An Analysis of the Software Selection Process Using Waterfall versus Agile Methodologies: A Simulation Study

Stephanie Ann Feddock, Pace University

Abstract

Selecting software for an organization is exhausting and improper selection of software may result in wrong strategic decisions with subsequent economic loss to the organization. While many published software selection methodologies exist, they relate to a traditional non-agile approach. As seen in traditional non-agile software development, issues occur due to the waterfall-like processed used. While agile has been used in software development to ease or eliminate issues related to waterfall, agile has been expanded to other domains. This dissertation conducts an investigation into the software selection process by use of a survey and case study to show that most organizations select software in a traditional non-agile manner. The survey and case study uncover common issues organizations face when selecting software using the traditional non-agile approach. The issues that occur during the software selection are the same issues that occur during a traditional non-agile software development project. This study concludes with an agile simulation of how issues from the case study could be eased or eliminated if it was conducted in an agile manner. The study provides techniques that could be applied to software selection to eliminate products sooner in the evaluation to select a quality product that aligns with the goals and needs of an organization.

Subject Area

Information Technology

Recommended Citation

Feddock, Stephanie Ann, "An Analysis of the Software Selection Process Using Waterfall versus Agile Methodologies: A Simulation Study" (2016). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI10128878.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI10128878

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