Why Traditional Planning can Fail
One of the biggest drawbacks in traditional planning is the lack of visibility. The stakeholders are only involved at the start and towards the end of the project; between these points they are assured that the project is “xx% complete” by the project manager. The problem is that the completion percentage does not indicate what is complete – are these the most critical features or was all the straightforward development done first, leaving the difficult and complex work till later?
Another issue is linked to the requirements; in a traditional project, the requirements are elicited and documented in great detail in collaboration with the stakeholders, who then sign them off. That is the last the stakeholders see until a finished product is delivered to them for user testing. As they were not involved in the development at any stage, they did not have the opportunity to request that a feature be changed; what might seem fine in writing can be flawed when it is translated into actual code, because it is hard to visualize the concept.
This is where Agile has a clear advantage; the stakeholder is involved all the way, and the order of development is most critical and complex feature first (the feature with the highest value).
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: