Waterfall and Agile are sometimes depicted as rivals: an old-guard undertaking administration methodology competing with a nimble newcomer. At its coronary heart, the distinction between them comes all the way down to predictability versus adaptability. Waterfall strives for predictable outcomes by predetermining options on the outset and deeming tasks full solely as soon as these options are absolutely carried out. Agile guarantees adaptability, delivering a minimal viable product (MVP) after which iteratively releasing new options and gathering consumer suggestions to information the trail of enhancements.
Regardless of the oppositional narrative, Waterfall and Agile typically exist concurrently inside organizations. In 2021, the Undertaking Administration Institute reported that the knowledge know-how and finance industries had been the main adopters of Agile. Even so, Waterfall stays prevalent, and nearly one in 4 tasks in each industries employed a hybrid methodology, in accordance with the PMI survey.
Since its official introduction by software program builders in 2001, Agile has continued to develop in reputation, even creeping into industries like development and vitality the place Waterfall methodologies have remained dominant. A hybrid strategy combines points of two totally different administration frameworks or techniques with the aim of bettering effectivity. On this article, Toptal undertaking administration specialists who’ve labored on hybrid Agile-Waterfall tasks in numerous industries mirror on the challenges and advantages of hybrid undertaking administration.
What Is an Agile-Waterfall Hybrid?
“True hybrid is a mixture of predictive and unsure work,” says Jim Stewart, a Boston-area Toptal undertaking supervisor, Scrum grasp, Agile coach, and advisor. In a hybrid mannequin, Waterfall offers the general construction for the well-understood, predictive points of the undertaking, and Agile strategies are used for the iterative, extra unsure elements.
On this method, an organization can create software program in an Agile trend however comply with Waterfall for the rollout course of. A monetary firm may develop a product with main options that have to be audited and authorised earlier than launch. Nonetheless, smaller elements of these options might be iterated by the event crew via a sequence of sprints, as can different points of the consumer interface.
With regards to figuring out easy methods to implement Agile in a Waterfall atmosphere, flexibility is essential. “I don’t consider in … one-size-fits-all,” says Miroslav Anicin, a undertaking supervisor based mostly in Belgrade, Serbia. “You’ll be able to’t … apply methodologies by the ebook. You want to know precisely easy methods to tailor these approaches based mostly on various factors comparable to crew maturity, firm tradition, topic cultures, the kind of undertaking, the measurement of the crew, and the scale of the product.”
Why Use a Hybrid System?
Agile has confirmed to be extra adaptive and environment friendly than conventional approaches. Senior executives at main worldwide companies broadly agree that Agile is important for reaching strategic goals. So that you is likely to be pondering: Why would organizations proceed working in Waterfall?
Danger administration is a typical barrier that stops organizations from going pure Agile, particularly in extremely regulated industries wherein tasks are topic to approvals from outdoors organizations that require documentation and rigorous timetables. As a result of danger evaluation should happen earlier than undertaking planning in these industries, altering parts of the evaluation would require a contemporary spherical of planning. “I used to be working for a corporation that ran medical trials, and audits are loopy [in that field],” says Juan Vilmaux, a undertaking supervisor based mostly in Córdoba, Argentina. “You must undergo a number of processes which can be outlined by exterior authorities just like the FDA. Should you work in Agile, you might be continuously adjusting your scope or backlog—reprioritizing it—and that may intervene with these audits.”
Toptal undertaking supervisor David Machiels, based mostly in Brussels, Belgium, notes that tasks demanding privateness protections require rigorously timed releases. He led a hybrid crew growing an identification administration platform in Microsoft Azure Energetic Listing for a European banking group. His crew used Agile on some improvement steps, however as a result of banks are loath to place data within the cloud because of data-privacy issues, they provisioned the system on an area server. The crew then adopted a transparent Waterfall-like order of operations. “First, you want that on-premises implementation to be carried out,” he says. “You additionally want the cloud implementation to be carried out. Then you can begin doing the connection between the 2.”
When Agile is hybridized right into a Waterfall atmosphere, massive tasks might be damaged into epics and consumer tales for extra versatile improvement. Then accomplished options might be launched on longer time frames. “Typically you will have what I name an enormous bang supply,” says Grant Schuleman, a Toptal undertaking supervisor in Johannesburg, South Africa, who has labored in monetary providers, banking, and inventory exchanges. He describes how a crew would deploy incrementally to a consumer acceptance testing (UAT) atmosphere. As soon as all of the options are signed off on in UAT, the product is launched in a single massive deployment. “And that might take a yr, relying on how huge the undertaking is,” he says.
On his largest program, Schuleman had 120 individuals engaged on 10 tasks—some working in Waterfall, some in Scrum, and a few hybrid. He additionally ran a scrum of scrums each different week to make sure that the smaller groups had been aligned for the subsequent sequence of sprints and dealing at complementary paces. The orchestration of various approaches launched flexibility whereas nonetheless accommodating the organizational wants that prevented them from going full Agile.
The Hardest A part of Going Hybrid
The success of an Agile-Waterfall hybrid is determined by how undertaking managers customise processes given the state of affairs. Undertaking managers going hybrid should discover the fitting mix of methodologies for the product, crew, and finish customers—but hybridization seldom follows a preset method.
Typically essentially the most consequential consider figuring out whether or not Agile might be efficiently hybridized into an present Waterfall system is the diploma of buy-in from crew members and different stakeholders. A crew have to be open to vary and excited to strive new issues. If crew members aren’t well-versed within the new course of, or solely consider Agile as a buzzword, they won’t see a purpose for change. Undertaking managers keen to mix Waterfall and Agile should foster understanding and encourage groups and organizations to contemplate the strategies that produce optimum outcomes.
When Schuleman tried to combine Agile processes into an replace of a legacy software, for instance, he discovered that the experiment wasn’t embraced by the builders, who had been accustomed to working in Waterfall and didn’t perceive why the work was damaged into epics and consumer tales. Group members wished to work on every thing without delay. Based mostly on that resistance and different elements, he realized a hybrid strategy wasn’t acceptable, nimbly modified course halfway, and guided the crew to finish the undertaking utilizing pure Waterfall.
Vilmaux has had related experiences engaged on tasks, particularly these with danger administration issues. Typically going hybrid will increase your probabilities of failure “since you’re getting the worst elements of each worlds. You prohibit Agile, however the nature of Agile is to embrace modifications and to be versatile. You begin dropping all of that … inside a Waterfall atmosphere, which works greatest in a linear trend—fastened and deterministic—and the place modifications aren’t not possible however might be very expensive. In including Agile, you begin pushing nonlinear issues inside that Waterfall world.”
In Schuleman’s and Vilmaux’s experiences, undertaking managers wishing to comply with a hybrid software program improvement methodology have to coach their groups via new ideas. Nevertheless, they have to even be prepared to acknowledge if hybridization isn’t working and adapt appropriately.
With these issues in thoughts, hybrid carried out proper can repay, even in a risk-averse atmosphere. Anicin not too long ago led a profitable hybrid undertaking for the IFC (a member of the World Financial institution Group) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The plan-driven undertaking adopted extremely detailed necessities and specs, and concerned quite a few organizations and authorities stakeholders. But the groups labored in Agile from the start, and the shopper finally obtained a greater product for a decrease price on a faster timeline. Anicin says, “It was onerous, nevertheless it labored.”
Utilizing Agile Hybrid As an Improve
As industries proceed to endure digital transformation, extra corporations have gotten interested in Agile. Even when an organization isn’t able to dive proper in, a gradual introduction to Agile will pay dividends over time. One main purpose is that Agile adapts to uncertainty, a attribute of any undertaking.
Agile additionally affords transparency. “I desire Agile as a result of I can see the modifications,” Schuleman says. “With Waterfall, there might be quite a lot of smoke and mirrors: ‘We’re 20% full,’ ‘We’re 30% full,’ however you then’re caught on 80% for an additional eight months. It’s far simpler to cover issues. With Agile, you’re having each day scrums, and if a consumer story is sitting there for longer than it ought to be, it’s simple to say, ‘This factor’s not transferring; what’s the issue?’”
Incorporating Agile slowly into Waterfall can present benefits, particularly when points of a Waterfall mind-set presently work for the crew. As an illustration, Waterfall can do properly throughout the discovery and planning phases. “After we are speaking concerning the blended strategy, we’re offering a way more detailed product backlog,” Anicin says. In a hybrid undertaking, he makes use of this backlog to offer his crew a extra detailed, Waterfall-esque perspective on long-term expectations for the completed product. He then onboards his crew “to the product, not solely to the undertaking,” he says. “I’m anticipating the entire crew to grasp the product particulars as a result of they should have this product possession, which is so necessary.”
An organization and crew won’t be able to go pure Agile, however on the very least, undertaking managers can understand appreciable advantages from including Agile practices and shorter, extra frequent supply deadlines. If a undertaking supervisor is rigorous, sensible, and cautious about implementation, a hybrid Agile-Waterfall methodology could possibly be simply what a corporation must improve a undertaking.
This text has not too long ago undergone a complete replace and rewrite to include the newest and most correct data. We want to acknowledge Greig O’Brien’s contributions to the unique article. Please be aware: Feedback beneath could predate this replace.