There is a lot of talk these days about the vaious merits of Agile vs. Waterfall as a project methodology. Much of it seems to assume that the two are mutually exclusive. Of course, this is not the case.

The key differences between the two methodologies are:

• Agile uses an iterative delivery model based on delivery sprints
• Waterfall uses a sequential delivery model whereby the next phase does not start until the prior phase is completed

So can the two be mixed? Of course.

Agile sprints can be sequential and waterfall phases can be based on delivery sprints.

It all depends on what is right for the project. Sometimes waterfall phasing is appropriate and sometimes agile sprints.

For example it may be that an upfront analysis phase should be completed in its entirety before subsequent dependent phases are started (waterfall) or that while dealing with a lot of change requests (CRs) they are chunked up into agile sprints and delivered iteratively.

There's no one right answer for the entirety of the project just applying the right methodology at the right time to right set of project activities.

Project Management 2