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Iterative Waterfall Model

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Aftab Khan
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24 views

Iterative Waterfall Model

Uploaded by

Aftab Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Iterative Waterfall Model

In a practical software development project, the classical waterfall model is hard to use. So,
the Iterative waterfall model can be thought of as incorporating the necessary changes to the
classical waterfall model to make it usable in practical software development projects. It is
almost the same as the classical waterfall model except some changes are made to increase
the efficiency of the software development.

The iterative waterfall model provides feedback paths from every phase to its preceding
phases, which is the main difference from the classical waterfall model.

Feedback paths introduced by the iterative waterfall model are shown in the figure below.

When errors are detected at some later phase, these feedback paths allow for correcting
errors committed by programmers during some phase. The feedback paths allow the
phase to be reworked in which errors are committed and these changes are reflected in
the later phases. But, there is no feedback path to the stage – feasibility study, because
once a project has been taken, does not give up the project easily.

It is good to detect errors in the same phase in which they are committed. It reduces the effort
and time required to correct the errors.

The Iterative Waterfall Model is a software development approach that combines the
sequential steps of the traditional Waterfall Model with the flexibility of iterative
design. It allows for improvements and changes to be made at each stage of the development
process, instead of waiting until the end of the project.

 Real-life example: Iterative Waterfall Model could be building a new website for a small
business. The process might look like this:

Requirements gathering: This is the first stage where the business owners and developers
meet to discuss the goals and requirements of the website.

Design: In this stage, the developers create a preliminary design of the website based on
the requirements gathered in stage 1.

Implementation: In this stage, the developers begin to build the website based on the
design created in stage 2.
Testing: Once the website has been built, it is tested to ensure that it meets the
requirements and functions properly.

Deployment: The website is then deployed and made live to the public.

Review and improvement: After the website has been live for a while, the business owners
and developers review its performance and make any necessary improvements.

This process is repeated until the website meets the needs and goals of the business. Each
iteration builds upon the previous one, allowing for continuous improvement and iteration
until the final product is complete.

Phase Containment of Errors: The principle of detecting errors as close to their points
of commitment as possible is known as Phase containment of errors.

 Advantages of Iterative Waterfall Model:

 Feedback Path – In the classical waterfall model, there are no feedback paths, so there is
no mechanism for error correction. But in the iterative waterfall model feedback path from
one phase to its preceding phase allows correcting the errors that are committed and these
changes are reflected in the later phases.

 Simple – Iterative waterfall model is very simple to understand and use. That’s why it is
one of the most widely used software development models.

 Cost-Effective – It is highly cost-effective to change the plan or requirements in the


model. Moreover, it is best suited for agile organizations.

 Well-organized – In this model, less time is consumed on documenting and the team can
spend more time on development and designing.

 Drawbacks of Iterative Waterfall Model:

 Difficult to incorporate change requests – The major drawback of the iterative waterfall
model is that all the requirements must be clearly stated before starting the development
phase. Customers may change requirements after some time but the iterative waterfall
model does not leave any scope to incorporate change requests that are made after the
development phase starts.

 Incremental delivery not supported – In the iterative waterfall model, the full software
is completely developed and tested before delivery to the customer. There is no scope for
any intermediate delivery. So, customers have to wait a long for getting the software.

 Overlapping of phases not supported – Iterative waterfall model assumes that one phase
can start after completion of the previous phase, but in real projects, phases may overlap to
reduce the effort and time needed to complete the project.

 Risk handling not supported – Projects may suffer from various types of risks. But, the
Iterative waterfall model has no mechanism for risk handling.

 Limited customer interactions – Customer interaction occurs at the start of the project at
the time of requirement gathering and at project completion at the time of software
delivery. These fewer interactions with the customers may lead to many problems as the
finally developed software may differ from the customers’ actual requirements.

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