The waterfall methodology is a model used by designers and developers of software products. It is a sequential framework that follows six phases ranging from analyzing what the clients need out of the product to providing maintenance for errors and bugs encountered during the clients’ live use of the product. [youtube:iJlNFW35CZg;[link:Waterfall Methodology];http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJlNFW35CZg&feature=related]
This model is a popular center of software-related talks, especially as different people have different views on it. One of the most particular points being debated about the model is the issue of its advantages vs disadvantages.
If you don’t have any idea which side to take up, this discussion below of the framework’s advantages and disadvantages may be of significance.
Advantages
The waterfall methodology is a framework that closely follows all of its six phases. Designers and developers, then, need to make sure that the expected milestones of all the phases would be satisfied at their pre-defined time. This enforces discipline on the whole company, and design and development process. Since the waterfall methodology, too, insists upon determining the issues and problems that the product may have way before it’s released to the clients, clients can get a product that would be the best it could be.
Also, clients would know when exactly they’d be able to get the product. This is ideal, as most clients would like to know when they can incorporate it into their business framework.
The waterfall methodology, too, relies on setting the requirements and specifications ahead of time. This is essential as people would be able to prepare for every expected milestone and, thus, ensure that the whole process would culminate successfully.
Disadvantages
The waterfall methodology gives a lot of focus on getting what clients want out of the software product, and some people think this is problematic primarily because clients don’t know what they really want, in the first place. Customers only begin to have an idea of what they need the product to do until after they have seen the things they don’t want the product to do. The waterfall methodology, too, does not allow modifications or changes during the earlier phases that may make the later phases complicated.
The separation of function and roles by the model is also seen as an unrealistic expectation, as designers and developers don’t get to really separate their tasks from each other when they’re working.
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