Topic: Criticism of the waterfall model !!!!

Message

   Criticism of the waterfall model

The waterfall model however is argued by many to be a bad idea in practice, mainly because of their belief that it is impossible to get one phase of a software product's lifecycle "perfected" before moving on to the next phases and learning from them. A typical problem is when requirements change midway through, resulting in a lot of time and effort being invalidated due to the "Big Design Up Front".

In summary, the criticisms of a non-iterative development approach (such as the waterfall model) are as follows:

Poor flexibility; the majority of software is written as part of a contract with a client, and clients are notorious for changing their stated requirements. Thus the software project must be adaptable, and spending considerable effort in design and implementation based on the idea that requirements will never change is neither adaptable nor realistic in these cases.

Unless those who specify requirements and those who design the software system in question are highly competent, it is difficult to know exactly what is needed in each phase of the software process before some time is spent in the phase "following" it.

Constant testing from the design, implementation and verification phases is required to validate the phases preceding them. Users of the waterfall model may argue that if designers follow a disciplined process and do not make mistakes that there is no need to constantly validate the preceding phases.

Frequent incremental builds (following the "release early, release often" philosophy) are often needed to build confidence for a software production team and their client.

It is difficult to estimate time and cost for each phase of the development process.

The waterfall model brings no formal means of exercising management control over a project and planning control and risk management are not covered within the model itself.

Only a certain number of team members will be qualified for each phase, which can lead to some team members twiddling their thumbs. 

Author	Message
tanushree Senior Member Joined: 04Apr2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2160	Topic: Criticism of the waterfall model !!!! Posted: 11Oct2007 at 12:12am
	Criticism of the waterfall model The waterfall model however is argued by many to be a bad idea in practice, mainly because of their belief that it is impossible to get one phase of a software product's lifecycle "perfected" before moving on to the next phases and learning from them. A typical problem is when requirements change midway through, resulting in a lot of time and effort being invalidated due to the "Big Design Up Front". In summary, the criticisms of a non-iterative development approach (such as the waterfall model) are as follows: Poor flexibility; the majority of software is written as part of a contract with a client, and clients are notorious for changing their stated requirements. Thus the software project must be adaptable, and spending considerable effort in design and implementation based on the idea that requirements will never change is neither adaptable nor realistic in these cases. Unless those who specify requirements and those who design the software system in question are highly competent, it is difficult to know exactly what is needed in each phase of the software process before some time is spent in the phase "following" it. Constant testing from the design, implementation and verification phases is required to validate the phases preceding them. Users of the waterfall model may argue that if designers follow a disciplined process and do not make mistakes that there is no need to constantly validate the preceding phases. Frequent incremental builds (following the "release early, release often" philosophy) are often needed to build confidence for a software production team and their client. It is difficult to estimate time and cost for each phase of the development process. The waterfall model brings no formal means of exercising management control over a project and planning control and risk management are not covered within the model itself. Only a certain number of team members will be qualified for each phase, which can lead to some team members twiddling their thumbs. Post Resume: Click here to Upload your Resume & Apply for Jobs

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