technologies.?

Implementation

Once the design is complete, technical implementation starts. This might be the shortest phase of the Waterfall process, because painstaking research and design have already been done. In this phase, programmers code applications based on project requirements and specifications, with some testing and implementation taking place as well. If significant changes are required during this stage, this may mean going back to the design phase.??

Verification or testing

Before a product can be released to customers, testing needs to be done to ensure the product has no errors and all of the requirements have been completed, ensuring a good user experience with the software. The testing team will turn to the design documents, personas, and user case scenarios supplied by the product manager to create their test cases.?

Deployment and maintenance

Once the software has been deployed in the market or released to customers, the maintenance phase begins. As defects are found and change requests come in from users, a team will be assigned to take care of updates and release new versions of the software.

Best Suited For:

Larger projects that require maintaining stringent stages and deadlines or projects that have been done various times over where chances of surprises during the development process are relatively low.

My opinion - While the Waterfall methodology may sound overly restrictive for certain kinds of projects, it can be a great way to keep a well-defined, predictable project from exceeding time and budget guidelines. 

The clear and detailed organization can also help during complex projects that involve a lot of people working toward a clearly outlined goal.