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Learning the Truth About Agile Versus Waterfall

by Chuck Cobb

This course will help you see a new perspective where Agile and traditional, plan-driven management practices and principles are seen as complimentary rather than competitive to help you take advantage of the best of both worlds!

What you'll learn

There are many myths, stereotypes and misconceptions about "Agile" and "Waterfall" that are well-engrained into many people's thinking. For example, one popular misconception is that there is a binary and mutually-exclusive choice between Agile and Waterfall. That causes people to try to force-fit a project to one of those extremes when the right solution is to go in the other direction and fit the approach to the nature of the project.

In this course, Learning the Truth About Agile Versus Waterfall, you will learn how to see Agile and Waterfall in a fresh new perspective as complementary to each other rather than competitive and see how they can be blended together in the right proportions to fit any given situation.

  • First, you will learn how the terms "Agile" and "Waterfall" are very loosely used in actual practice and what they really mean.
  • Next, you will discover Scrum which is the most widely-used Agile methodology in the world and how Scrum works.
  • Finally, you will explore how to choose the right approach to fit a project.
When you're finished with this course, you will have the skills and knowledge of Agile and Scrum needed to develop a solid foundation for working in an Agile environment and taking the other courses in this series.

Course FAQ

Do I have to choose one or the other between Agile and Waterfall?

A popular misconception is that there is a binary and mutually-exclusive choice between Agile and Waterfall. That causes people to try to force-fit a project to one of those extremes when the right solution is to go in the other direction and fit the approach to the nature of the project.

Who is this course for?

The goal of this course is to help all business people develop an understanding of how to blend agile and traditional plan-driven project management in the right proportions to fit any given situation.

What will I learn in this course?

We're going to start with the discussion of agile versus waterfall to help you understand these two approaches much better and see them in a fresh new perspectives as complementary to each other rather than competitive. Then we're going to talk about scrum, which is the most widely used agile methodology in the world today.

What prerequisites do I need?

This is a beginner-level course designed to help you better determine whether your project would benefit best from Agile, Waterfall, or a hybrid approach.

About the author

Chuck Cobb is the author of the recent best-selling book “The Project Manager’s Guide to Mastering Agile" plus four other books and numerous professional articles on Project Management and Business Excellence. He is an expert-level Project Manager with over 20 years of hands-on program/project management experience as well as a broad background in business analysis and software development in a broad range of industries and application areas. He is passionate about helping project managers under... more

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