Waterfall model

The waterfall model is a breakdown of development activities into linear sequential phases, meaning they are passed down onto each other, where each phase depends on the deliverables of the previous one and corresponds to a specialization of tasks.^[1] The approach is typical for certain areas of engineering design. In software development,^[1] it tends to be among the less iterative and flexible approaches, as progress flows in largely one direction (downwards like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, deployment and maintenance.^[2] The waterfall model is the earliest SDLC approach that was used in software development.^[3]

The waterfall development model originated in the manufacturing and construction industries,^{[citation needed]} where the highly structured physical environments meant that design changes became prohibitively expensive much sooner in the development process.^{[citation needed]} When first adopted for software development, there were no recognized alternatives for knowledge-based creative work.^[4]

^ ^a ^b Petersen, Kai; Wohlin, Claes; Baca, Dejan (2009). "The Waterfall Model in Large-Scale Development". In Bomarius, Frank; Oivo, Markku; Jaring, Päivi; Abrahamsson, Pekka (eds.). Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. Vol. 32. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 386–400. Bibcode:2009pfsp.book..386P. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02152-7_29. ISBN 978-3-642-02152-7.
^ Tom Gilb. "Evolutionary Delivery versus the 'waterfall model'". ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. 10 (3): 49–61. doi:10.1145/1012483.1012490.
^ Linda Sherrell. "Waterfall Model". Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions (A.L.C. Runehov; L. Oviedo (eds.)). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer: 2343–2344. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_200285.
^ Andreas P. Schmidt; Christine Kunzmann (September 16, 2014). Designing for knowledge maturing: from knowledge-driven software to supporting the facilitation of knowledge development. i-KNOW '14: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Knowledge Technologies and Data-driven Business. ACM. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1145/2637748.2638421.

[:0-1] Petersen, Kai; Wohlin, Claes; Baca, Dejan (2009). "The Waterfall Model in Large-Scale Development". In Bomarius, Frank; Oivo, Markku; Jaring, Päivi; Abrahamsson, Pekka (eds.). Product-Focused Software Process Improvement. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. Vol. 32. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. pp. 386–400. Bibcode:2009pfsp.book..386P. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02152-7_29. ISBN 978-3-642-02152-7.

[2] Tom Gilb. "Evolutionary Delivery versus the 'waterfall model'". ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. 10 (3): 49–61. doi:10.1145/1012483.1012490.

[3] Linda Sherrell. "Waterfall Model". Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions (A.L.C. Runehov; L. Oviedo (eds.)). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer: 2343–2344. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8_200285.

[4] Andreas P. Schmidt; Christine Kunzmann (September 16, 2014). Designing for knowledge maturing: from knowledge-driven software to supporting the facilitation of knowledge development. i-KNOW '14: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Knowledge Technologies and Data-driven Business. ACM. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1145/2637748.2638421.

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