What is Waterfall Project Management?

[@elenastefanova5370]

When I have my first salary as a PM - I will support you better! For now, I can just say that it's a pleasure to be your online student

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Elena, thank you very much! I hope you get the job of your dreams. 💭

[@EntropyReduction-Agility]

As an agile coach who must admit my own biases, I am thrilled to hear this explanation. You are right on! I like especially the statement that the application of "Predictive" project management to software in the early days said more about the immaturity of software development than it does about the predictive "waterfall" model which works well in other contexts. The reason why so many of us coaches get irate about "waterfall" is that we are struggling to get some organizational leaders to understand and appreciate just how poorly the method works in software development, and why they need to kick the bad habit!

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you for your comments. It's equally good to hear an agile coach own their biases and avoid the simplistic 'waterfall is bad'. Advocating one method (waterfall, scrum DA, SAFe, Kanban, PRINCE2) as somehow 'better' than the rest is like arguing a screwdriver is better than a wrench. It all depends on the problem we need the tool to solve. My catchphrase for 2022 was 'all PM is hybrid'. We take the tools we need from wherever we find them. And in some contexts, most will come from agile approaches, while in others, few will. Those need more of the predictive tools.

[@mosesm.mwariri1487]

Your trainings simplify difficult topics and make them fun to understand. You do your research well too.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I'm glad you think so! Thank you.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Too often you now hear the term Waterfall Project Management as a derogatory term But what is it and what's its story? I'll tell you.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

🚰

[@GURPREETSINGH-vh7ee]

this is one of the best vedio for the waterfall model and in simple wording

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thanks a lot 😊

[@rajbhandari3629]

Great explanation, as a design engineer, I related with some of the things that you've mentioned in this video about manufacturing and construction industries using waterfall methodology.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you, Raj.

[@luckhappy888]

Great video with clear and well-paced presentation. Thank you!

[@Onlinepmcourses]

You're very welcome!

[@michaczajka5873]

Maybe Waterfall is actually better even for software engineering than agile. It functions very well in heavily technical domains. Agile mostly affects UI layouts or graphics.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I am not a software engineer, but from those I know, agile approaches are very valuable in developing software of varying sorts - well beyond UI and graphics. The thing to remember is the relationship between the software development and other aspects of a wider project - for which agile methods may be ill-suited. The mistake too many PMs and developers make is to not have an open, curious, and respectful conversation about how to craft a process that suits the precise nature of what needs to be delivered. Instead, one side often tries to impose a solution on the other - and that other side responds with frustration, intransigence, and rebellion.

[@michaczajka5873]

@@Onlinepmcourses from my experience waterfall was successful for development of internal tools for artists or designers, and for solving problems with clear requirements like integration with third party API or optimization of data transfer. To less concrete problems like how to make game fun to play it doesn't fit very well.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

@@michaczajka5873 That sounds very plausible to me. Clear and absolute requirements lend themselves to predictive approaches while uncertain and evolving requirements benefit from an adaptive approach.

[@ozturert]

Yes, yes and yes! To sell a product, some people defame others. This is what agile "experts" have been doing for some time now but all PM methodologies have their place. You just choose the one that fits your business the best, that's all. Agile, Waterfall, xx aren't magical tools that fit everything.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Quite right. In fact, all project management is hybrid - a hybrid of the bits you need to use, to make your project work.

[@MohamedAhmed-gh6cs]

thank you for the video, Please, what are the differences between : 1_ life cycle 2_project management 3_operation management. in other word what are the differences between project life cycle or phases and project management processes.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thanks Mohamed. You'll need to watch a few other videos on my channel to help you out: 1. The Project Lifecycle: A Basic 4-stage Lifecycle model kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYO5gYRpdphko7s ...and Project Lifecycle and the Project Process: 5 Tips kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH62gn-nbrR3npY 2. What is Project Management? kzbin.info/www/bejne/joWQqJVsl5tnlac But: Project management is about getting a one-off thing done. Operational management is about running a process constantly, again and again, effectively and efficiently. The project lifecycle describes the stages you apply to control and pace your project. Within each stage of your project are numerous processes, like the stakeholder engagement, risk management, and change control processes. These are three I picked at random and there is content on my channel about each. Try this video to get you started: Beginner's Guide to Project Management - Not for Idiots! kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqupYWmKhLB-hac

[@mai9355]

Thank you for all your great videos 😄 Could you make one about mitigation plans?

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you, Mai. And great idea! I just went straight to my notebook and added it to my list.

[@Adam-ui3ot]

These videos are gold, do you provide courses

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you, Adam. Yes, I do provide courses. Head over to onlinepmcourses.com

[@abdurrahmanusman6879]

Why is waterfall good for LMS

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I assume you mean LMS = Learning management System. I don't know that waterfall is the right approach for developing an LMS. I would have thought Agile would be just as good or more so. But it comes down to a choice by the Project Manager and their team, taking into account the specifications, the users, and the culture of the organization for whom they are developing the LMS. There is only right and wrong - only what is best in the context.

[@hectorlopezorellana724]

Interesting video, Does the name "waterfall" is an Agile people authoring?,, Is "waterfall" a bullying nickname?... I agree with you the traditional predictive project management includes so called agile approaches, like interactions , inspection and change process is efficient and effective. But, I have to recognize some project management style, like of some governments are like waterfall, I mean not like a Gantt Chart, but a real countryside cascade where the water flows in the same direction from star to end no matter what. Before predictive project management, existed plans writing on stone approaches, maybe that's because Churchill /Eisenhower said "planning is essential bu the plan is useless".

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Hector - that Eisenhower quote is one of my favorites! I don't think Waterfall was meant to be a 'bullying' nickname - it was merely a description of the way the process is described. The diagrams look like waterfalls! And the label 'waterfall' certainly predates the Agile movement. But what I notice is the way that *some* Agile writers are derisive of predictive PM methods. And those are the ones who use the word 'waterfall' in a pejorative way.

[@hectorlopezorellana724]

So "waterfall"is a nickname? if some Agile writers are derisive about traditional PM , we wouldn't have to use that nickname. I the other hand, my point is that the derisive name is headed to the PM method , no to the Gantt Chart. I'm trying to get, Gantt Chart, away from that declination

[@supersosiska]

To be honest, looking for a tool, for mechanical engineering filed (not software)...

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I don't really understand what you are asking. Can you be more specific?

[@ravi_shuklas]

very happy to subscribe your channel :)

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Great - glad to have you onboard, Ravi.

[@ntemako5050]

This video is super

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Thank you.

[@BasicFilmmaker]

👍👍👍

[@Onlinepmcourses]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@adrianpyne2272]

There is no such thing as Waterfall project management and has only recent currency due to its projorative use by some agilists - as suggested in the video. I understand why the confusion. ALL projects Start, Do stuff then Finish, but that isnt much of a life-cycle. HOW they go about this is another matter. There is NO SINGLE life-cycle that all projects must follow, but a huge variety of adaptations appropriate to a project. Therefore Project management has NEVER been defined by ANY life-cycle, there is way more to project management than that. Just say PROJECT MANAGEMENT, then adapt to the needs of the project, the organisation, the team, the individual and even to the moment. Oh and by the way, the latest bit of nonsense is Hybrid project management, quite without foundation.

[@Onlinepmcourses]

I agree with you all the way... until your comment about hybrid. I agree that the term may be superfluous, but the idea of drawing from different traditions to form an approach that fits the circumstance is so important that giving it a name is more helpful than a hindrance, in my view.

[@adrianpyne2272]

@@Onlinepmcourses Thanks Mike I concur about hybrid. the term is being abused to supposedly introduce a new approach. Whereas project professionals have been hybridising - adapting for decades. Which also makes a nonsense of so-called (and alledgley) unwieldy 'traditional' project management. Project professionals dont do more management than needed...and they always have. A key lessons for aspiring professionals. My view is that we should just show what good PM looks like and ignore vague additional terms. In the end its just........project management, done well or not.

[@unviet7198]

huh???????

[@Onlinepmcourses]

Indeed. That's exactly what I think. Why do people post unintelligible comments? I'm happy to answer questions... if I can figure out what they are.