What is WAgile Project Management?

For many people, the process of editing is easier than creating. When faced with a blank canvas, how does one create something from nothing? By selecting a Project Management methodology, Project Managers can access existing templates for processes and teams are given a script to follow. The burden of the blank canvas is lifted, but the formula for success may be different for each team, project, and culture.

Waterfall versus Agile. Predictive versus revelatory. Project Management is not a binary system yet there seems to be a lot of pressure to pick a single model and fully commit. The idea that there is no middle ground is inaccurate and unrealistic which is why a hybrid, or WAgile, project management methodology can be the right fit. According to the Project Management Institute’s Agile Practice Guide, this type of model might combine predictive, iterative, incremental, and/or agile approaches.

Overview

WAgile is sometimes referred to as Hybrid or Waterfall-Agile Project Management and it mixes together principles and practices of both the predictive and adaptive lifecycles. There are several ways to integrate practices à la carte and the reasons for a mixed model might include:

• Transition to a new methodology: rollout selected practices over time instead of a hard cutover
• Teams using different methodologies working on the same project
• Process Improvement and best practice discovery for new project element
• Regulation or contractual requirements for specific pieces of work

Characteristics

Using multiple approaches during the project lifecycle is what defines the WAgile model and they can be combined in different ways to create a formula for a successful outcome. Here are four methods of combining methodologies to achieve a cohesive plan:

WAgile Method 1: If the beginning of the project requires daily stand up meetings and iterative development as with an Agile model but testing, training and deployment are managed by a different team using a Waterfall methodology, the life cycle might look like:

WAgile Method 4: When the opposite scenario is true and you have a complex project with many unknowns and a non-negotiable or not executable element then a mostly Agile with limited Waterfall model would work well. An example of this type of project might be if a new tool is being developed for an institution and regulations exist for a specific, prescribed set of tasks must be documented, this could be modeled by: