Hosted by Chandra Wobschall and Paul Houtkooper

Welcome back to another insightful episode of the JDE Connection Podcast! In this episode, hosts Chandra Wobschall and Paul Houtkooper dove into some crucial topics surrounding stakeholder management and the ongoing debate between Agile and Waterfall methodologies. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to business analysis or project management, there’s a lot to unpack from our conversation.

Building Trust with Stakeholders

One of the key challenges we discussed was the difficulty of identifying and securing time with stakeholders. As Chandra put it, “It’s hard enough to get everyone in the same room, but it’s even harder when you’re spread across time zones.” Paul emphasized the importance of building trust with stakeholders early on, so they are more willing to make time for meetings and discussions. But, as he humorously noted, “Once you build that trust, suddenly you’re flooded with requests, and your to-do list grows to 30 pages long!”

It’s clear that establishing trust is a double-edged sword—it allows you to foster stronger collaboration but also comes with increased demand. Chandra recalled how one of our past podcast guests, Shannon Alred, demonstrated JD Edwards’ potential with some “low-hanging fruit,” which led to her getting more projects to manage than she initially expected, stretching all the way to 2027!

Managing Expectations and Ambiguous Requirements

Ambiguous and evolving requirements are everyone’s nightmare, but they are part of the reality of working in tech. We emphasized how important it is to manage expectations early on. “The key is to ensure that you’re not letting scope creep derail your project,” Chandra explained. Paul agreed, sharing that while agile methods offer flexibility, they aren’t an excuse for open-ended projects. You still need to strike a balance between progressive discovery and maintaining control of the project’s scope.

We also discussed how project methodologies can affect your approach to managing requirements. Whether you’re working in a Waterfall or Agile framework, the approach to gathering requirements can vary drastically, which leads us to the next big topic of their conversation.

Waterfall vs. Agile: What’s the Difference?

Paul took some time to explain the fundamental differences between Waterfall and Agile, pointing out that each has its pros and cons. In a Waterfall methodology, every stage of the project must be completed before moving on to the next. This can be beneficial when the full scope of the project is known upfront, but as Paul noted, the downside is that it lacks flexibility and results in long feedback loops. By the time you discover a problem, it might be too late to fix it without causing delays.

Agile, on the other hand, breaks projects into smaller, manageable pieces and iterates quickly. “Agile is all about getting something of value into users’ hands quickly and then iterating based on feedback,” Paul explained. This methodology allows for more flexibility, and changes can be made without derailing the entire project. However, it can make people uncomfortable, especially those used to the security of having everything planned out from the start, as in a Waterfall environment.

Chandra chimed in, pointing out that although Agile is becoming more popular, many organizations still struggle to fully commit to it. Paul joked that they are using ‘Scrum-a-fall’ because we’re not always following Agile to the letter.” The reality is that many companies are still finding their footing, blending Agile principles with their traditional Waterfall practices.

The Agile-Waterfall Hybrid Approach

While we acknowledge that Waterfall has its place, we highlight the struggles of trying to combine Waterfall planning with Agile execution. This hybrid approach can sometimes lead to being “sub-optimized for both,” as Paul put it. The challenge is finding a blend that allows for iterative development while also having a clear, long-term vision.

Chandra pointed out that project management is often still very much rooted in a Waterfall mindset, even when organizations try to adopt Agile methods. We agreed that being adaptable and flexible is key, but it’s also important to avoid letting the flexibility of Agile create endless scope creep.

To Be Continued….

As always, we concluded this episode of The JDE Connection with another Midwesternism of the day that can be used for expressing frustration, exasperation, or annoyance. We hope you enjoyed Part 2 of our conversation on requirements gathering and will tune in next week for our final segment. Remember, we want to hear from you! Please send us your questions, feedback, or ideas for future episodes to us at [email protected]. Until next time, let’s keep learning, sharing, and most importantly, laughing together!

Toodles,

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