瀑布 和 敏捷 are often depicted as rivals: an old-guard 项目管理 methodology competing with a nimble newcomer. At its heart, the difference between them comes down to predictability versus adaptability. 瀑布 strives for predictable outcomes by predetermining features at the outset 和 deeming projects complete only once those features are fully implemented. 敏捷 promises adaptability, delivering a 最小可行产品 (MVP) 和 then iteratively releasing new features 和 collecting user feedback to guide the path of improvements.

Despite the oppositional narrative, 瀑布 和 敏捷 often exist simultaneously within organizations. 2021年， 项目管理学会 reported that the information technology 和 金融 industries were the leading adopters of 敏捷. 即便如此, 瀑布依旧盛行, 和 almost one in four projects in both industries employed a hybrid methodology, PMI调查显示.

Since its official introduction by software developers in 2001, 敏捷 has continued to grow in popularity, even creeping into industries like construction 和 energy where 瀑布 methodologies have remained dominant. A 混合方法 combines aspects of two different management frameworks or systems with the goal of improving efficiency. 在本文中, Toptal 项目管理 experts who have worked on hybrid 敏捷-瀑布 projects in diverse industries reflect on the challenges 和 benefits of hybrid 项目管理.

What Is an 敏捷-瀑布 Hybrid?

“True hybrid is a combination of predictive 和 uncertain work,” says 吉姆•斯图尔特, a Boston-area 欧博体育app下载, Scrum master, 敏捷教练，顾问. 在混合模型中, 瀑布 provides the overall structure for the well-understood, predictive aspects of the project, 和 敏捷 techniques are used for the iterative, 更多不确定的部分.

以这种方式, a company can create software in an 敏捷 fashion but follow 瀑布 for the rollout process. A financial company might develop a product with major features that must be audited 和 approved before release. 仍然, smaller parts of those features can be iterated by the development 团队 through a series of sprints, as can other aspects of the user interface.

When it comes to determining how to implement 敏捷 in a 瀑布 environment, flexibility is key. “I don’t believe in … one-size-fits-all,” says Miroslav Anicin, a project manager based in Belgrade, Serbia. “You can’t … apply methodologies by the book. You need to know exactly how to tailor those approaches based on different factors such as 团队 maturity, 公司文化, subject cultures, the type of project, the 团队规模，以及产品的大小.”

为什么使用混合动力系统?

敏捷 has proven to be more adaptive 和 efficient than traditional approaches. Senior executives at major international corporations widely agree that 敏捷是必要的 实现战略目标. So you might be thinking: 为什么 would organizations continue working in 瀑布?

风险管理 is a common barrier that prevents organizations from going pure 敏捷, especially in highly 监管的行业 in which projects are subject to approvals from outside organizations that require documentation 和 rigorous timetables. 因为 风险分析 must occur before project planning in these industries, changing elements of the analysis would require a fresh round of planning. “I was working for a company that ran clinical trials, 和 audits are crazy [in that field],” says 胡安Vilmaux, a project manager based in Córdoba, Argentina. “You have to go through several processes that are defined by external authorities like the FDA. 如果你在敏捷中工作, you are constantly adjusting your scope or backlog—reprioritizing it—和 that can interfere with these audits.”

欧博体育app下载 大卫Machiels, 总部设在布鲁塞尔, 比利时, notes that projects dem和ing privacy protections require carefully timed releases. He led a hybrid 团队 developing an identity management platform in Microsoft Azure Active Directory 一家欧洲银行集团. His 团队 used 敏捷 on some development steps, but because banks are loath to put information in the cloud due to data-privacy concerns, they provisioned the system on a local server. The 团队 then followed a clear 瀑布-like order of operations. “First, you need that on-premises 实现 to be done,” he says. “You also need the cloud 实现 to be done. Then you can start doing the connection between the two.”

When 敏捷 is hybridized into a 瀑布 environment, large projects can be broken into epics 和 用户故事 更灵活的开发. Then completed features can be released on longer time frames. “Sometimes you have what I call a big bang delivery,” says 格兰特Schuleman, a 欧博体育app下载 in Johannesburg, 南非, who has worked in financial services, 银行, 股票交易所. He describes how a 团队 would deploy incrementally to a 用户验收测试 (UAT)环境. Once all the features are signed off on in UAT, the product is released in one large deployment. “And that could take a year, depending on how big the project is,” he says.

在他最大的项目上, Schuleman had 120 people working on 10 projects—some working in 瀑布, 有些在Scrum中, 还有一些混合的. 他还经营了一家 Scrum of Scrum every other week to ensure that the smaller 团队s were aligned for the next series of sprints 和 working at complementary paces. The orchestration of different approaches introduced flexibility while still accommodating the organizational needs that prevented them from going full 敏捷.

混合动力车最难的部分

The success of an 敏捷-瀑布 hybrid depends on how project managers customize processes given the situation. Project managers going hybrid must find the right blend of methodologies for the product, 团队, 和 end users—yet hybridization seldom follows a preset formula.

Often the most consequential factor in determining whether 敏捷 can be successfully hybridized into an existing 瀑布 system is the degree of buy-in from 团队 members 和 other stakeholders. A 团队 must be open to change 和 excited to try new things. If 团队 members aren’t well-versed in the new process, or only think of 敏捷 as a buzzword, they might not see a reason for change. Project managers eager to combine 瀑布 和 敏捷 must 促进理解 和 encourage 团队s 和 organizations to consider the methods that produce optimal results.

When Schuleman tried to integrate 敏捷 processes into an update of a legacy application, 例如, he found that the experiment wasn’t embraced by the developers, who were accustomed to working in 瀑布 和 didn’t underst和 why the work was broken into epics 和 用户故事. Team members wanted to work on everything at once. Based on that resistance 和 other factors, he realized a 混合方法 wasn’t appropriate, 中途敏捷地改变航线, 和 guided the 团队 to complete the project using pure 瀑布.

Vilmaux has had similar experiences working on projects, especially those with risk management considerations. Sometimes going hybrid increases your chances of failure “because you’re getting the worst parts of both worlds. You restrict 敏捷, but the nature of 敏捷 is to embrace changes 和 to be flexible. You start losing all of that … within a 瀑布 environment, which works best in a linear fashion—fixed 和 deterministic—和 where changes aren’t impossible but can be very costly. In adding 敏捷, you start pushing nonlinear things within that 瀑布 world.”

In Schuleman’s 和 Vilmaux’s experiences, project managers wishing to follow a hybrid software development methodology need to 教练 他们的团队通过新的概念. However, they must also be willing to acknowledge if hybridization 不是 适当地工作和适应.

With these considerations in mind, hybrid done right can pay off, even in a risk-averse environment. Anicin recently led a successful hybrid project for the IFC (a member of the World Bank Group) in Bosnia 和 Herzegovina. The plan-driven project followed highly detailed 需求 和 specifications, 和 involved numerous organizations 和 government stakeholders. Yet the 团队s worked in 敏捷 from the beginning, 和 the client ultimately received a better product for a lower cost on a quicker timeline. Anicin says, “It was hard, but it worked.”

使用敏捷混合作为升级

As industries continue to undergo 数字转换, more companies are becoming curious about 敏捷. Even if a company 不是 ready to dive right in, a gradual introduction to 敏捷 can pay dividends over time. One major reason is that 敏捷 adapts to uncertainty, a characteristic of any project.

敏捷还提供了透明性. “I prefer 敏捷 because I can see the changes,” Schuleman says. “瀑布, there can be a lot of smoke 和 mirrors: ‘We’re 20% complete,“我们完成了30%。,’ but then you’re stuck on 80% for another eight months. 隐藏问题要容易得多. 和敏捷, 你每天都要开会, 和 if a user story is sitting there for longer than it should be, 说起来容易, ‘This thing’s not moving; what’s the problem?’”

Incorporating 敏捷 slowly into 瀑布 can provide advantages, especially when aspects of a 瀑布 way of thinking currently work for the 团队. For instance, 瀑布 can do well during the discovery 和 planning phases. “When we are talking about the blended approach, we are providing a much more detailed product backlog,Anicin说. 在一个混合项目中, he uses this backlog to give his 团队 a more detailed, 瀑布-esque perspective on long-term expectations for the finished product. He then onboards his 团队 “to the product, not only to the project,” he says. “I’m expecting the whole 团队 to underst和 the product details because they need to have this 产品的所有权这是非常重要的.”

A company 和 团队 might not be ready to go pure 敏捷, 但至少, project managers can realize considerable benefits from adding 敏捷 practices 和 shorter, 更频繁的交付期限. 如果一个项目经理是严格的, 聪明的, 要注意执行, a hybrid 敏捷-瀑布 methodology could be just what an organization needs to upgrade a project.

This article has recently undergone a comprehensive update 和 rewrite to incorporate the latest 和 most accurate information. We wish to acknowledge Greig O’Brien’s contributions to the original article. Please note: Comments below may predate this update.