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Waterfall Vs. Agile Vs. DevOps- Which Production Method Should You Take?

Waterfall vs Agile vs Devops- Which Production Method Should You Take?

The world is never constant. We have refined and outdated some of the best-proven methodologies globally with changing times. Now, more than ever, being ahead of the competition is a requirement, as the world has undergone a paradigm shift in its approach to most of everything.

With these evolving times, organizations must reconsider their existing production methodologies. While every organization has its unique working approach, every single one is based on three of the most robust methodologies: Waterfall Vs Agile Vs DevOps. But, amid these fluctuating times when speed and perfection are pertinent, which approach should one choose?

All three methodologies are tried and tested and have yielded positive organizational results. Regardless of choice, the company is bound to achieve its desired results.

According to Atlassian’s State of Agile 2024 Report, the Waterfall methodology will continue to be utilized in 37% of projects in 2025, marking a significant decrease from its prevalence of 70% in 2015. Regarding success rates, the Project Management Statistics: 33 Most Important Stats for 2023 reveal that nearly half (49%) of Waterfall projects are considered successful, while 29% experience failure.

Interestingly, only 14% of Waterfall projects achieve success without encountering challenges. In contrast, Agile projects exhibit a higher success rate, with 42% achieving success without facing significant obstacles. These findings shed light on the evolving field of project management methodologies and emphasize Agile practices’ ongoing relevance and impact.

As reported in the State of Agile 2023 Report by Atlassian, Agile methodologies dominate project management, with 73% of projects in 2025 adopting Agile practices—a notable increase from 42% in 2018. The success rates of Agile projects are impressive, with 64% considered successful, surpassing the success rate of Waterfall projects at 49%, according to the Project Management Statistics: 33 Most Important Stats for 2023. Furthermore, the adaptability and effectiveness of Agile are highlighted by the fact that 42% of Agile projects achieve success without encountering significant challenges, compared to only 14% for Waterfall projects.

The popularity of specific Agile frameworks is evident, as indicated by the State of Agile 2023 Report, which notes that 58% of Agile teams use Scrum and 56% use Kanban, according to the State of Kanban Report 2023 by LeanKit. Additionally, a noteworthy trend is the adoption of hybrid Agile approaches, with 53% of marketing teams incorporating hybrid methodologies, as reported by Parabol. These statistics underscore Agile methodologies’ widespread adoption and success, showcasing their increasing prevalence and impact in project management.

The global DevOps market is experiencing substantial growth, reaching USD 16.4 billion in 2025, and is projected to hit USD 25.5 billion by 2028, reflecting a CAGR of 19.7%, according to ResearchandMarkets.com. DevOps practices have gained significant traction, with 74% of Agile teams incorporating some DevOps practices, as Puppet’s 2025 DevOps Trends Report reported.

Organizations are actively embracing DevOps, with 69% having teams with DevOps in their name or employees with DevOps in their titles, according to StrongDM. The impact of DevOps on software delivery is evident in the performance of high-performing teams, deploying 208 times more frequently than low performers, as highlighted by the DORA Accelerate State of DevOps 2022. Moreover, high-performing DevOps teams recover from incidents 2,604 times faster than low performers, and 54% of organizations using DevOps have reduced their Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) over the past year, as indicated by CloudZero.

The business benefits of DevOps are diverse, with 50% of organizations reporting improved customer satisfaction, 46% citing increased employee productivity, and 43% achieving faster time to market, according to Atlassian. However, notable challenges include cultural change (54%), lack of skills (49%), and resistance to change (45%), as reported by Atlassian. In terms of emerging trends, AIOps, DevSecOps, GitOps, and Cloud Native DevOps are identified as critical areas of focus, according to Puppet. These statistics underscore the significant market adoption, positive impact on software delivery, and ongoing challenges and opportunities within the DevOps field.

However, given that time is money, one should choose carefully as the expenses and resources go up exponentially whenever an illogical choice is made.

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Comparing Waterfall vs Agile vs Devops

Let’s examine each methodology to help you select the approach that best suits you now and in the future.

Waterfall

Waterfall

Waterfall sounds refreshing. The mind’s eye envisions water gushing from a precipice to the ground. The development methodology of the Waterfall is also quite similar. A linear production model allows developers to proceed after completing the preceding phase.

This methodology suits smaller-scale projects with easily definable deliverables. The project members would have to tick the methodology’s checkboxes. The first milestone is that the team members thoroughly document the requirements. Although each phase is equally important, this first phase defines the project’s objectives.

Post-documentation, the members can start developing and implementing the developed deliverables. The testing team will step in and detect areas for improvement. Once the bug fixing is done, the deliverable will be deployed. The deliverable will be maintained if required.


Also Read: 7 Important Types of Agile Methodologies


Advantages of a Waterfall Model

What is to be observed here is that the team members should complete every stage to proceed to the next. As one team completes its contributions to the product, the other team picks up where the former left off. This helps the next team modify or rectify the project, as a partially existing framework exists. This assembly line of the process ensures that the client has a product borne out of team efforts.

What gives waterfall an edge over the other two methodologies is that one doesn’t need certification to participate in waterfall production. Planning and creating an outline are enough for the team members to get the ball rolling. Unlike scrum, the work is not divided into multiple sprints, each with an individual objective. In the waterfall method, the objectives are not deviated from, as the team never loses sight of the end goals. A waterfall allows the production team to work backward.

However, given the amount of collaboration, documentation must be maintained to ensure everyone is in the loop. This paves the way for seamless transition whenever a new team member takes on the work.

Cons of Waterfall Methodology

While all this sounds great, one should observe that Waterfall is an assembly line producing software. Suppose something messy is detected in the testing phase. It will delay the development and force the development team to explore new, resource-intensive ways, as a waterfall doesn’t allow many changes once a stage is finished. This mortifying disadvantage also has the potential to render the finished components useless. It would only result in higher expenses if the potentiality ever becomes definitive.

It is pertinent that the end goals must be defined initially, as this allows the planning of the stages. However, this makes matters complex; the team members must revert to square one if the client has varying needs. Moreover, this method’s testing is considerably delayed, as the components can’t be passed on to the following team members until all the preceding steps are complete. This delays the ultimate deployment and affects maintenance.

If you take an objective look, you will understand that waterfall best suits projects with minimal modifications to end goals. And, yes, it does sound off-putting, as the scope to revert to previous stages is quite discouraging.


Also Read: Criteria One Should Consider Before Choosing an MSP


However, this is why the waterfall is favored for small-scale projects, as unexpected variables are less likely to occur. Due to its pitfalls and new needs, another methodology emerged: Agile.

Agile

Agile

Agile was first conceptualized by developers, who presented the methodology more as a guiding philosophy than a methodology in the Agile Manifesto. They envisioned producing high-quality software by doling out iterations that can be frequently deployed but with minor improvements and upgrades.

One significant difference is that Agile doesn’t embrace the idea of a ‘finished product,’ the cornerstone of waterfall methodology. This idea of a complete product is junked as development and deployment are incremental. These incremental updates will generally strong-arm the clients to perform new functions and rectify or improve the existing infrastructure.

This methodology entails the production department breaking the work into components and rolling them out in iterations. Although this iterative work means that the end goals are not amply focused on, it provides much flexibility. Once the development team creates a component, the operations team immediately sets out to test it and deploy it once it is ready.

This approach is better suited for large-scale projects with no end in sight. Because of its immense flexibility, companies worldwide have favored this approach for product development. Let’s examine the steps it entails.

To proceed with Agile, the production team should list the must-have features that must be incorporated into the software. This can be done by bringing together the stakeholders and project development managers. The list of features can be shortlisted using the MoSCoW rule.

The rule is an acronym that denotes features into:

  • Must have
  • Should have
  • Could have
  • Will have them later

Once restricted, the production team would have to estimate how long each feature in Moscow would take. The timeline should also consider feedback incorporation, one of Agile’s key features. For instance, once the operational team hits a massive bug, the development team should be ready to rectify the unexpected job.

This back-and-forth should be considered. Once the time estimates are firmed up, the team should pursue compartmentalized work or ‘sprints’. These sprints are nothing but iterative works with a deadline. Sprint completion implies that an iteration’s development, implementation, testing, and deployment are done.

There are different types of Agile approaches. The first one we shall explore in this blog is Scrum. Scrum meetings, which a certified scrum master conducts, are heavily dependent on constant feedback. Scrum is better suited for small teams, as managing the sprint would be easy.

Starting with a planning meeting, the scrum master generally conducts the meetings daily and takes stock of the situation. These meetings are also followed by a discussion focusing on retrospective completions, which can be improvised.


Also Read: How Agile and IT Service Management can Work Together?


The other approach to Agile is the Kanban methodology, which was first implemented in Japan to communicate manufacturing methods better. The Kanban method involves overseeing work progress visually. Using a Kanban board, the team can place the sprint objectives as rows, while the columns could be what has been completed, what is in progress, and what has been requested.

Given Agile’s popularity, there are many more approaches, such as the Feature-Driven Development Method and dynamic Software Development Method. The client and the production team must determine which Agile method to choose.

Advantages of Agile Methodology

As you may have already surmised, flexibility is one of the most significant advantages of Agile. Not to throw shade at the waterfall, but Agile allows the teams to collaborate better. While waterfall offers robust results, Agile takes the pressure off the production team by allowing them to mitigate errors and failures with increased collaboration.

Better collaboration significantly stunts the development-to-deployment time, as the development team only needs to push out the completed components. The testing team no longer has to wait to test the entire package for bugs.

As time savings are enhanced, clients will be more satisfied with the software’s iterative rollout. And yes, Agile’s footloose approach sounds significantly better than waterfall’s, but like everything else, it has flaws.

Cons of Agile Methodology

There is no definitive ending for software built using Agile. Once there is demand, the company will be compelled to roll out updates for as long as there is demand. A famous example is iOS. Apple has been releasing new versions of iOS ever since the iPhone was first released in 2007. Similarly, there is likely no end for the software built using Agile if there is demand. The company should be prepared for this factor.

There is also the never-ending deployment of components. While waterfall delivers one whole package, Agile provides fragmented output. While this is one of the most significant advantages of Agile, it is also a disadvantage as each team, with its sprint, will develop its deliverables. Bringing them all together under one umbrella as an update takes its toll on the production team.

As perceived, the work is chopped into parts for all. This also results in documentation headaches as each team must coordinate their multiple additions, deletions, and whatever else they do to the project.

Bogging further down is that flexibility often results in the bungling up of resource management. As there is no end goal, the production team may not know who to rope in and where to concentrate their efforts. Ultimately, this results in unwanted headaches for the production team. To wick away such possibilities, there should be a clear vision of how to give the product its shape rather than piecing the details as one goes along.

As with everything else, there are always those who perceive things differently, and Agile is no exception. Once it was implemented and used widely, people came up with a new method that is widely accepted to be faster than Agile. That method is DevOps.

DevOps

DevOps

DevOps is the rage now. Unlike its other two peers, DevOps is all about integrating the best ideas of the Agile process with the IT production teams. Before DevOps, the developers would work independently of the other teams. The independence created an environment full of miscommunications and delayed rollouts as one had to coordinate with multiple team members. With these gaps, rivalry sprouted between the two teams, namely, development and operations teams.

DevOps is a radical solution that combines both teams. This methodology bridges the gap between developers and operation members by increasing collaboration and communication. This unification allows companies to deploy solutions faster and better.


Also Read: Outcome Matters: Measuring DevOps Success in 4 Ways!


However, to err is human, but in this world, erring is not an option many can afford. While Agile was all about flexibility, allowing team members to rectify mistakes, DevOps is about automation, saving time and effort. As DevOps is an offshoot of Agile, the maxim lies in completing the work in iterations.

These incremental updates relieve the pressure on the DevOps members as they develop and deploy the components more coordinatedly after testing. This brings us to the unmissable aspect of DevOps, which is enhanced collaboration. With the removal of barriers, there is undoubtedly higher collaboration, leading to robust products.

Advantages of DevOps

DevOps encourages and perpetuates a swift rollout of products. As there is no sibling rivalry between the two teams, there is little to no chance of faux pas induced by miscommunications. Also, one can realize higher ROI as products are much better than those produced when development and operations teams were segregated. These great products improve customer satisfaction as bug fixing and improvements are made promptly.

What favors DevOps even better is that it allows the product to be continuously improved. This aligns with the Agile practices of continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD). In addition, the perpetual improvements bring DevOps closer to value engineering principles, which should be an approach adopted by most.

When one takes a step back and looks at DevOps, it is hard to ignore the methodology, as it offers better benefits than Agile and waterfall. If anything, waterfall pales compared to DevOps, as the former is about working in a stipulated, compartmentalized manner. While Agile has the edge over the waterfall with its flexibility, DevOps has cohesiveness, which propels productivity. Yet, despite all its advantages, some favor the other two methods. Let’s understand why.


Useful link: Pros and Cons of DevOps Methodology and its Principles


Cons of DevOps

The unification of the two groups does not happen overnight. One must train and establish a chain of command and work culture that binds the team members together. This requires training them, as the DevOps fusion is a gradual process. Also, if anyone from the parent organization or the outsourcing partner had the traditional setup, there would be a clash of cultures. The one with the traditional approach would have to remap their organization to suit DevOps.

Regardless of how rosy DevOps may appear, it brings innovative people under one umbrella. This may lead to a clash of ideas and views, impede progress. To avoid this, team spirit must be imbued among all, and time should be given for them to grow.

Lastly, the aspects of CI/CD are pretty innovative. However, the company would have to rope in software professionals who pack a punch in coding. This is essential as the company would improve the software, and having mediocre coders or testers around won’t cut it. And we all know how tough it is to find the right people for the right job. So, where does this leave us?


Also Read: Continuous Integration: The DevOps Approach Which Fuels Productivity


Trends and Innovations

1) Emerging Trends in Project Management

In the ever-evolving realm of project management, anticipating and embracing emerging trends is vital for organizational success. Here’s a detailed exploration of the latest trends reshaping the domain.

A) AI and ML

The power of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enhance forecasting, risk management, and decision-making.

B) Agile Beyond Teams

The evolution of Agile methodologies from team-centric approaches to organizational-wide scalability for improved collaboration.

C) Remote Collaboration Tools

The effect of remote work on project management drives the adoption of advanced collaboration tools that transcend geographical boundaries.

D) Employee Well-being at the Forefront

A focus on workplace culture and work-life balance, recognizing the essential of employee well-being in project success.

E) Blockchain’s Imprint: Transparent and Secure Project Management

Integrating blockchain for tamper-proof record-keeping, ensuring data integrity in project-related transactions and contracts.

2) Fusion of Methodologies – Crafting Tailored Project Success

Organizations are embracing a strategic fusion, customizing methodologies for optimal project outcomes, and acknowledging the diverse strengths of Waterfall, Agile, and DevOps methodology. Let’s delve into the intricacies of this integration:

A) Phased Approach Tailoring: Merging Waterfall, Agile, and DevOps Dynamically

Adapting methodologies to specific project phases, seamlessly transitioning between Waterfall, Agile, and DevOps for enhanced flexibility.

B) Hybrid Agile-Waterfall Models: Striking the Perfect Balance

Finding success in combining Agile’s adaptability with Waterfall’s structure, creating a hybrid model that caters to diverse project elements.

C) DevOps as a Cultural Catalyst: Weaving Collaboration Seamlessly

Embedding DevOps as a cultural thread within various methodologies, ensuring continuous collaboration, automation, and accelerated delivery.

D) Flexible Tooling and Practices: Breaking Free from Rigidity

Shifting away from rigid adherence to a single methodology, organizations adopt flexibility in tooling and practices for optimized workflows.

E) Customized Methodologies: Tailoring to Organizational DNA

Recognizing that one size does not fit all, successful organizations customize their approach based on organizational culture, project complexities, and team skill sets.

Conclusion

No compulsion or rule dictates a company restrict itself to one model. However, it is pertinent that the production manager has a firm grip on the knowledge and implementation processes. Moreover, the three methodologies are not some fluke successes that yielded results to their practitioners.

They have been followed for ages, and the reason they continue to be discussed today shows that they are relevant. Their existence is an excellent reason to develop a work culture compatible with these core methodologies. However, that task is easier said than done, which is the primary motivator for most IT companies to outsource their requirements to Veritis.

Veritis, a DevOps consulting company that serves various Fortune 500 companies, offers reliable solutions that stand the test of time. These solutions are provided after studying the clients’ needs, and we go the extra mile to provide a solution that is not only robust but also cost-effective. Be it Kanban or DevOps, we have in-house experts who don’t shy away from taking on a challenge, as every challenge is an opportunity to serve you better.

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