Question

The waterfall project management model is often used for non-IT projects, while the Agile project management model is often used for IT projects.

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

• What differences between IT and non-IT projects make each more appropriate for a different project management model? Are there exceptions?
• What are 2 drawbacks that might occur from using the waterfall model for an IT project and the Agile approach for a non-IT project?

Answer 1

The differences between IT and non-IT projects which makes each more appropriate for a different project management model is tabulated below:

PROJECT FACTOR	WATERFALL APPROACH	AGILE APPROACH	VERDICT
SCOPE	Works well when the scope is defined. Doesn’t support changes	Suitable for projects with an unknown scope. Advocates and facilitates change.	In IT projects technologies and market demands change rapidly making AGILE the best way to adapt to these changes and deliver a feature in the market at the earliest.
COST	The budget is fixed at the start, which includes backup plans for identified risks.	The budget is not defined just like the scope. Likely to become expensive when unforeseen changes and risks occur.	A fixed budget is good for small businesses. It is an important factor for Non-It products when weighed against implementing quick-change implementations.
TEAM	Doesn’t require continuous team collaboration. Independent performance is more emphasized.	Encourages synchronized teamwork at all stages of product development. Requires teams to have skill.	Collaborative effort results in greater productivity. However, the varying nature of contracts assigned to various vendors doesn’t work well under high team synchronization. This is a problem in the case of Non-IT projects,

Customer Input is a parameter which is an important aspect for both and any project IT or Non-IT it needs the feedback.

On one hand where Waterfall supports customer input at major milestone stages only , agile encourages customer feedback at all points during product development.

__________________________________________________

The two major drawbacks of waterfall model in IT project are:

• No working software is produced until late during the life cycle.
• Small changes or errors that arise in the completed software may cause a lot of problems

The two major drawbacks of agilell model in Non- IT project are:

• Agile is a continuous in nature it means that there is no end to it. In other words, the projects have no finite end, as there is never a clear vision of what the “final product” looks like. This is not agreeable in most cases of a Non-IT project.
• Agile is based on the idea that teams won’t know what their end result (or even a few cycles of delivery down the line) will look like from day one, it’s challenging to predict efforts like cost, time and resources required at the beginning of a project (and this challenge becomes more pronounced as projects get bigger and more complex). This is a major disadvantage in case of Non-IT project.