4 ms·

? Spiral is the opposite of waterfall that people like these days

• engi_nerd 11y ago
  That process chart has some waterfall in it -- that's clear to see -- but the steps of those waterfalls are often done in a spiral manner (sounds confusing, it really is). So you go down a waterfall in this chart, do some work, but you split the functionality of what you make into "blocks". The first block features the basic functionality. Subsequent blocks build on that. Really the DoD chart is what the DoD tells itself about how it designs and develops products, but in reality, it's even messier and more confused. It's the world's biggest exemplar of a spaghetti process.
  • nickpsecurity 11y ago
    "Really the DoD chart is what the DoD tells itself about how it designs and develops products, but in reality, it's even messier and more confused. It's the world's biggest exemplar of a spaghetti process." Well put. It's how I've interpreted it from the outside looking at descriptions/slides vs results.
• nickpsecurity 11y ago
  Spiral is waterfall with short iterations and the predecessor to Agile's increments. It's also not how defense procurements usually work. They get a big contract, divide that into different phases, subdivide each phase's work into subcontracts, these might be further subdivided, and there are various points of integration. There are DOD efforts that used Spiral or want to do Agile but the status quo is quite waterfall-like. Even if your small part is Spiral, you might still be forced into an overall water-fall structure. One of many reasons I stay out of that sector. It can be like working in a straight-jacket sometimes.