What is the difference between Agile and Waterfall development?
Question : What is the difference between Agile and Waterfall development?
Some of my co-workers are getting into Agile and Scrum and I was wondering what the difference between Agile and Waterfall development is?
agile development
Best answer:
Answer by Torrey
“Agile Development” is an umbrella term for several iterative and incremental software development methodologies. The most popular agile methodologies include Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Lean Development, and Feature-Driven Development (FDD).
While each of the agile methods is unique in its specific approach, they all share a common vision and core values. They all fundamentally incorporate iteration and the continuous feedback that it provides to successively refine and deliver a software system. They all involve continuous planning, continuous testing, continuous integration, and other forms of continuous evolution of both the project and the software. They are all lightweight (especially compared to traditional waterfall-style processes), and inherently adaptable. As important, they all focus on empowering people to collaborate and make decisions together quickly and effectively.
You can find more detailed information at Agile 101: http://www.versionone.com/Agile101/
More and more s/w developers are switching to Agile over waterfall.
Waterfall: You do complete requirements gathering, Design the s/w, Implement, Test, and go live.
But the biggest shortcoming is that the entire cycle takes so long that if in the meantime requirements change then you are in big trouble because your design may not be flexible enough or because you are in middle of a big project and just couldn’t divert.
Agile: With this methodology you come up with small sprints of work and keep implementing in 2-3 week cycles. Thus giving you advantage over the other method.
Read the wikipedia link for more info on both topics.