Waterfall vs Agile Delivery: Which is Best?

"Use the right tool for the job son."

This is my first article and when picking a topic, I wanted something thought-provoking, even controversial. I thought about religion but decided that the world was too close to agreement on that. And I of course thought about politics, but that just seemed too unifying in today’s culture. So, I decided instead to wade into something truly divisive, the topic of Waterfall vs. Agile delivery. I know, you are thinking I should have started with something easy like one of the other options I mentioned!

My father was career military and an aircraft and auto mechanic. People always said he could fix anything. He was a man of few words but had some pretty great one-liners. When I got married the first time at 22 years old, his response was “You shoulda got a dog son.” Turns out he was right, but that is a different article entirely.

Another one of his one-liners that is more pertinent to this particular topic is “Use the right tool for the job son.” That is how I have approached the portfolio and delivery management capabilities that I have helped to influence, build, and lead over the last couple of decades, with a good amount of success.

My early professional background was agile software development. In fact, that is how I met my current wife of almost 20 years (and yes, I also got a dog). After I left software development, I received a PMP and a couple of Scrum certifications and spent many years building and leading PMO’s in both traditional and agile delivery. I recently left a portfolio management role in a large financial services company that delivers predominantly via SAFe, in which I also hold multiple certifications. Yet, I remain a delivery methodology agnostic.

There are good reasons and great benefits to delivering in an agile fashion. There are also good reasons and great benefits to delivering in a more traditional delivery methodology. But management by airline magazine article and the holy war between traditional delivery and agile delivery should be left behind when deciding what is best for your organization. Further, they are not, as purists on both sides might have us believe, mutually exclusive. Although one may be better suited for a job or for an environment than the other, if both are warranted, they can co-exist in the same ecosystem, allowing the organization to derive the benefits of both.

Grizz our silver Labrador "helping" us paint

A world-class delivery management organization will have a large toolbox from which to pull the right tools for the job at hand and will have the people who possess the knowledge of what tool to use and when and how to use it. It will also have the processes to guide the use of these tools to deliver the greatest efficacy, quality, and value as well as the integrated systems to enable organization-wide transparency.

At its apex, the organization will empower the use of information gathered from people as they go about their daily jobs and without the need for manual, external processes or data manipulation. With this information, it will drive effective, holistic, data-driven, strategic portfolio investment decisions and adaptations, through fully integrated, real-time planning and execution data, all aided by predictive analytics and AI. And maybe most importantly, it will accomplish all of this while setting the example of a servant-minded organization and fostering a culture of servant leadership and continuous evaluation and improvement at all levels. All of this can be and should be irrespective of delivery methodology(s).

So, if you are still wondering what is the “best” delivery methodology, I would offer this advice. Leave the airline magazines and holy wars behind. Truly understand your organization's operational objectives, needs, and abilities as well as the environment in which you operate and the benefits and drawbacks of the various delivery methodologies to your specific circumstances. And remember my dad’s advice . . . about the tools . . . not the dog. Well, it’s always good to have a dog too.

If you have questions, need help building a world-class delivery organization and the tools to support it, or you just need to re-invigorate the one you have, please reach out to Grizz or to myself. He spends a lot of time on the beach though, so you are more likely to reach me, and I am happy to be of service.