Waterfall methodology
Waterfall methodology is a software development approach that organizes work into predominantly linear, sequential phases, with limited iteration between them.
Lead Developer Career Guide
A linear, sequential project-management and software-development methodology in which predefined stages are completed in order before the next stage begins.
- How it is used
- Organizes software projects with clear requirements around predefined stages, detailed upfront planning, and sign-offs.
- How deep it goes
- Defines five sequential phases and discusses planning benefits, change costs, and defect-rate calculation, but not detailed phase procedures.
- Examples
- Uses Windows development as a staged project example and calculates a 15% defect rate from 150 defects across 1,000 lines of code.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate whether sequential delivery fits fixed requirements and clear scope, and calculate a defect rate from defects and lines of code.
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Delivering Machine Learning Projects: From design to deployment
Waterfall is a sequential software development methodology in which requirements, design, implementation, testing, and acceptance proceed in ordered stages.
- How it is used
- Organizes software projects around ordered requirements, design, implementation, testing, and acceptance stages.
- How deep it goes
- Defines the delivery sequence and critiques estimation, user-disconnection, and upfront-requirements risks without detailing governance procedures.
- Examples
- Uses requirements, designs, work programs, code, tests, and user acceptance as sequential project artifacts.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate sequential delivery by identifying handoff, estimation, user-fit, and change-management risks.
Think Like a CTO
A project-development approach that plans and defines as much as possible before implementation begins and proceeds through largely sequential stages.
- How it is used
- Breaks a defined project outcome into tasks through upfront planning before implementation begins.
- How deep it goes
- Explains planning rationale, benefits, and drawbacks without prescribing detailed project stages.
- Examples
- Uses a Miami-to-San-Francisco road trip to illustrate why the full plan precedes action.
- What you can do after
- Evaluate the predictability, planning effort, and change tolerance of a waterfall project.
Related concepts
- agile software developmentcontrasts with · Agile software development is an iterative approach that delivers software incrementally through collaboration, feedback, adaptive planning, and responsiveness to change.
- requirements analysishas part · Requirements analysis is the systematic process of eliciting, clarifying, assessing, and documenting the needs and constraints a system or product must satisfy.
- testhas part · A test is a procedure or check that evaluates behavior using specified inputs or evidence against expected results or criteria.
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