Every project moves through a series of phases from start to finish, called the project life cycle. In general it includes initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling throughout, and finally closing.
In a predictive approach (also called "waterfall"), the whole project is planned upfront and then executed according to the plan. It suits projects with clear, stable requirements, such as building a bridge.
An agile approach breaks the work into short cycles (say, two weeks) and delivers a working piece at the end of each cycle that can be tried and reviewed. It suits projects whose requirements change or are hard to define in advance, such as software development.
A hybrid approach combines the two: the construction part of a project might be managed predictively while its software part is managed with agile. This is the most common situation in practice today.
💡 Key points
- General phases: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, closing.
- Predictive: full plan upfront; suits stable requirements.
- Agile: short cycles and frequent delivery; suits changing requirements.
- No approach is "best" in all cases; it depends on the project.
🌍 Real-life example
Building a house: predictive, because the plans are approved before starting and the foundations are hard to change later. Designing a store's website: agile, because you launch a first version and improve it based on visitor behavior.
📖 Key terms
| English | العربية |
|---|---|
| Project Life Cycle | دورة حياة المشروع |
| Predictive (Waterfall) | تنبؤي (الشلال) |
| Agile | رشيق |
| Hybrid | هجين |
| Iteration | تكرار / دورة عمل |
| Phase | مرحلة |