Key Points

• Shifting from a waterfall to a scrum project management system can help with business efficiency. 
• The transition between these two systems shouldn’t happen overnight but instead be a gradual change. 
• Educate everyone involved about the transition so there are no surprises. 

In the business world, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that how we work changes, and then changes all over again. For a period of time in modern history, using the waterfall methodology as a project management tool was a practical and compelling idea. 

Fast-forward to today. The waterfall method and its faults have been well identified, and in many ways, some of its uses have been outlived. This isn’t to say it’s not right for some businesses, but those looking for more efficient ways to work and get things done will find that scrum work is far better. 

What Is The Waterfall Methodology? 

If you’re looking at waterfall methodology, this is a more traditional method that has been used for years. It is a linear model driven in phases, where every project step is completed in a particular order. This would mean that you generally start with requirements, move to design, development, testing, and then deploy. 

The popularity of the waterfall method grew over time as it seemingly provided output that felt like it was of higher quality than the current methods. Additionally, there is a well-documented process that can be referred back to in case something goes wrong or as a model for the future. 

In addition, every team member with a waterfall knows their exact task and focuses on it before worrying about the next step. 

What Is Scrum? 

Switching gears to understanding what a scrum is, it also goes by “agile,” which might be the more common language you hear. With this methodology, you will find a framework focused more on iterative processes through a “sprint.” 

Each sprint is time-boxed and generally lasts between two and four weeks. During this time, everyone is focused on something specific, which means nobody is too far ahead of anyone else. This “scrum” work allows everyone to be responsive to any change, so again, nobody is working so far ahead that everyone else falls behind. 

Why Should You Switch From Waterfall to Scrum? 

Knowing the difference between a waterfall and scrum (agile) begs the question of why you would want to make this switch. Thankfully, the answer is straightforward and obvious to anyone familiar with both methods. 

1. Risk Curve

Arguably one of the most important reasons is that there is less risk to project success in the scrum world than with waterfall. What makes waterfall feel outdated is that every step in the project must be done sequentially, which means you can’t move to the next step until everyone is done doing their part of whatever phase you are currently working on. 

Yes, it’s true. This might sound like a minor deal, but rest assured, it’s something to consider. The alternative is that with agile, all risks are lessened by improving each step of the process as you get feedback from users or key stakeholders. This way, you aren’t only moving onto the next step if the current step is in a good place, which means there is less work needed to go back over this work down the line. 

2. Don’t Worry About Perfection 

One consideration that may not get enough attention as to why businesses and teams are moving away from waterfall is the concern that waterfall demands an almost perfect project management process. If you have a process in place that doesn’t allow for any changes in the project requirements, you might find that the end product isn’t going to land well with customers. 

The good news for those transitioning to scrum is that you start with a Minimum Viable Product and then build up from there. This brings us back to the word “iterative” again, in which case you have the opportunity with a scrum to make changes to improve the work before moving to another step. 

3. Business Awareness

The last and final reason to understand why switching from waterfall to scrum makes sense is simple. Suppose you are working with the waterfall methodology for project management. In that case, there is a better than good chance that most of your business counterparts don’t know what is going on, which means there are more than a few people who should be a part of the process that are out of the loop. 

If you move to an agile or scrum project management system, you will have key stakeholders in the business who will get updates on each iterative (there is this word again) update. This allows them to weigh in and, if necessary, help course correct. Most importantly, this process allows for fewer errors and ties right back to the idea that there is less risk with going scrum. 

How To Transition from Waterfall to Scrum

Now that we have appropriately covered the reasons as to why you are going to make the transition from waterfall to scrum, it’s time to look at exactly how such a transition is going to take place. 

1. It Starts With Education

This won’t come as a surprise, but the most critical first step will be educating your team and making them aware of a desire to change. You will want to talk to your team about why this transition occurs and the benefits of transitioning to a scrum project management system. It will be essential to put a positive spin on it and let the whole team know that this will make their work more productive. 

2. Have Specific Objectives

One way to succeed in this transition is to have clear objectives for all teams involved. This means establishing very specific objectives about how this transition will work and what needs to be achieved to make it work. 

A strong recommendation is to use the SMART goals strategy, which includes setting out Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound results. When you do this, you can be sure that everyone on the team is on the same page and this is precisely where you want to be for any effort going from waterfall to scrum to be successful. 

3. Team Restructuring

If and when the need arises, you can consider restructuring your team to make everyone as successful as possible. In many ways, the waterfall model relied (and still relies) on hierarchical teams, which isn’t always good. 

The scrum methodology takes a different approach, focusing on smaller, self-organized teams. This gives you an open door if you are a leader in this process and help direct this transition to reorganize a team in a way that makes the most sense. The goal is to ensure everyone is where they should be within a team so the scrum process, especially the “sprints,” is successful. 

4. Create Roles

In the grand scheme, once a team is restructured, it’s time to ensure everyone is 110% clear on their responsibilities within this new organization. If someone, even one person, doesn’t understand their role or what responsibilities they carry on a team, there is a good chance this transition will be even more difficult. 

The best thing to do is ensure every team member is assigned a role that best suits their skill set. Not only will this make any transition more manageable, but you’ll also be playing to the team’s strengths, which should create a better culture as part of the transition. 

5. Bring On New Tools

While not always a must, if you need to introduce new tools as part of the shift from waterfall to scrum, don’t hesitate. The last thing you want is for everyone to understand their roles and have the team properly reorganized, only to find that the work isn’t being done well because the team can’t properly communicate. 

This is why it’s essential to introduce new technologies as needed or requested. Every team member should have everything they need for this transition. Unfortunately, this might mean an additional cost, but the benefits far outweigh any negatives of any initial increased expenses to onboard new tools. 

6. Smaller Tasks Only

Unlike the waterfall method, you want scrum to focus heavily on breaking down all these large projects that could get very linear with waterfall into small projects as part of a scrum. The biggest reason to follow this process is to help ensure that during a scrum transition, your team focuses on just one project at a time during a sprint. 

7. Focus On Culture 

There shouldn’t be any argument when someone says that transitions, even positive ones with the end game of making everyone’s lives easier, are not complex. Transitions are complicated, and some people get up to speed faster than others. Hence, it’s important to ensure continuous communication to help everyone on the team get caught up. Make sure and let the teams know they should feel comfortable communicating any barriers so they can work together to bust through them. 

8. Slow And Steady

At some point along the way, we have all heard our parents say “slow and steady wins the race” and this is true with a waterfall to scrum transition. This change shouldn’t happen in a day, but over time. Any effort to make this change happen overnight will end up causing more harm to the entire team and the work itself. 

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

If you’re already familiar with the scrum project management system, you already know it’s being used because its benefits are clear. You might want to look at scrum to implement new business solutions quickly and efficiently. 

On the other hand, you might want to look at six sigma versus agile and see which one is right for you. Both methods are currently used at organizations nationwide, hoping to reduce errors as part of their go-to-market processes. 

Conclusion

It’s important to remember that transitioning from waterfall to scrum isn’t easy and doesn’t happen fast. In many ways, it can take months for teams to make a smooth transition and in some cases, it might even take years. The good news is that no matter how long this transition takes, it’s well worth it as the speed at which you can get to market with a scrum process will be worth any speed bumps that surface as part of any transition.