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A Metaphor for Agile – The Opposite of Waterfall is Pond

By Jordan Satok on September 22, 2009 in The Watercooler

Before joining Rypple I had never heard of Agile, but since, it has entirely changed my view of development. Agile has allowed the Rypple team to quickly change directions with different aspects of our site. Over the last few weeks we’ve constantly been modifying and refining the homepage.

Alan Atlas recently posted to the RallyDev Agile Blog comparing the Agile and Waterfall models.

So what is this ride down the waterfall like?
Well, it starts off very exciting. You get in the boat and head toward the waterfall. There’s never any question of where the waterfall is, you just go the way everybody else is pointing. It starts off kind of fast, but it’s a fun kind of fast and everybody in the boat is up for the challenge. Then, as the current gets going to about 40 miles an hour, you decide to change direction. Well, that doesn’t go so well, does it? Zooooop, and you’re over the falls just like that. Waterfalls are not about change.

Alan then compares Waterfall to Agile using the Pond metaphor.

Now let’s move over to the Pond approach:
A project in Pond is represented by taking a boat out onto the pond and getting to a different side of the pond from where you’re starting out. Did I say a different side? Whoa, that’s not very goal-oriented, is it? Well, yes and no.

Check out the rest of the post on the RallyDev Agile Blog.

Jordan Satok

Jordan is on the Marketing team at Rypple. Jordan founded App of the Day where he's created an active community around the growing issue of iPhone and iPad app discovery. He has been part of the Rypple team since June 2009.

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