Question 1 List five advantages and five disadvantages of the waterfall lifecycle. Answer 1 Advantages of the waterfall lifecycle include: The waterfall lifecycle is an approach that is well known and widely understood. Sign off of activity / stages giving a clear end point. Clear cut project management. The approach encourages the production of system documentation. Software is (or should be) designed before software development starts. There can however be disadvantages: There is an assumption that requirements are fully and accurately captured in the design stages. There is a further assumption that no significant changes will take place once the design is signed off. The methodologies associated with the waterfall lifecycle can be bureaucratic, long winded and expensive. User involvement is largely limited to the initial design stages and is then minimal until the final stages of testing. There can be issues of continuity of employment as the required skill set is different for each stage.
There can however be disadvantages:
