Methodology And Project Management: Definition, Roles, And Comparison Of Waterfall And Agile Methodologies

Define what a methodology is and the role it serves in project management

1.Define what a Methodology is and the role it serves in Project Management.

2.Choose two Methodologies from this list to compare and contrast Similarities and differences between them both.

3.Finally, identify how your chosen Methodologies and processes relate to the project life cycle (PLC).

Project Methodology

This is related to the system of practices, techniques and the procedures that contain all the guiding processes for those who are working on the project management. They are not tool specific rather they are the software reliant world with the methodology of the organisation project and management software tool that are intertwined. With the change in the engineering and the construction, there are different management processes where the system can work with better management. (Cooper, 2016). For this, there is a need to focus on the software development and IT operations so that it is easy to compare in between the methods of agile, waterfall etc.

Role in Project Management

With the changed methodologies, there are steps which includes the initiation, planning, executing, controlling and then closing the work. It is mainly focusing on the working of the team to achieve the specific goals and then meet the requirements with specific success. The project includes the designing with the unique products, services and the results that would define the approach with the end of the time-constraints and the deliverables. The business works on the repetitive and the other functional activities to produce the products with easy approach to the technical and project management strategies. The primary constraint for this is the scope, time, quality and budget that needs to be set with the optimisation of allocation for all the necessary inputs and then applying them to meet the needs and the objectives. The complexity of the present project is based on how mature and streamline practice is to manage the projects to maximise the profit margins. (Lee et al., 2016). The organisations look in the proper management with maximising the profit margins and looking into the optimisation, enhancement of the productivity and building the bottom line standards. The parameters are marked with the function related to the people, technology, communication and the resources that would lead to maintain the project management practice with the capability to mark the strong and the rigid methodology.

The agile methodology is the best which works on providing the rapid and the continuous delivery of the product for the customer. It works on the traditional method like the waterfall and the other linear processes which are important for defining the requirements based on the beginning and the end product setup. The Agile is defined through the end product and then onset where there is a proper description of the prioritization process. There are non-static requirements, flexibility, consistent change to handle the communication approach with the improved culture and processes. (Gregory et al., 2016). The software development works with the approach that holds the different types of the projects, where the users can work on the lightweight project management so that they are able to deliver the work in the short timeframe than the demand of Agile. The Agile works on the individuals and the interactions over the processes and the tools, where the working software is set with comprehensive documentation. The collaboration with the customer and then responding to the change in the plans is important. There are needs for measuring the extreme agility in the requirements and then setting the short-termed delivery cycles and the dynamic team culture which is restrictive for the on-time real communication.

Choose two methodologies from this list to compare and contrast

The waterfall model is the one which is for the industries and to work on the software development with construction. It works towards the development and how they are able to handle the high-level phases where:

1. The requirements specifications are required.
2. Designing
3. Construction
4. Integration
5. Testing and debug
6. Installation and maintenance.

The waterfall model includes the project management methods where every step is pre-planned and laid in the proper manner. (Ahimbisibwe et al., 2017) Through this, there are possibilities to make any changes in the customer’s needs and work on the sequences of the tasks which are difficult to manage, otherwise. This needs to work on the software development projects with the development through the fixed phases and the linear timelines. Here, the focus is also on adhering to the requirements and delivering the project in single with the long cycle. The requirements are set to define the top of the waterfall where each phase need to be completed before the next phase can begin. The waterfall approach is the approach where the outcome on the one phase acts as the input for the next phase in sequential manner. After the plan is found to be approved, then there is a very little scope to adapt to the plans till there are changes based on the requests change. the project works through the flow from the requirements, with designing implementation and testing. The single cycle approach in the waterfall is to maintain and reflect on the scope to adapt to the different changes with the disdain in the agencies which are inefficient. The Waterfall methods can be easily working and predicting when the requirements are fixed with the well-documentation and clear strategy setup. For this, the waterfall also need to provide with the end results for the budget and the timeline with particular scope limits.

The agile software development works on the different sets of values and principles which is for the software development till there are requirements to handle the solutions. It comes with the collaborative effort for self-organisation of the cross-functional teams, where there are advocacy planning, evolutionary development and easy delivery with improvement. The framework is defined based on the software development and then working on the collaborative effect that would advocate the planning, adaption and then setting the response to change. The methods are depicted through the emerging rapid application development and iterative approach. The tasks are delivered for the specific features where the individuals and the interactions are like the co-location and the pair programming. (Mitsuyuki et al., 2017). The customer collaboration is also for the requirements that cannot be easy gathered in the beginning but they are due to the various factors like the customer interaction and response to the change. Here, the predictive planning is for the adaptive software development metrics where the traditional waterfall model supports the predictive approach. Here, the predictive models and the forecasting is based on the requirement analysis and the planning. This helps in handling the changes as per the feature requirements. The customer interaction is important in the agile methodology for the open communication with minimised documentation features for the collaboration. There are approaches for the software development to promote the teamwork and cross-training, where the functionality is based on the development and demonstration of the processes. (Merhout et al., 2017). The resource requirements are needed which are minimum and suitable for the fixed or the changing requirements. The agile model also works on the strict delivery management process where the functionality is mapped to deliver and work on the adjustments to meet all the required deadline. This depends on the customer interaction with the higher level of the individual dependence where there is a possibility of minimum documentation generated.

Similarities and differences between them both

The waterfall model works on the project lifecycle where the designing approach is set to handle the different processes with easy representation of the requirement analysis, system designing, implementation and the testing. The requirement gathering and the analyses is for the setup that needs to be evaluated based on the inputs from the system design and setting the small programs which are called units. The next phase integration processes are through the integration and testing that would be important for the functional and the non-functional requirements. The product deployment is done through the customer environment where the maintenance comes up when the client environment is set to fix the issues and the patches are released, thereafter. The software of the waterfall model works on the requirements which are clearly documented, clear and fixed, with the products stable and understandable technology. (Poston et al, 2016). This would allow the departmentalisation and controlling the schedule with proper deadlines for each stage of development so that the product can easily be set through the development process. This moves from the concept, designing and the implementation, testing and installation that would end up at the operation and able to maintain with the clearly defined stages. (Vijayasarathy et al., 2016). Through this, there is a possibility of the development where the application is set in the testing stage which is not documented in a proper manner, and amounts to the high risks

References

Ahimbisibwe, A., Ahimbisibwe, A., Daellenbach, U., Daellenbach, U., Cavana, R. Y., & Cavana, R. Y. (2017). Empirical comparison of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies: Critical success factors for outsourced software development projects from vendors’ perspective. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 30(3), 400-453.

Cooper, R. G. (2016). Agile–Stage-Gate Hybrids: The Next Stage for Product Development Blending Agile and Stage-Gate methods can provide flexibility, speed, and improved communication in new-product development. Research-Technology Management, 59(1), 21-29.

Gregory, P., Barroca, L., Sharp, H., Deshpande, A., & Taylor, K. (2016). The challenges that challenge: Engaging with agile practitioners’ concerns. Information and Software Technology, 77, 92-104.

Lee, Y., Waterman, A., Cook, H., Zimmer, B., Keller, B., Puggelli, A., … & Chiu, P. F. (2016). An agile approach to building risc-v microprocessors. IEEE Micro, 36(2), 8-20.

Merhout, J., & Kovach, M. (2017). Governance Practices over Agile Systems Development Projects: A Research Agenda.

Mitsuyuki, T., Hiekata, K., Goto, T., & Moser, B. (2017). Evaluation of Project Architecture in Software Development Mixing Waterfall and Agile by Using Process Simulation. Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, 1750007.

Poston, R., & Patel, J. (2016). Making Sense of Resistance to Agile Adoption in Waterfall Organizations: Social Intelligence and Leadership.

Vijayasarathy, L. R., & Butler, C. W. (2016). Choice of software development methodologies: Do organizational, project, and team characteristics matter?. IEEE Software, 33(5), 86-94.