Bingo, and there lies its power — but only in the correct domain.
For consulting, where the customer doesn’t quite understand what they need and you need to work your way forward in an exploratory fashion (and for a limited period) it’s great. And that was the environment it was designed for!
You have a multi year engineering project? Really a waterfall, or a waterfall/spiral approach will work.
Subtasks handled by a small group can be agile, and that can make the whole thing more efficient, but that need not be the case.
A fetish for One True System is simply a cargo cult.
> You have a multi year engineering project? Really a waterfall, or a waterfall/spiral approach will work.
I'm not sure a long time frame is a necessary condition for a successful waterfall project - but I am certain it is not sufficient.
What you need - long term project or not - is a rock solid understanding of business requirements. That means - no vague client demands, or startup style search for product / market fit - but a well established, and documented set of business processes that needs to be mapped to code.
I also believe such projects require a leader who has this understanding, but also a talent for product design such that they can recognise and articulate clearly how the product will meet requirements. They need to be able to convince stakeholders.
I do think such circumstances are rare for many organisations. But not so rare the prospect should be dismissed out of hand.
I agree with your final statement though I think the challenge for many orgs would be in having the self awareness to recognise which approach is best for them.
Bingo, and there lies its power — but only in the correct domain.
For consulting, where the customer doesn’t quite understand what they need and you need to work your way forward in an exploratory fashion (and for a limited period) it’s great. And that was the environment it was designed for!
You have a multi year engineering project? Really a waterfall, or a waterfall/spiral approach will work.
Subtasks handled by a small group can be agile, and that can make the whole thing more efficient, but that need not be the case.
A fetish for One True System is simply a cargo cult.