What Exactly Is Agifall?

Before commencing any new project — whether large or small — one of the most important things you can do is select the right project management system. Doing so will ensure from the outset that your work is standardised, structured and well organised across all participating stakeholders, and helps envision a clear set of goals.

A good project management system can help schedule lead times, estimate costs effectively, manage risks, and develop individual and team skills. By the time you reach your end goal, you’ll be glad that you invested in a system that took care of these important details.

With their rising popularity, you have probably at least heard of (and possibly employed) a few of these methodologies — Agile, SCRUM, Kanban, Waterfall. The choice of workflow method very much depends on the demands of your business and the industry that you are in.

An emerging and particularly fascinating system is Agifall.

Agifall is a hybrid workflow method that combines elements of both Agile and Waterfall processes. It offers the best of both worlds — customer engagement and short feedback loops with a clear structure and a determined end goal. Which begs the question, could Agifall be the project management solution you’ve been looking for?

Waterfall

The Waterfall system is determined by stages, with each step of a project completed in a sequential, linear fashion. No phase begins until the previous one is complete and each phases’ completion is terminal — using the waterfall system, you cannot go back to a previous step and make changes. The only way to do this is to start the entire project again.

In our current feedback-driven world this may seem limiting, but the implementation of this structure is actually vital in the successful delivery of many different kinds of projects. An example of this is bricklaying — once the first few layers have successfully set and the concrete is dried, you cannot go back and remove select bricks or decide you would prefer a different colour.

The only way to make adjustments is to tear the wall down and begin again.Proper planning is vital when using the waterfall technique, as is correct documentation and ensuring that every team member is aware of their personal role in the overall success of the project.

Agile

Agile project management is a more modern system and found its roots in the world of 1990s software development. Software is traditionally a highly competitive market, with technology companies having to move quickly to meet consumer needs.

The use of traditional workflow methods based upon linear, sequential systems (such as Waterfall) meant that feedback could not be implemented and acted upon throughout the project and the end product often didn’t meet shifting consumer demands.

An Agile system focuses on breaking a project into smaller, individual cycles (known as sprints) and incorporating a better feedback loop that communicates with all project stakeholders.

By continually reflecting and involving clients in the process, an Agile workflow method aims to deliver a product that satisfies customers through increased company and project efficiency.

Agifall

In the world of project management, it’s not always a case of one or the other. Often the best solution for you and your business may be a hybrid approach — such as Agifall.

Agifall melds the extensive planning, documentation and budgeting of Waterfall (completed at the beginning of the project) with the short-cycled internal feedback loop of Agile. The insertion of Agile aspects into the Waterfall structure is designed to increase the speed, decrease the cost and improve the outcome quality of a project.

Adopting a hybrid, user-centric project methodology such as Agifall can reap fantastic rewards, if implemented in the correct setting. Be sure to contact us at [email protected] if you would like further information or to discuss any of your project management needs.