Think Agile and Waterfall As Part of Your Project Post Mortem

As you convene your project post mortem team to take a look over the fence at what went right and what went wrong, it may be smart to think through your basic methodology. Was your process well chosen for and matched to the project goals and objectives?

Project post mortem experts generally acknowledge two basic project management methodologies: the waterfall model and the agile methodology. Projects and project leaders usually have a preference for one or the other. But there are pros and cons to both that could be part of the project design and execution. Often you can use a combination of both.

Waterfall Project Management Approach
In general, this project management method is linear and sequential. It cascades through steps, one after the other, from feasibility through planning and design, into the build, test, produce and maintenance phases. The difficulties in this project management model are that it is inflexible. Changes are often time consuming and difficult. You typically need all the requirements upfront and testing usually does not occur until late in the game. The pros are that the plan is clear, thoughtful, well-documented and fully fleshed out from the beginning.

Agile Project Management Approach
In general, development using the agile project management approach is highly iterative. There is far less planning upfront than the waterfall model so it allows for learning and changing requirements over time. The problems encountered are that, at least initially, the plan is less easy to understand and documentation is often neglected. The pluses are that working prototypes can be delivered faster, lessons can be learned more quickly, and changes can be incorporated along the way and even late in the development.

In your next project post mortem, try to decide if any aspects of the two methods played a role in your success or failure.  For example, was the project business case and plan good enough?  Did your project team prototype and learn and innovate fast enough?

In general, consider the waterfall approach for more static and complex projects where there are unlikely to be many changes after the project planning process. And consider Agile for those projects where multiple changes and innovations are required for project success. 

If flexibility is integral to the success of your project, choose aspects from Agile Project Management. If straightforward design and delivery is important, choose aspects from the traditional waterfall project design.

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