I’m studying a Masters Degree in ‘Advanced Computer Systems Design’. I have an upcoming exam in project management. One of the areas I’m studying is SDLC [software development life-cycles]. This is a short post on the waterfall method.
These are my study notes:
Waterfall:
The waterfall SDLC method is the traditional software design pattern. It compromises of the following stages:
- Analyse
- Specify
- Design
- Code
- Test
- Maintain
Waterfall provides:
- Well defined stages
- Document driven process
- Sequential build process
- Limited backtracking incase something goes wrong.
- Classic, one-shot approach to building software.
Pros + cons of waterfall:
The waterfall method is Common and Orderly and follows a sequential design approach. However, Flow is un-realistic and you require Specification up-front. Waterfall is among the less flexible approaches to software design.
It is hard to specify requirements up-front if there are any un-known factors / uncertainties.
Sources:
Wikipedia
