This week I started on my first proper project here. I’m coming in just after the completion of the bid, which was accepted last week by the GoldOwner. My job is to set up the project and run it on behalf of the supplier organisation.
Interestingly, the said supplier organisation has quoted to run a classical waterfall project, but the GoldOwner wants it run “iteratively.” My bosses have told him that’s too risky, and that we’ll stick to falling water, thank-you-very-much. I, on the other hand, told him we’ll do it iteratively. I suspect my tenure here may be short-lived…
Update:
Here’s a conflict cloud expressing the issue I have here:
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What a coincidence… I just blogged about this…
http://jchyip.blogspot.com/2004/10/waterfall-is-less-risky.html
So there are multiple responses here that really depend on what kind of relationship you have with your bosses.
1. Convince your bosses that waterfall is more risky (for both parties)
2. Assert that if you have responsibility for running the project then you should also have authority for deciding on process, especially if the Gold Owner has already suggested a preference.
3. Design a waterfall interface to your bosses wrapping an iterative process that the team and the customer sees. http://objectz.com/columnists/parnas&clements/09152003.asp
4. Start preparing to leave