Comparing Waterfall and Spiral Development

By Regina Kwon  |  Posted 2002-04-11 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Online exclusive: These interactive tools can help you make your next software development project spin like a top.

Is the prototype-oriented approach best for your next technology initiative? Baseline has put together these files to give you an overview of how the spiral approach works.

The Project Planner compares the costs and outcome of using the conventional waterfall method and the iterative, spiral approach for a hypothetical project.

Read the assumptions and details behind the Planner.

Start planning your spiral project using Rational Software's Inception stage plan (Compressed Microsoft Project 98). You may also visit Rational for additional information and tools on the Rational Unified Process, which formed the basis of our Project Planner assumptions.

Risk management is a key skill of spiral projects. Learn the basics of assessment and mitigation with the Software Productivity Consortium's risk template (Compressed Microsoft Word 98). Visit SPC for more information on getting the most from your projects.

 
 
 
 
As Statistics Editor of Baseline magazine, Regina creates interactive tools, worksheets and project guides for technology managers. Before joining Ziff Davis, she worked as a technical program manager for a database company, where her projects included data management applications in XML, Java, Visual Basic and ASP. Her other experience includes running the new media department at Christie's Inc. and writing and editing for Internet World and PC Magazine. Regina received a B.A. from Yale.
 
 
 
 
 
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