Waterfall and Agile information system project success rates – A South African perspective

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18489/sacj.v32i1.683

Keywords:

Agile, Waterfall, Software projects, SDLC, Success

Abstract

Software projects are still failing at an alarming rate and do not provide value to the organisation at large. This has been the case for the last decade. Software projects use predominantly Waterfall as a methodology. This raises the question whether new ways of working can be introduced to improve the success rate. One such new way is Agile as an approach to developing software. A survey was done to determine whether Agile projects are more successful than Waterfall projects, thus contrasting the old and the new ways of working. Some 617 software projects were evaluated to determine the success rate based on the methodology used. Success was measured on a continuum of five levels and not just the triple constraint. The results imply that Agile projects are more successful than Waterfall projects to some extent, but that there are still concerns that need to be addressed.

Author Biography

Carl Marnewick, Applied Information Systems, University of Johannesburg

Prof. Carl Marnewick Department of Applied Information Systems Faculty of Management University of Johannesburg Auckland Park Bunting Road Campus Johannesburg Tel: +27 (0)11 559 1316 Fax: +27 (0)11 559 1239 Email: cmarnewick@uj.ac.za http://www.uj.ac.za/ais

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Published

2020-07-22

Issue

Vol. 32 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Research Papers (general)

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Carl Marnewick, Lucas Khoza

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