Agile Management in a Waterfall World
An entrepreneur comes to a venture capital firm with the design for a game-changing electric vehicle. The VC wants to know: if we give you capital, how many of these great new cars will you produce in 3 years? The entrepreneur does not yet have a factory or workers or suppliers. He does not yet have regulatory approvals or distribution networks. What he has is an innovative design and the belief that, given the chance to launch his EV business, he will be able to build and ship, solving challenges as they arise.
This example presents the fundamental tension between sources and uses of capital. Investors and clients want clear timelines and deliverables. The more complex and resource-intensive the projects, the more capital at risk, the greater the requirements for waterfall planning. When an investor or client puts up capital, they expect to know how it will be used and when they can expect a result. It is only rational.
On the other side of the spectrum, the entrepreneurs and vendors realize that the more complex and resource-intensive the projects, the more agility is required for a successful outcome. Designs, suppliers, customer sentiment, underlying technologies, and regulatory requirements are all subject to change. To get to the right result, it is important to iterate and adjust.
Consequently, “waterfall” has become something of a dirty word in tech circles, made the dirtier by the fact that its practice is far more pervasive that many engineers are willing to admit. Two decades after the introduction of “agile”, let us unabashedly state a shocking truth: there is nothing dirty about waterfall — it is simply a reflection of companies’ need to plan. In dealing with multi-million dollar budgets, investor obligations, and client requirements, the need to plan will always be part of the equation.
The Journey of a Thousand Miles
Many of us have been conditioned to think of waterfall and agile as mutually exclusive methodologies. It is time we understand that they are simply sides of the same coin. Waterfall maps us to a general destination. Agile gets us there, one…
