With the state of California embarking on an agile approach for the procurement and development of a new child welfare system, state officials and outside observers both have said there will be some level of experimentation to figure out what works best for the state and what doesn’t.
A few project management experts have told Techwire, in the course of our reporting, that they think it’s possible California eventually will settle into a structure, at least at first, that’s a combination of waterfall development and agile principles.
The middle ground is known as “mini-waterfall,” and it’s basically what its name implies: shorter cycles of designing system requirements; developing, building and testing; and then delivering the solution to the customer.
A mini-waterfall project can last anywhere from six months to six weeks – a much shorter time frame than a traditional waterfall project, but longer than the two or four weeks characteristic of an agile project.
There conceivably would be benefits to using mini-waterfall: It could give the state Legislature and oversight agencies at least some idea upfront about a project’s cost and scope. Mini-waterfall might also be an easier fit for the state’s current procurement rules and contract vehicles; fewer changes to those likely would be needed.
By its nature, mini-waterfall would likely deliver functional solutions more quickly than the “big bang” release typical of state projects that take years to finish. And mini-waterfall probably would be a more comfortable transition for the skill sets of the state’s project managers and IT workforce.
Of course, using mini-waterfall would sacrifice many of agile development’s traits: incremental releases, constant development and iteration of new functionality, frequent and regular feedback from business users, and the mantra of “working software over comprehensive documentation.”
To be clear, the stakeholders leading California’s Child Welfare Services – News System (CWS-NS) project -- the state’s Office of Systems Integration, the Department of Social Services, and others – appear fully committed to adopting a pure-play form of agile development.
But it’s an interesting thought that some experts think mini-waterfall might work well for California.
Read more about agile development within California state government in the next issue of Techwire magazine.
