Agile vs Waterfall

Difference between Agile vs Waterfall

We will start by defining Agile and then move over to linking agile vs waterfall frameworks, Agile and waterfall are very popular among software developers, they provide assistance to these developers in terms of delivering software’s quickly and efficiently

There is an agile manifesto that lays down and outlines software development concepts, using one of the development methods stated in agile manifesto and developing on it is called agile development.

Head to Head Comparison between Agile vs Waterfall (Infographics)

Below is the top 10 difference between agile vs waterfall:

Key differences between Agile vs Waterfall

Let us discuss some of the major differences between Agile vs Waterfall:

1. Waterfall methodology is sequential and linear whereas Agile methodology is incremental and iterative.
2. Scaling up projects, that is, further building them via additional features and versions is limited in agile, whereas it is easily done in agile.
3. Customer involvement is low in waterfall whereas its high in agile.
4. All work that is carried out is documented, in agile a lot of emphasis is not laid in the documentation.
5. Final testing occurs in the end when the project is completed in a waterfall, in agile continuous testing happens at every stage.
6. In waterfall level of flexibility is minimum in the agile level of flexibility is high.
7. Waterfall iterative model is good for projects with clearly defined requirements and without expected changes. Agile allows changing and evolving requirements.

Features of Agile Model

The agile manifesto has primarily three most important features, The three principles are:

1. An Iterative Approach to Development – This means that working software is quickly delivered to clients and the feedback that is received from clients is used in the next batches of the software. This allows teams to incorporate changes and fix bugs even late in the production stage.
2. Short Feedback Loops – This means that customer feedback is important and valued by the software developers, also they spend their time and resources on things that matter the most.
3. Disciplined Project Management Process – This means that the project is extremely structured and well organized, each team knows its role and timelines within which they need to finish their tasks.

Features of Waterfall Model

The waterfall model was one of the first software development models, it was very simple in its structure making it easy to use and understand by software developers. It is based on key features which are listed below:

1. Feasibility – Before software is developed it is checked if it is even feasible to work on this software. Is it possible to even build the software given the requirements of the clients, what would be the cost, and how many resources would need to be allocated to it?
2. Requirements Analysis and Specification – Requirements analysis and specification are done to understand what does the customer need and does the company have resources to meet those needs.
3. Design – Once the above two steps are completed, developers can lay out an overview design, of what they need to do and how do they plan to do it. They spend time on drawing board analyzing all the steps.
4. Coding – Once the above steps are completed, developers move to the coding stage, where they write code. This is also a testing phase, where they test out their code, make changes to it and try to improve it as much as possible.
5. Integration and Testing – This is the final phase of testing, all the steps are then merged and final software is produced, one final testing is done before it is given to the customer.

Agile vs Waterfall Comparison Table

Below are the topmost comparisons between Agile vs Waterfall:

Conclusion

Thus I would like to conclude by reiterating that the Waterfall method of development was one of the traditional and one of the first methods to develop software. In today’s modern age Agile framework and many more have taken over. They are designed for keeping customer requirements in mind and are flexible and adaptive to changes at any point in the development stage and even after.

Both of these frameworks provide a benchmark base to software developers, they use fundamental principles outlined here and use to develop software

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to the difference between Agile vs Waterfall. Here we also discussed Agile vs Waterfall key differences with infographics and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

1. Agile vs Waterfall Project Management
2. Agile vs Scrum vs Waterfall
3. What is Agile Sprint?
4. Principles of Agile Manifesto