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Irish energy provider ESB was required to implement a major change in 2002 when Ireland converted to the Euro.

PRINCE2® training allowed to not only handle the changeover from Irish pound to Euro without leaving customers stranded during the switch, but also empowered her and her team to use the changeover period as a catalyst for change.

“Originally, I was doing everything myself. Nor did I really understand the project manager’s role so I took the job description out of the PRINCE2® Manual, tailored it for my circumstances and saw how I could get support from others.”

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Waterfall Methodology: The Ultimate Guide to the Waterfall Model (projectmanager.com)

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What Is the Waterfall Methodology in Project Management?

The waterfall methodology is a linear project management approach, where stakeholder and customer requirements are gathered at the beginning of the project, and then a sequential project plan is created to accommodate those requirements. The waterfall model is so named because each phase of the project cascades into the next, following steadily down like a waterfall.

It's a thorough, structured methodology and one that's been around for a long time, because it works. Some of the industries that regularly use the waterfall model include construction, IT and software development. As an example, the waterfall software development life cycle, or waterfall SDLC, is widely used to manage software engineering projects.

Gantt charts are the preferred tool for project managers working in waterfall method. Using a Gantt chart allows you to map subtasks, dependencies and each phase of the project as it moves through the waterfall lifecycle. ProjectManager's waterfall software offers these features and more.

The Phases of the Waterfall Model

The waterfall approach has, at least, five to seven phases that follow in strict linear order, where a phase can't begin until the previous phase has been completed. The specific names of the waterfall steps vary, but they were originally defined by its inventor, Winston W. Royce, in the following way:

Requirements: The key aspect of the waterfall methodology is that all customer requirements are gathered at the beginning of the project, allowing every other phase to be planned without further customer correspondence until the product is complete. It is assumed that all requirements can be gathered at this waterfall management phase.

Design: The design phase of the waterfall process is best broken up into two subphases: logical design and physical design. The logical design subphase is when possible solutions are brainstormed and theorized. The physical design subphase is when those theoretical ideas and schemas are made into concrete specifications.

Implementation: The implementation phase is when programmers assimilate the requirements and specifications from the previous phases and produce actual code.

Verification: This phase is when the customer reviews the product to make sure that it meets the requirements laid out at the beginning of the waterfall project. This is done by releasing the completed product to the customer.

Maintenance: The customer is regularly using the product during the maintenance phase, discovering bugs, inadequate features and other errors that occurred during production. The production team applies these fixes as necessary until the customer is satisfied.

Related: Free Gantt Chart Template for Excel

Waterfall Software Development Life Cycle

Let's hypothesize a simple project, then plan and execute it with the waterfall approach phases that you just learned. For our waterfall software development life cycle example, we'll say that you're building an app for a client. The following are the steps you'd take to reach the final deliverable.

Requirements & Documents

First, you must gather all the requirements and documentation you need to get started on the app.

Project Scope: This is one of the most important documents in your project, where you determine what the goals associated with building your app are: functional requirements, deliverables, features, deadlines, costs, and so on.

Stakeholder Expectations: In order to align the project scope with the expectations of your stakeholders-the people who have a vested interest in the development of the app-you want to conduct interviews and get a clear idea of exactly what they want.

Research: To better serve your plan, do some market research about competing apps, the current market, customer needs and anything else that will help you find the unserved niche your app can serve.

Assemble Team: Now, you need to get the people and resources together who will create the app, from programmers to designers.

Kickoff: The kickoff meeting is the first meeting with your team and stakeholders where you cover the information you've gathered and set expectations.

System Design

Next, you can begin planning the project proper. You've done the research, and you know what's expected from your stakeholders. Now, you have to figure out how you're going to get to the final deliverable by creating a system design. Based on the information you gathered during the first phase, you'll determine hardware and software requirements and the system architecture needed for the project.

Collect Tasks: Use a work breakdown structure to list all of the tasks that are necessary to get to the final deliverable.

Create Schedule: With your tasks in place, you now need to estimate the time each task will take. Once you've figured that out, map them onto a Gantt chart, and diligently link dependencies. You can also add costs to the Gantt, and start building a budget.

Implementation

Now you're ready to get started in earnest. This is the phase in which the app will be built and tested. The system from the previous phase is first developed in smaller programs known as units. Then each goes through a unit testing process before being integrated.

Assign Team Tasks: Team members will own their tasks and be responsible for completing them, and for collaborating with the rest of the team. You can make these tasks from a Gantt chart and add descriptions, priority, etc.

Monitor & Track: While the team is executing the tasks, you need to monitor and track their progress in order to make sure that the project is moving forward per your schedule.

Manage Resources & Workload: As you monitor, you'll discover issues and will need to reallocate resources and balance workload to avoid bottlenecks.

Report to Stakeholders: Throughout the project, stakeholders need updates to show them progress. Meet with them and discuss a regular schedule for presentations.

Test: Once the team has delivered the working app, it must go through extensive testing to make sure everything is working as designed.

Deliver App: After all the bugs have been worked out, you're ready to give the finished app to the stakeholders.

System Testing and Deployment

During this phase you'll integrate all the units of your system and conduct an integration testing process to verify that the components of your app work properly together.

Once you verify that your app is working, you're ready to deploy it.

Verification

Though the app has been delivered, the software development life cycle is not quite over until you've done some administrative tasks to tie everything up. This is technically the final step.

Pay Contracts: Fulfil your contractual obligations to your team and any freelance contractors. This releases them from the project.

Create Template: In software like ProjectManager, you can create a template from your project, so you have a head start when beginning another, similar one.

Close Out Paperwork: Make sure all paperwork has been rubber stamped and archived.

Celebrate: Get everyone together, and enjoy the conclusion of a successful project!

Maintenance

Of course, the nature of any software development project is that, through use by customers, new bugs will arise and must be squashed. So, past the verification stage, it's typically expected that you will provide maintenance beyond launch. This is an ongoing, post-launch phase that extends for as long as your contract dictates.

What Is Waterfall Project Management Software?

Waterfall project management software is used to help you structure your project processes from start to finish. It allows managers to organize their tasks, sets up clear schedules in Gantt charts and monitor and control the project as it moves through its phases.

A waterfall project is broken up into phases, which can be achieved on a Gantt chart in the waterfall project management software. Managers can set the duration for each task on the Gantt and link tasks that are dependent on one another to start or finish.

While waterfall software can be less flexible and iterative than more agile frameworks, projects do change frequently-and there must be features that can capture these changes in real-time with dashboards and reports, so that the manager can clear up bottlenecks or reallocate resources to keep teams from having their work blocked. Microsoft Project is one of the most commonly used project management software, but it has major drawbacks that make ProjectManager a great alternative.

Desktop vs Online Project Management Waterfall Software

When it comes to waterfall software, you can choose from either a desktop application or online, cloud-based project management software. This might not seem to be a big issue, but there are important distinctions between these two types of offerings.

That's because there are differences between the two applications, and knowing those differences will help you make an informed decision.

Pricing

Desktop waterfall software tends to have a more expensive up-front cost, and that cost can rise exponentially if you are required to pay per-user licensing fees for every member of your team.

Online waterfall software, on the other hand, is typically paid for on a subscription basis, and that subscription is usually a tiered payment plan depending on the number of users.

Connectivity

Online software, naturally, must be connected to the internet. This means your speed and reliability can vary depending on your internet service provider. It also means that if you lose connectivity, you can't work.

Although the difference is minor, desktop waterfall software never has to worry about connection outages.

Security

If security is a concern, rest assured that both options are highly secure. Desktop software that operates on a company intranet is nigh impenetrable, which can provide your company with a greater sense of security.

Strides in web security, like two-factor authentication and single-sign have made online, cloud-based waterfall software far more secure. Also, online tools have their data saved to the cloud, so if you suffer a crash on your desktop that might mean the end of your work.

Accessibility

Desktops are tied to the computers they are installed to or, at best, your office's infrastructure. That doesn't help much if you have distributed teams or work off site, in the field, at home and so on.

Online software is accessible anywhere, any time-so long as you have an internet connection. This makes it always accessible, but even more importantly, it delivers real-time data, so you're always working on the current state of the project.

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The waterfall methodology is a linear project management approach, where stakeholder and customer requirements are gathered at the beginning of the project, and then a sequential project plan is created to accommodate those requirements. The waterfall model is so named because each phase of the project cascades into the next, following steadily down like a waterfall.

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University of Western Australia: Project Management & Cultural Change.

no recourses availabe to the users and this meant that the managers had a lack of info to plan the project.

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PRINCE2® Case Studies

Over the years the management of projects at the University of Western Australia Library has generally been poor. With some exceptions, projects were badly scoped, had no clear direction, would proceed in fits and starts, and some would not be completed at all.

On occasions a project would get to a stage where implementation was due and there would be no resources available. On completion loose ends would be left and the transfer of the project to operational stage would be unplanned and ad hoc. Reporting was also poor so managers often had little idea of the status of a project. In 2005 a project management method -- PRINCE2 -- was implemented across the library, staff were trained, and its use was mandated.

The outcome was a revelation. Business cases were written, and complex and simple projects were scoped, planned and implemented. Projects were staffed from various parts of the library, many worked together for the first time and unexpected cultural change was evident.

This cultural change did not come in isolation. A library programme - Transforming the Organisation was about to start and there was a lot of buzz in the library about terms such as: breaking down the silos, building trust, encouraging flexibility and developing leadership at all levels. So when PRINCE2 came along the cultural benefits for the organisation became immediately evident.

The staff attitudes to and understanding of the introduction of PRINCE2 project management method were measured by the use of a survey. Analysis was conducted from data from the Library Operational plan projects and from project documents.

To read more download the full case study by clicking here.

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University of Western Australia PRINCE2 Case Study | USA

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PRINCE2® Case Studies Over the years the management of projects at the University of Western Australia Library has generally been poor. With some exceptions, projects were badly scoped, had no clear direction, would proceed in fits and starts, and some would not be completed at all.

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LEGO

The famous LEGO toy company started its agile approach starting with teams. 20 product teams were working across the organization at the start of the Agile implementation and it turned to 5 of them into self-organizing Scrum teams. Gradually the other teams were being progressively transformed as Scrum took effect.

Initially, although individual teams had become agile, they were still unable to cooperate effectively. LEGO followed the SAFe structure pattern and from there began to see results.

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ADAPTOVATE helps governments and public sector organisations deliver better value to their citizens and stakeholders through adopting agile ways working.

ADAPTOVATE trains, consults, and coaches government agencies to develop products or services that are more user-centric by focusing on an incremental, iterative approach and cross-functional collaboration. ADAPTOVATE helps form agile teams to deliver value at a faster cadence by working in short iterative sprints.

focuses
Clear focus on the right priorities through goal management framework
Faster delivery of improved outcomes to citizens and stakeholders through an iterative and incremental approach that incorporates their feedback frequently
Improved team morale and productivity through a shift of leadership mindsets to empower self-organising teams by delegating decision making

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The introduction of lean processes by Toyota fundamentally changed the way managementthought about its production processes and workflow strategies. From its humble beginnings tothe Toyota Production System (TPS) and beyond, the idea of lean has challenged long-held ideasregarding forecasting, push versus pull methodologies, waste in a process, and value addingactivities. What began as a model for manufacturing processes has evolved into a model that canbe applied to every facet of modern day business including service industries and general officeadministration. As demonstrated in the case studies, lean processes may be applied to anyprocess where waste can be identified and eliminated. This helps to reduce costs and thosesubsequent cost-savings can be passed along to customers in the form of more competitivepricing.

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The introduction of lean processes by Toyota fundamentally changed the way managementthought about its production processes and workflow strategies. From its humble beginnings tothe Toyota Production System (TPS) and beyond, the idea of lean has challenged long-held ideasregarding forecasting, push versus pull methodologies, waste in a process, and value addingactivities. What began as a model for manufacturing processes has evolved into a model that canbe applied to every facet of modern day business including service industries and general officeadministration. As demonstrated in the case studies, lean processes may be applied to anyprocess where waste can be identified and eliminated. This helps to reduce costs and thosesubsequent cost-savings can be passed along to customers in the form of more competitivepricing.

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Case study Lean

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https://www.prince2.com/uk/prince2-university-australia-case-study

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https://www.pmsolutions.com/case-studies/view/never-waste-a-good-crisis-kettering-health-network-doubles-down-on-project

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The Waterfall Model has been the ideal choice for software development. In this model, an idea becomes usable software in a sequential process that cascades through the stages of Initiation, Analysis, Implementation, Testing and Maintenance.

But the Waterfall model has some disadvantages.

Agile software development evolved to eliminate the issues the Waterfall model has. It has a completely new framework. While the Waterfall model has a sequential design, the Agile model followed an incremental approach.

When clients who used to follow the Waterfall model switched to Agile, the transition brought many issues with it. The reason being inadaptability to a different approach to software development. The end product turned out to be a disaster.

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Research where a project methodology was used

TRANSPOWER in New Zealand used the PRINCE2 to plan ahead for electricity usage.

When a future issue is identified, Transpower goes

Through a process of:

Identifying options to resolve the issue (for larger projects this will include an extensive public consultation process)

Short-listing the options

Determining a preferred option

Seeking approval to recover the cost of the preferred

option (if transmission) from the Electricity Commission

(who regulate Transpower's investments)

Designing the solution and consulting with any

people affected

Obtaining Resource Management Act approval to build.

The project was successful as they are now able to manage and see how future generations will be affected with the amount of electricity usage and how they are going to manage the usage across the country.

They wouldn't have been as successful if they used a different methodology because PRINCE2 is recognised nationally and due to the project being a massive one they would have needed to use a project management scheme that everyone knew so that everyone could collaborate and communicate.

Website to see case study: click here