Project Management Methodologies: Waterfall

In the dynamic world of project management, selecting the right methodology to micromanage your underlings can be a critical decision that greatly influences the success of a project. Agile, Waterfall, and Kanban are essential for any project manager. In this blog post, we’ll explore the unique characteristics, advantages, and challenges of these three methodologies and how none of them work to control people’s behaviors.

Waterfall Methodology:

The Waterfall methodology is a traditional and linear approach to project management. It involves sequential phases, where each phase must be completed before moving on to the next. These phases typically include requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, and deployment. The waterfall is ideal for projects with well-defined and stable requirements.

Advantages:

• Clear and structured approach, making it easier to manage and plan.
• Well-suited for projects with stable end users that don’t change their minds every 20 minutes.
• Excellent for workers with integrity and the ability to complete tasks
• Detailed documentation is produced at each phase so when you get fired people can pick up where you left off

Challenges:

• Limited flexibility to accommodate changes after the project has started.
• This can lead to longer development cycles and delayed responses to issues when key members of the team are on vacation or 3 hour lunch breaks.
• Customer feedback is typically only gathered at the end of the project since everyone is working on 5 other top priority projects.