Johannesburg, 13 Nov 2017
Spoiler alert: if your software development team is turning in less than stellar results using Waterfall, switching to Agile is unlikely to be a silver bullet. More likely, the fundamental challenges that compromised Waterfall will ensure that Agile doesn't deliver on its promise either.
Guy Eastoe, MD of Snap Tech International, says: "One point needs to be made at the outset: in many instances, Waterfall can work well. At the very beginning, it's worth going to the trouble of making a proper business case for shifting to Agile. The team (and the sponsoring executive) needs to ask why they want to go Agile, and what the expectations are. Is there a proper change plan with a budget, have the desired outcomes been agreed and shared? Agile is fundamentally all about changing the way things are done, so change management is very much a requirement for success. Are there coaches on hand, and has proper training been scheduled?"
If all of these are satisfactorily answered, it's time to look at some of the obstacles that may have prevented Waterfall from succeeding - and that may put paid to Agile too, if not addressed.
No buy-in from senior management
It's become something of a business clich'e, but that's because it's true: without active endorsement and support from a manager sufficiently high in the hierarchy, business projects fail - particularly those that require hefty amounts of change.
The organisation simply is not flexible
One of the reasons Waterfall may not have worked is that the organisational structure and culture is just not able to adapt to the new software being developed and the attendant change in business process. If this is the case, an organisation-wide change management programme for Agile deployment is indicated, starting with a prototype to see if you have the appetite for a full Agile way of working.
The change management function is positioned too low within the organisation
It's very common to find that the function that owns the process of development, be it Waterfall or Agile, is often too low-ranking to be effective. This is particularly devastating for Agile because it needs the clout to span all the silos within the organisation.
Low project management maturity
If the maturity level is below three out five levels in waterfall project management, you are going to struggle to cut it in the Agile space.
The voice of the customer is inaudible
Cynics would argue that Waterfall sees the customer as something of nuisance; certainly, its approach is to solicit customer requirements at the beginning of the process and then actively discourage or even resist changes until the development process is complete. This is the manifestation of a 'command and control' mentality. Anything like this mindset is fatal to Agile, which depends on a close and constant interaction between customer and developer throughout an iterative development process.
"As always, in business as in life, a new methodology will not generate the anticipated results if one does not perform the necessary introspection, and change what really needs to be changed," concludes Eastoe.
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