Sprint-based Waterfall - Wagile
Following up on my sprint-based waterfall article, I’ve done more research a bit and discovered sprint-based waterfall is also called: wagile
For those that don’t know what “Wagile” is, Wikipedia describes it as: a group of software development methodologies that result from slipping from agile back into waterfall, doing a lot of short waterfalls and thinking it is agile, Waterfall model masquerading as Agile software development, etc.
There is significant literature around this and in a way, probably why Agile gets a bad rap.
Why?
The problem comes from people as any project there is always:
- scope
- time
- resources
As a manager, you want to do your best to make sure the project succeeds, right?
Time and resources are usually controlled at a higher level.
Scope
What about scope?
If the manager knows what “solution” to deliver to satisfy scope, that will help satisfy the time requirement, right?
As good as that intention is - resource, time, and scope become:
| Resources | fixed |
| Time | fixed |
| Scope | fixed |
Which is the combination of waterfall and Agile:
| Waterfall | Agile | |
|---|---|---|
| Resources | variable | fixed |
| Time | variable | fixed |
| Scope | fixed | variable |
Hence, sprint-based waterfall - or basically: wagile.
🤦