Waterfall methodology is an iterative project management model best-suited to projects requiring high levels of reliability, such as those undertaken by governments or aerospace enterprises.

Construction and manufacturing industries often utilize a production flowchart system where steps must take place in a sequenced fashion – for instance, you cannot put up drywall before framing a building.

Defining Requirements

Waterfall models begin by outlining and communicating project requirements to all stakeholders and the development team. This may be accomplished using a work breakdown structure (WBS), which outlines each task necessary for producing final deliverables. Once this phase of planning has been completed, project managers use this information to create Gantt charts and set milestones.

The Waterfall method requires that all deliverables from each phase be completed prior to proceeding to the next. For instance, foundation work must be complete before building the structure or writing codes before testing can take place – making it hard to adapt quickly to changing client needs or incorporate feedback midprocess.

Software development projects using this methodology typically follow a Waterfall approach; when issues arise during implementation, changes can be limited due to already written-out designs. As this lack of flexibility may cause costly mistakes and delays, this method should only be utilized for projects with clear requirements and operation expectations that have a good chance of succeeding.

Designing

Though the waterfall analogy may be imperfect, it’s easy to see how this project management methodology provides your team with structure. Each step is clearly laid out so everyone knows when and what needs to be completed, which helps prevent project churn and adds stability and predictability to your workflow.

Once the requirements phase is complete, teams can move on to designing your software’s skeleton. Here, the team creates specifications documents and plans how they’ll code their application – this also serves as a way of catching any mistakes before development starts.

At this stage, it’s also beneficial to document each task, its dependencies and any associated costs – an invaluable way for project managers to stay on top of progress and identify any delays that have arisen. A Gantt chart is an effective tool to assist your team with task management by collecting everything on one timeline with descriptions, priorities and tags added directly on. From here they can assign individual tasks directly.

Implementation

The traditional waterfall project management methodology places great importance on meticulous documentation from its inception and through each phase, enabling teams to easily assess where they stand and whether their work has been completed; additionally, this enables them to adapt their efforts if unexpected challenges arise.

If the team encounters issues during design or verification and validation phases, they can go back without repeating all steps of this methodology; similarly, this holds true for coding or implementation tasks – making this approach much more stable than others.

Waterfall also allows changes to be made more easily during the design phase, when requirements are being gathered and documented. While changes can still be made later in the process, such as when coding has begun. As such, waterfall projects are preferred by clients that demand high reliability such as Department of Defense and aerospace industries – this essentially creates the skeleton for a building before adding walls – this ensures they won’t waste both their time and money on products that may fail to meet requirements.

Testing

The Waterfall model can be an effective strategy for projects with defined goals from the outset and no need for midprocess user or client feedback, but its structural limitations can present difficulties for teams – for instance, it requires upfront project planning which makes changes harder to accommodate later in the process.

This limitation becomes particularly apparent in projects where human life could be at stake, such as systems developed for the Department of Defense or military aircraft programs that must adhere to stringent standards and have strict contracts. For these reasons, waterfall methods often feature prominently.

In order to increase the efficiency of your team’s Waterfall processes, consider creating a work breakdown structure (WBS). Once complete, upload this WBS into Lucidchart Gantt chart view in order to visualize it as timeline with dependencies linked and milestones set – this allows your team to visualize the entire project scope as well as ensure you hit milestones without compromising quality or productivity. You could also try agile methodology for projects which require adaptation midway through.

Maintenance

Although it can appear restrictive for software development projects, Waterfall models are an invaluable asset when your goal is predictable outcomes and a clear timeline. The approach relies on upfront planning, detailed documentation and sequential execution: each phase must complete fully before beginning another one – helping ensure your project doesn’t surpass budget and timeline constraints.

Waterfall development consists of five stages, which include Requirements Determination, Design, Implementation, Verification and Maintenance. Although any final system may contain bugs that need to be addressed during testing phase before being released to customers.

Although some criticize the waterfall model for being too rigid, its roots lie in non-software industries such as manufacturing and construction where project phases must occur in sequence (you can’t put up drywall until you have built the house). Some teams even employ modified versions of this approach which incorporate overlapped work. It’s essential that teams find what best fits their project; if your team cannot afford sequential progress then try an iterative process such as Agile.