Waterfall Vs Agile: Which Development Methodology is Best for App Development

Plan the entire development cycle before you begin, or wing it as you go. Which is the better option? Confused?

Choosing the right development methodology is a decision you need to take in the earliest stages of app development. Waterfall and Agile are the two most popular options and while they are so different from each other, most companies end up blurring the lines somewhere in the process. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, in fact it’s quite effective to take the best elements of each and come up with a unique hybrid methodology that combines agile and waterfall approaches to work perfectly for your team and project. But understanding both Waterfall and Agile methodologies thoroughly and knowing the pros and cons of each will put you in a much better position to take the final call.

So let’s take a look at each of the two separately and weigh in the pros and cons, so you can make a more informed decision about which development methodology you wish to adopt for your app project.

Waterfall Methodology

Essentially, the waterfall methodology is a linear, sequential model with a clear path of events. The development process in a waterfall model follows static phases of conception, requirement analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment and maintenance. Every phase is final and hard to retract. This means that the design must be complete and final before moving on to the implementation/development stage. The defined phases don’t overlap and the entire setup adheres to strict timelines.

Agile Methodology

Agile is a more iterative methodology for application lifecycle management. Instead of doing all the planning at first and then executing to a set format, Agile process is rather flexible. It focuses on keeping the process lean and creating minimum viable products (MVPs) that go through a number of iterations before anything is final. Multiple phases of the development cycle can proceed parallel to each other and changes can be made at any stage. The impetus is on teamwork and collaboration. Feedback is gathered and implemented continually and in all, it is a much more dynamic process where everyone is working together towards one goal.

Pros of Waterfall methodology

• Clear deadlines: Having a clear, time-bound plan right from the start, with clear deadlines for every stage of development, is one of the biggest upsides of waterfall methodology. It helps every team stick to schedule and all phases to flow smoothly.
• Meticulous Documentation: One of the most advantageous aspects of waterfall methods is that it is an extremely well-documented process. From gathering project requirements to documenting each step of the process, everything is well documented.
• Organized: All deliverables in a waterfall process are well defined and organized. Every team is clear on their responsibilities and goals.
• Clear Expectations: Clients know exactly what to expect at what stage of development, ensuring a greater sense of satisfaction and trust.

Cons of Waterfall Methodology

• Difficult To Make Changes: In a waterfall process, every step is final. Once the information procurement is done, it is difficult to ask for more details and clarifications. Once the design hand-off is done, there’s little possibility of making changes to the design to suit development. This makes it very difficult in a waterfall process to make any modifications or adapt to changing requirements.
• Lack Of Collaboration: One of the biggest downsides of the waterfall method is that there’s very little collaboration between different teams. There are 3 to 4 steps in the process before finally entering the development phase. At this stage, if the developers need more information or a tweak in the design, waterfall leaves almost no scope for it.
• Slow Deliverables: As mentioned, there are four stages to be completed before development can begin. Even the most basic MVP cannot be created to show to the stakeholders until then.
• Testing Comes Too Late And Can Be Risky: Since the testing comes a long way into the process, there’s already too much at stake and any problems found become fairly expensive to fix. Also, since the entire process has already taken so long, testing is often overlooked or rushed through to meet project deadlines, and this can be a fatal error.
• Early Requirement Analysis Can Be Inadequate: In the early stages, stakeholders and clients aren’t entirely sure of what they want. They may provide you initial information, but as the idea matures, their expectations may evolve. But in a waterfall approach, accommodating new ideas and changing expectations becomes very difficult and since information gathering is the very first phase, the process can get a tad dicey.

Pros of Agile Methodology

• Collaborative Team-Based Approach: The agile methodology focuses on keeping different teams working on the project collaboratively. This facilitates effective exchange of ideas and a much more adaptive process. The information being gathered can be viewed by the designers and developers, who can in turn communicate with each other so that they work in tandem.
• Iterative and Flexible: Agile process allows for quick rollout of the basic prototypes, opening them to initial feedback within the team. This makes it possible to receive and incorporate early feedback. With lo-fidelity prototypes, changes can be tried out quickly and expensive revisions can be avoided. Stakeholders can pitch in early and express their ideas on the prototypes, avoiding dissatisfaction later.
• Better Business Value: Instead of sticking to an early (possibly premature) business plan, agile process allows for the idea to evolve and grow. As the app progresses, the clients can prioritize features, increasing business value.
• Better and Faster Testing: Since Agile is iterative, testing happens almost simultaneously, allowing errors or bugs to be discovered and fixed early, avoiding expensive fixes later.

Cons of Agile Methodology

• Tricky to Manage: Since Agile is largely unplanned and free-flowing, incompetent project management can lead to disastrous results. The teams can end up going in circles with no tangible results in the given time frame.
• Unclear Project Scope: There can be difficulty in defining clear project scopes and teams may end up skirting responsibility.
• Constant Testing: Dedicated testing teams need to be kept at hand throughout the project in an agile environment. This may lead to budget problems at times.

Conclusion

So as you saw, both Agile and Waterfall methods have their pros and cons. What you choose depends entirely on your project requirement and working style. Don’t feel limited by the approaches though, as you can, by all means, mix up the two and create a custom solution. The idea is to have a methodology before you begin. So you could borrow the planned approach from waterfall and define phases, but still allow iterative testing throughout the process. That’s just an example. Take the time to study your project requirement and think well about how you wish to proceed. Do share with us which one you prefer and why in the comments.