A comparison of software cost, duration, and quality for waterfall vs. iterative and incremental development: A systematic review

  • Authors:

  • Susan M. Mitchell;Carolyn B. Seaman

  • Affiliations:

  • Information Systems Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County;Information Systems Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  • Venue:
  • ESEM '09 Proceedings of the 2009 3rd International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to present a body of evidence that will assist software project managers to make informed choices about software development approaches for their projects. In particular, two broadly defined competing approaches, the traditional “waterfall” approach and iterative and incremental development (IID), are compared with regards to development cost and duration, and resulting product quality. The method used for this comparison is a systematic literature review. The small set of studies we located did not demonstrate any identifiable cost, duration, or quality trends, although there was some evidence suggesting the superiority of IID (in particular XP). The results of this review indicate that further empirical studies, both quantitative and qualitative, on this topic need to be undertaken. In order to effectively compare study results, the research community needs to reach a consensus on a set of comparable parameters that best assess cost, duration, and quality.