Waterfall and Proud of It

I know that, as a methodology, waterfall development has many shortcomings. On the other hand, from novice to expert, it is the most basic and most commonly used system for organizing group work efforts.

There are multiple styles of agile alternatives, but despite the passion of their adherents, trends like those are, and will remain, “counter-establishment” minorities in digital production and development environments.  Among other obstacles, the required client buy-in and partnership model for true agile development is culturally too far away.

A key to maximizing accurate project planning, especially in multi, interdependent waterfall project scenarios, is not only marking obvious and hidden dependencies between related projects and activities, but also to build project plans that make the right connections to effectively anchor baselines and be able to assess impact and change.

The ability to properly  structure  milestones, decompose activities, and connect dependencies is a skill that goes beyond proficiency with Microsoft Project. It requires a broad, big picture understanding of how all the moving parts are really part of one.

Source: fantastictravelling.com via Melissa on Pinterest.