Waterfall vs. Pull Processes

There are many different methodologies of project management, all of them are defined by different principles and processes. A traditional, sequential methodology, is the waterfall model. Within this model, the tasks of the project plan are sequenced and conducted in a linear way, one task must be completed before the next one begins - the process is smooth and continuous, like a waterfall. Therefore, this model is one of the simplest methods. However, the pull process-based methodologies are used to create the whole project plan more efficient and effective, it was created to eliminate confounding factors within the project and to avoid aimless work. Hence, the pull processes are used in the management style of Lean Project Management, typical pull processes can be find in the Scrum and Kanban methodologies. This article provides an introduction to the waterfall methodology, to understand the processes within a project plan in a better way. However, the article provides a comparison of the waterfall process (push process) and the pull process. Therefore, no other methodologies e.g. Scrum and Kanban are explained. For the comparison of the two different processes are pros and cons described and the relevance for the practical usage demonstrated.

Importance for Project Management

A project is divided in several phases (except the single-phase project), and five project groups