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Waterfall Methodology
The Waterfall methodology is one of the earliest software development and project management methodologies. Its linear, phase-driven approach makes it ideal for projects with clearly defined goals and stable requirements.
Each stage flows into the next: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing. With minimal iteration, Waterfall relies heavily on upfront planning and documentation. The methodology aligns with traditional project management principles and includes a detailed breakdown of 49 processes distributed across five process groups and ten knowledge areas.
Initiating Process Group
- Objective: Define the project and obtain authorization to proceed.
- Software development Phase: This corresponds to the Requirements Gathering and Analysis phase in Waterfall.
- Key Activities:
- Develop the Project Charter: to formally authorize the project.
- Identify stakeholders and their needs.
- Establish high-level project goals and constraints (time, cost, scope).
Planning Process Group
- Objective: Develop a detailed project management plan and define the scope, schedule, cost, quality, resources, and risks.
- Software development Phase: This corresponds to the System Design phase in Waterfall.
- Key Activities:
- Develop the Project Management Plan: This is a comprehensive plan that defines how the project will be executed, monitored, and closed.
- Define detailed project requirements based on the initial analysis.
- Scope Management: Document detailed requirements and create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break down the project into manageable components.
- Schedule Development:strong> Create a detailed project schedule that outlines all tasks, milestones, and dependencies.
- Cost Management:strong> Develop a detailed cost estimate and budget.
- Risk Management:strong> Identify potential risks and create a risk management plan.
- Quality Planning:strong> Define quality metrics and processes to ensure the product meets the required standards.
Executing Process Group
- Objective: Coordinate people and resources, manage stakeholder expectations, and execute the project plan.
- Software development Phase: This corresponds to the Implementation (Coding) phase in Waterfall.
- Key Activities:
- Execute the project according to the plan, starting with the development or coding of the system.
- Team Management: Assign and manage resources to carry out the work as per the project plan.
- Quality Assurance: Ensure that the work meets the quality standards defined in the planning phase.
- Communication: Keep stakeholders informed about progress, risks, and issues.
- Procurement Management: If external resources or services are required, manage procurement processes.
- Execute the project according to the plan, starting with the development or coding of the system.
Monitoring and Controlling Process Group
- Objective: Track, review, and regulate project performance and make adjustment as necessary.
- Software development Phase: This corresponds to the Integration and Testing phase in Waterfall.
- Key Activities:
- Monitor and Control Project Work: Track project progress against the project management plan and make adjustment as needed.
- Perform Integrated Change Control: If changes are required, evaluate and approve them through a formal change control process.
- Scope Control: Ensure that the project stays within the defined scope and prevent scope creep.
- Schedule Control: Track the project schedule and take corrective actions if there are delays.
- Cost Control: Monitor the project budget and ensure the project stays within financial constraints.
- Quality Control: Perform inspections, reviews, and audits to ensure that the deliverables meet quality standards.
- Risk Monitoring: Continuously assess risks and implement mitigation plans if new risks arise.
- Testing: Conduct testing to verify that the product meets the defined requirements and functions correctly.
Closing Process Group
- Objective: Finalize all project activities, complete the project, and close it.
- Software development Phase: This corresponds to the Deployment and Maintenance phase in Waterfall.
- Key Activities:
- Close Project or Phase: Formally close the project or project phase, ensuring that all deliverables have been completed and accepted by the stakeholders.
- Conduct Lessons Learned: Document what went well and what could be improved for future projects.
- Finalize Documentation: Ensure all project documentation is complete, including final deliverables, test results, and any required user manuals or documentation.
- Obtain Formal Acceptance: Ensure that the project deliverables are formally accepted by the client or stakeholders.
- Release Resources: Release the project team and any other resources that were dedicated to the project.
- Post-Implementation Review: Conduct a review to assess how well the project met its objectives and what can be improved in future projects.
- Maintenance: In the Waterfall model, post-deployment support and maintenance are handled as ongoing tasks after project completion, ensuring that any issues are resolved and the system continues to operate effectively.
Waterfall remains effective for projects where requirements are fixed and outcomes are predictable—such as infrastructure, construction, or compliance-driven environments.
Image source – “The PMP exam” book by Andy Crowe
Strengths and Limitations of Waterfall
The Agile Methodology
Agile emerged as a response to the rigidity of the traditional Waterfall which often led to delays, cost overruns, and products that failed to meet user needs.
These values are supported by 12 guiding principles that advocate continuous delivery, technical excellence, simplicity, and team empowerment.
Agile promotes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, and continuous improvement. It prioritizes collaboration across cross-functional teams and close stakeholder engagement throughout the lifecycle.
The 12 Agile Principles are:
- Satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
- Welcome changing requirements, even late in development.
- Deliver working software frequently, with a preference for shorter timescales.
- Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
- Build projects around motivated individuals, giving them the environment and support they need.
- Face-to-face conversation is the most efficient and effective method of communication.
- Working software is the primary measure of progress.
- Agile processes promote sustainable development, maintaining a constant pace indefinitely.
- Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
- Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.
- The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
- Regularly reflect on how to become more effective, then adjust accordingly.
Cyient's Role to Enable Customers Adopt Agile Methodology
Agile project management has moved beyond its roots in software development to become equally relevant for mechanical and systems engineering projects. Its iterative and adaptive approach allows teams to respond to change during the development lifecycle, delivering higher-quality products that meet customer needs. Agile fosters accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement, while ensuring that flexibility does not come at the cost of control or predictability. In recent years, agile practices, tools and techniques have gained significant momentum, especially in engineering and software projects. While Agile emphasizes iteration and adaptability, systems engineering ensures disciplined development and delivery of capabilities through structured processes. Combining these approaches strengthens program outcomes, embedding agility into technical rigor.
Transitioning to agile, however, can be challenging, for organizations rooted in traditional project management. Adopting Agile often requires process redesign, especially when embracing DevOps models where development and operations teams collaborate closely to deliver and qualify products.
Phases of Agile Project Management
Frameworks for Agile Implementation
Agile is not a single framework but a philosophy executed through various methods:
Proposed Agile System Lifecycle Model
Agile methodology-based engineering leverages system and module models todefine, design, analyze, and validate solutions. These models enable virtual prototyping, iterative development, and efficient communication while reducing reliance on traditional document-heavy practices. The diagram below indicates the Agile system lifecycle model.
A project management framework for engineering projects can be established by analyzing and integrating Agile practices with systems engineering processes and their tools and techniques. Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) plays a key role by linking requirements, structure, and behavior with broader system concerns such as safety, security, reliability, and performance
Phases of the Agile System Lifecycle
Organizations applying Agile in engineering have realized measurable outcomes:
These results demonstrate that Agile’s non-sequential, incremental approach enables portions of a project to be delivered while others are still under development. This reduces the risk of late defect discovery and ensures that flexibility is embedded across lifecycle stages.
Comparison: Agile vs. Waterfall
Waterfall is best suited for defined, low-uncertainty projects. Agile thrives in dynamic settings requiring frequent course corrections and stakeholder input.
Delivery Method
Scrum Agile to develop valued solutions
Benefits of Agile Adoption
There has been evidence that an engineering company where Agile methodology implemented along with integrated project management gained direct benefits like:
The advantage of using agile methods in system engineering is that it follows a non-sequential approach during execution and delivers systems deliverables from one phase to another rather than delivering the final product at the end of a project. This means that part of a project can be open for use while others are under contraction ensuring that defects are identified and addressed on time. The proposed system implementation framework indicates that flexibility is the basis of agile development methodology. For an organization to adapt to changes and still have the ability to deliver a successful product, it is important to identify where flexibility lies on the system and account for it in different life cycle stages of the system ensuring that it is built into the agile development process which will improve the organization able to adapt to changes while delivering a successful product.
About the Authors
NVS Narayana Murthy Namburi
NVS Narayana Murthy Namburi, is an engineering graduate with over 16 years of experience in the automotive, rail domains, specializes in automation and customization, design optimization and product development. His expertise spans end-to-end design and deliveries. He is certified Project Management Professional (PMP®), Professional Scrum Master1 and SAFe® Scrum Master, Google project management, Data Science, Technology leadership program and many more. Adept at fostering team collaboration, managing stakeholder relationships, and delivering high-quality products on time. With a track record of delivering high-quality outcomes and recognized for technical leadership and has contributed to diverse international projects.
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About the Authors
Sathish Kumar Thiagarajan is a seasoned Controls & Automation Engineer with over 18 years of global experience in managing large-scale industrial automation projects involving PLCs, SCADA, and Drives. He specializes in optimizing technical workflows, ensuring regulatory compliance, and leading cross-functional teams to deliver seamless IT/OT integration solutions. Known for enhancing operational efficiency and driving cost-effective innovations, his expertise helps shape transformative strategies in industrial automation.
Srinivasu Parupalli is an experienced Systems Engineer with expertise in program management and delivery across multiple domains, including Industry 4.0, Manufacturing, Embedded Systems, IoT, Software Applications Development, and Cloud Integrations. He has extensive experience in end-to-end product development and has been instrumental in building and training teams on emerging technologies such as Ignition, Solumina, Aveva, and SCADA systems for deployment in diverse customer projects. With a strong background in industrial automation, he has worked across various industries, including Manufacturing, Energy, Utilities, Healthcare, and Process Automation, developing MES, SCADA, and HMI solutions integrated with other applications. His expertise lies in customer engagement, requirements analysis, and risk management, ensuring the successful execution of complex automation projects.
About the Author
Abhishek Kumar
Subject Matter Expert in Medical Device Regulatory and Quality Assurance
Abhishek Kumar is a Subject Matter Expert in Medical Device Regulatory and Quality Assurance with over 14 years of experience. He has led the EU MDR 2017/745 sustenance program, managed multiple global engagements for top medical device companies, and supported the gap assessment, remediation, and submission of 70+ technical documents across EU MDR, ASEAN MDD, NMPA (China), Taiwan, and 10+ 510(k) submissions. He has authored 40+ Clinical Evaluation Reports (CERs) for Class I–III devices in line with MEDDEV 2.7.1 Rev-4 and developed proposals for market access in the U.S., Europe, and APAC (including ASEAN, China, Taiwan, and Japan). He also prepared and implemented regulatory plans for new product development across 90+ countries through feasibility analysis and cross-functional coordination.