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Subject:Re: Waterfall vs. Spiral development and doc From:John Wilcox <jwilcox -at- tcsi -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:29:32 -0800
> Subject: Waterfall vs. Spiral development and doc (was: RE: Why is working from a
> spec like walking on water?)
> From: Janet_Swisher -at- trilogy -dot- com
> Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 16:27:07 -0600
> The two development models you are referring to are commonly called the
> "waterfall" and the "spiral". In the waterfall model, everything
> "cascades" from one phase to the next, and there is no going "uphill". In
> the spiral model, the phases of development (requirements analysis,
> design, development, testing, etc.) are seen as a cycle, where the
> functionality and quality of the product are built up incrementally each
> time through the cycle, and each phase may be visited multiple times.
>
> It seems to me that most of the discussion I've seen of documentation
> development assumes a waterfall model for both the product and the
> documentation. I would also be very interested in hearing others'
> comments on documentation in a spiral-model environment.
Having worked without the luxury of specs most of my career, I came up with my own model (and certainly not my design): the "wave" model, in which 1) most of the development goes unnoticed (that 98% research time that someone mentioned), 2) the final product doesn't become obvious until very late in its life, and 3) everything comes crashing down on you at the last second!
--
Regards,
John Wilcox -- Senior Technical Writer
Most Famous Technical Writer In This Entire Building
TCSI Corp. -- Bothell, WA 425-487-8594
