Posted by Robert Merrill on April 26, 2010 under Software-Intensive Businesses, Waterfall (SDLC) | 
I’ve long told my customers that big waterfall software specs are more like insurance policies than blueprints, especially when I hear the phrase “sign-off” more than once a week. They are part of Covey the Younger’s Trust Tax.
But in Deniability, Seth Godin puts it better that I ever could. “At some point, that effort [anticipatory CYA] becomes so great you never actually ship anything, which of course is the very best protection against failure.”
Ouch!
Posted by Robert Merrill on December 17, 2009 under Agile Methods, Waterfall (SDLC) |
Serhiy Kharytonov published a fine summary of software methodologies for non-technical leaders at Executive Brief. He makes several excellent observations, but he also perpetuates a destructive myth. I’ve worked with all three of Waterfall, RUP, and Agile, and here’s my take.
Excellent observations
Then, stay agile in the approach to the process itself, constantly looking back, re-evaluating and revising the development process until it fits your current circumstances most successfully.
If you learn nothing else from Serhiy and I, learn this. Change from a culture of blame-fixing to a culture of continuous improvement, with no political unmentionables, and you will get a lot more value for your software-development money, and everything else besides.
Then, if you want to learn one more lesson the easy way rather than from a painful and expensive experience, Read more of this article »