Waterfall vs Agile, First Generation vs Second Generation

9/19/2016

I have chosen this topic for today to help individuals to understand in a better way the differences and similarities between the software development methods:

Waterfall (traditional);
First Generation of Agile (XP, Scrum);
and Second Generation of Agile (Lean, Kanban).

Here are a few parameters, with values for all of these 3, the same order:
Parameter

value for Waterfall
value for First Generation of Agile
value for Second Generation of Agile

Here are the comparisons:
Requirements

should be collected before implementation begins
the stakeholders don't understand their needs in a very clear way at start
same as previous

Value Delivery

best in full
incremental
same as previous

What is agile based on

N/A
Principles and Values
Principles, Values, Human Behavior and Product Development Flow

Learning

People are told what to do
People learn best by doing and continuously improve what they do
People learn in theory and practice

How to improve

Management will tell workers the best way to do it
Focus on people doing the best work and telling management how can help these people
Management creates the best working environment and people will self-organize

People and process relationship

Use process to tell people what to do
People over process
Process is important, but it must serve people

Management

Management dictates process to teams
Somehow ignored initially, but at some point this will be changed
Teams recognize that management is essential in the creation of valuable software

Scope of methods

Look at the entire value stream
Focus on the team
Look at the entire value stream

Workload

Planned ahead and it is given to teams
Pulled by team in batches
Pulled by team in small pieces, managed by WIP (Work in Progress) methods

Time-Boxing

Not used
Used for managing iterations
Cadence is used to coordinate activities

For mode details on these, please read here:

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