The Waterfall Model
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The document describes the Waterfall Model of software development. It consists of sequential phases: requirements, design, implementation, testing, and deployment. While easy to understand, it has disadvantages like inability to change requirements later in the process and lack of early working software. The document also discusses improving the model by adding design phases, documentation, testing planning, and customer involvement.
The Waterfall Model
- 2. Contents 1. Overview 2. Details 3. Advantages 4. Disadvantages 5. Interesting 6. Reflection 7. Review 8. Summary
- 3. 1. Overview
- 4. Overview • The “Waterfall Model” is a model that represents one method as to how software can be developed.
- 6. Timeline of Methodologies 6 1950s Code & Fix 1960s Design-Code-Test-Maintain 1970s Waterfall Model 1980s Spiral Model 1990s Rapid Application Development 2000s Agile Methods
- 7. Timeline of Methodologies 7 1950s Code & Fix 1960s Design-Code-Test-Maintain 1970s Waterfall Model 1980s Spiral Model 1990s Rapid Application Development 2000s Agile Methods
- 8. Reference • Royce, W.W., 1970, "Managing the Development of Large Software Systems", Proceedings of IEEE WESCON 26 (August), pp.1–9.
- 9. Winston W. Royce • Born in 1929. • Died in 1995. • An American computer scientist, director at Lockheed Software Technology Center in Austin, Texas, and one of the leaders in software development in the second half of the 20th century. • He was the first person to describe the “Waterfall model” for software development, although Royce did not use the term "waterfall" in that article, nor advocated the waterfall model as a working methodology.
- 10. 2. Details
- 11. Introduction • “I am going to describe my personal views about managing large software developments. • I have had various assignments during the past nine years, mostly concerned with the development of software packages for spacecraft mission planning, commanding and post-flight analysis. • In these assignments I have experienced different degrees of success with respect to arriving at an operational state, on-time, and within costs. • I have become prejudiced by my experiences and I am going to relate some of these prejudices in this presentation.”
- 12. Small Developments • For a small development, you only need the following steps – Typically done for programs for internal use
- 14. Large Developments • System Requirements: Identify, select and document functional, scheduling and financial requirements.
- 15. Large Developments • Software Requirements: Identify, select and document the software features necessary to satisfy the system requirements.
- 16. Large Developments • Analysis: Methodically work through the details of each requirement.
- 17. Large Developments • Program Design: Use programming techniques to design software and hardware within the constraints and objectives set in the earlier stages.
- 18. Large Developments • Coding: Implement the program as designed in the earlier stages.
- 19. Large Developments • Testing: Test the software and record the results.
- 20. Large Developments • Operations: Deliver, install and configure the completed software.
- 23. Iterative Relationship between Successive Development Phases
- 24. Iterative Relationship between Successive Development Phases • Each step progresses and the design is further detailed, there is an iteration with the preceding and succeeding steps but rarely with the more remote steps in the sequence. • The virtue of all of this is that as the design proceeds the change process is scoped down to manageable limits.
- 25. Unfortunately the design iterations are never confined to the successive steps
- 26. Unfortunately the design iterations are never confined to the successive steps • The testing phase which occurs at the end of the development cycle is the first event for which timing, storage, input/output transfers, etc., are experienced as distinguished from analyzed. • These phenomena are not precisely analyzable. • Yet if these phenomena fail to satisfy the various external constraints, then invariably a major redesign is required.
- 27. How do we fix this?
- 28. Five Steps 1. Program Design comes first 2. Document the Design 3. Do it twice 4. Plan, Control and Monitor Testing 5. Involve the Customer
- 29. 1. Program Design comes first • A preliminary program design phase has been inserted between the Software Requirements Generation phase and the Analysis phase.
- 30. 1. Program Design comes first
- 31. 1. Program Design comes first • The following steps are required: 1) Begin the design process with program designers, not analysts or programmers. 2) Design, define and allocate the data processing modes. 3) Write an overview document that is understandable, informative and current.
- 32. 2. Document the Design • “How much documentation?" • “Quite a lot" • More than most programmers, analysts, or program designers are willing to do if left to their own devices. • The first rule of managing software development is ruthless enforcement of documentation requirements.
- 33. 2. Document the Design
- 34. 3. Do It Twice • Create a pilot study • If the computer program in question is being developed for the first time, arrange matters so that the version finally delivered to the customer for operational deployment is actually the second version insofar as critical design/operations areas are concerned.
- 35. 3. Do It Twice
- 36. 4. Plan, Control and Monitor Testing • Without question the biggest user of project resources, whether it be manpower, computer time, or management judgment, is the test phase. It is the phase of greatest risk in terms of dollars and schedule.
- 37. 4. Plan, Control and Monitor Testing
- 38. 4. Plan, Control and Monitor Testing 1) Many parts of the test process are best handled by test specialists who did not necessarily contribute to the original design. 2) Most errors are of an obvious nature that can be easily spotted by visual inspection. 3) Test every logic path in the computer program at least once with some kind of numerical check. 4) After the simple errors (which are in the majority, and which obscure the big mistakes) are removed, then it is time to turn over the software to the test area for checkout purposes.
- 39. 5. Involve the Customer • For some reason what a software design is going to do is subject to wide interpretation even after previous agreement. • It is important to involve the customer in a formal way so that he has committed himself at earlier points before final delivery. • To give the contractor free rein between requirement definition and operation is inviting trouble.
- 40. 5. Involve the Customer
- 41. 3. Advantages
- 42. Advantages • It is easy to understand and use.
- 43. Advantages • It is easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model.
- 44. Advantages • The phases are processed and completed one at a time, and the phases do not overlap.
- 45. Advantages • It works well for smaller projects where requirements are very well understood.
- 46. Advantages • It requires a lot of paperwork as compared to other models.
- 47. Advantages • When new team member joins, referenced documents help them to understand the project.
- 48. Advantages • There output is generated after each stage, therefore it has high visibility. – The client and project manager gets a feel that there is considerable progress. – Here it is important to note that in any project psychological factors also play an important role.
- 49. 4. Disadvantages
- 50. Disadvantages • Once an application is in the testing stage, it is very difficult to go back and change something that was not well-thought out in the concept stage.
- 51. Disadvantages • No working software is produced until late during the life cycle.
- 52. Disadvantages • There are high amounts of risk and uncertainty.
- 53. Disadvantages • Not a good model for complex and object- oriented projects, or long and ongoing projects.
- 54. Disadvantages • Not suitable for the projects where requirements are at a moderate to high risk of changing.
- 55. Disadvantages • Takes lot of time to change and update the project documents.
- 56. Disadvantages • Going back a phase or two can be a costly affair.
- 57. 5. Interesting
- 58. Interesting When to use the Waterfall Model: • This model is used only when the requirements are very well known, clear and fixed. • Product definition is stable. • Technology is understood. • There are no ambiguous requirements • Ample resources with required expertise are available freely • The project is short.
- 59. Interesting • In common practice, waterfall methodologies result in a project schedule with: – 20–40% of the time invested for the first two phases, – 30–40% of the time to coding, and – 20–40% to testing and implementation.
- 60. Interesting In 1985, the United States Department of Defense captured this approach in DOD-STD-2167A, their standards for working with software development contractors, which stated that: "the contractor shall implement a software development cycle that includes the following six phases: Preliminary Design, Detailed Design, Coding and Unit Testing, Integration, and Testing".
- 61. Interesting Validation and Verification • Validation – “Does it do what we set out to achieve?” or “Does it do what the customer wants?” • Verification – “Does the current stage do what was agreed in the previous stage?” or “Does what we’ve done so far adhere to regulations, requirements, specifications, or imposed conditions?”
- 63. Interesting There are other versions of the Model:
- 64. 6. Reflections
- 65. Reflections • The Waterfall Model works well with Project Management approaches.
- 66. Reflections • The system defined at project start might not be suitable by the end of the project, since the customer will be dealing with change in their industry every business day.
- 67. Reflections • Requirements are usually unclear at the start of a project (“I’ll know it when I see it”).
- 68. Reflections • Requirements change over time.
- 69. Reflections
- 70. 7. Review
- 71. Review • What did we learn?
- 72. 8. Summary
- 73. Summary