The Zen of waterfall: At some level everything is waterfall. If anything is to get done at all the programmer has to make a plan, then put his head down, arse

The Zen of waterfall: At some level everything is waterfall. If anything is to get done at all the programmer has to make a plan, then put his head down, arse up and implement it. At another level nothing is waterfall. If the plan is successful it was shipped to the consumer (which may be the programmer himself), and it's very presence changes things for the consumer in ways that they didn't foresee. They then realise they need a new set of changes. What we call waterfall model is really referring to the scale. If the plan is grand, the specifications for such a grand plan need to be detailed, the implementation long, and the time between putting the head down and evaluating results is large, and we call it waterfall. But if the strategy is to explore the solution organically, the re-evaluations are frequent, the waterfall periods are short and we call the strategy something else. So in the end everything uses waterfall. The programmer would not get the long periods of intense focus he need to be productive without it. But also nothing is waterfall, because no plan can foresee everything, it must be continually re-evaluated in the light of unexpected changes it brings as it is implemented. From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23970156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23970156 : by rstuart4133 on July 27, 2020