Most organisations like the idea of Agile. It sounds flexible and promises faster results. However, Agile can sometimes be non-committal about complete features or clear end dates. On the other hand, Waterfall requires all features and designs upfront with a set completion date.
Agile is adaptable, evolving with stakeholder needs, operational demands, and market trends, as long as investment and sponsorship remain steady.
My Journey: From Waterfall to Agile
Trained in traditional Waterfall project management, I built my foundation as a Project Manager. For the first ten years of my career, I blended PRINCE2 project management with Managing Successful Programmes, diving into PMO governance, reporting, portfolio management, and stage gates. This comprehensive approach allowed me to manage any IT or business project effectively.
The Waterfall Process:
1. Start with an Idea
2. Discovery (Feasibility Study)
3. Requirements Gathering
4. Planning
5. Design
6. Build/Implementation
7. Testing
8. Deployment (Go Live)
9. Training
10. Project Closure
11. Post-Implementation Support
12. Handover to BAU
In Waterfall, you work with experts, follow a structured process, and remain accountable for staying within budget and timeline while ensuring quality.
We used Microsoft Project plans with dependencies and critical paths to manage non-negotiables, key dependencies, and major milestones. Despite heavy detailed reporting to various stakeholder groups, many industry IT projects still faced delays, budget overruns, and quality issues.
Enter Agile: The Game Changer
Agile, led by Scrum Masters and Agile PMs, focuses on:
- PI planning to set the project up and get the teams working
- Prioritised Requirements
- Weekly, Fortnightly, or Monthly Sprints
- Dedicated Resource Teams
- People-Oriented, Customer-First Approach
- Stakeholder Partnership in Project Delivery
- Flexible Features and Timelines
- Build and Deploy MVPs, Then Add Layers
- Iterative and Incremental Development
Agile projects typically start with PI Planning, where teams organize, define goals, and set clear objectives. Using Kanban boards and tools like Azure DevOps and Trello, Agile follows an iterative lifecycle where you plan out each sprint, who is doing what and when:
1. Prioritized Requirements
2. Evolutionary Design, Build, Test (including UAT)
3. Incremental Deployments
4. Incremental Training
Each sprint includes retrospectives for continuous
The Best of Both Worlds: "Wagile"
In practice, a blend of Agile and Waterfall—often called "Wagile"—is what CEOs and transformation directors seek and in my opinion the best methodologies are fit for purpose for each organisation. Here’s how it works:
1. Upfront Business Case
2. Clear Project Initiation Document
3. High-Level Milestone Plan
4. Clear Backlog of Requirements
5. Solution Design (Conceptual)
6. Collaborative Stakeholder Evolutionary Implementation with an End Date
7. Training
8. Deployment
We invite our sponsor to the daily stand-ups to get a live update but we also provide a status update with a fairly comprehensive report to the project board at least once per month.
Summary:
1. Formal Waterfall upfront, set up the investment and approach
2. Agile during development and delivery
3. Formal Waterfall for training and deployment across the organisation
Are you Wagiling?
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