“Agile and Waterfall don’t mix. They’re like oil and water”
“Agile is an all-or-nothing approach”
“Being able to ship every two weeks is a must”
These are just some of the statements that hardware development teams make, when they try to increase their product development process velocity and predictability. The truth is though, that by mixing select Agile and Waterfall principles, product developers and project managers are able to achieve best-in-class product/project management.
Both product and project managers commonly view Agile and Waterfall as mutually exclusive. In reality though, about 75% of Agile principles apply also to Waterfall projects. In the graphic below, you can see that 9 of the 12 Agile concepts are applicable to many types of products and services.
Agile isn’t an all-or-nothing approach. By implementing a hybrid process, managers will achieve velocity and adaptability while being able to maintain long-term planning required for Waterfall projects.
Implementing Agile principles as part of a Waterfall project allows managers to reduce burnout within teams by introducing sprints; brings teams and customers closer together; and improves the team’s ability to adapt to external changes i.e. market shifts.
To gain the competitive advantage that Agile offers, Waterfall teams need to split their product development timeline into sprints. By doing so, managers will accelerate decision making and divide the entire project into a set of smaller steps and deliverables. In doing so, a sense of urgency is created and teams become much better at keeping on task. Ultimately, the process results in shorter product development timelines.
In fact, implementing the most suitable elements of Agile and Waterfall you get a hybrid that is even better than one or the other alone.
How to implement Agile in a Waterfall environment
Making the switch from Waterfall-only to a hybrid process takes time – it won’t happen overnight. Organizational change management is required to implement Agile methodologies. With larger organizations especially, expect the change to take more time.
Introducing a pilot project and then scaling is a proven approach to successfully implementing Agile within the Waterfall framework. It’s best to create a team with members who have a positive track record for embracing change and improvement. From there, the organization as a whole can learn quickly and scale the introduction of Agile methodologies incrementally.
The success of this implementation will greatly depend on high performance teamwork, meaning:
- Management should empower teams to plan and prioritize their own work;
- All team members should have both collaboration and domain expertise;
- Rather than micromanaging, middle-level management should focus on removing roadblocks
- Upper and middle management, as well as teams should put product allegiance above functional allegiance
Successfully implementing high-performance teamwork and collaboration requires organizations to adopt a new way of thinking. The most successful organizations have already mastered the challenge and have long been reaping the rewards.
There are two main factors that present a barrier to adoption, meaning teams are missing out on the opportunity to increase their velocity and adaptability: the myths surrounding Agile and organizational culture.
Organizations need to begin by examining their assumptions about Agile. Then, it’s important that organizations give themselves enough time to adapt Agile principles to their existing environment. Organizational culture tends to pose one of the biggest roadblocks to successful implementation.
John Carter has been a widely respected adviser to technology firms over his career. John is the author of “Innovate Products Faster: Graphical Tools for Accelerating Product Development”. As Founder and Principal of TCGen Inc., he has advised some of the most revered technology firms in the world.
