Traditional Development
Traditional Development, often referred to as Waterfall or plan-driven development, is a linear and sequential approach to software development where projects progress through distinct phases such as requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance. It emphasizes thorough upfront planning, documentation, and strict adherence to predefined processes, with minimal changes allowed once a phase is completed. This methodology is typically used in environments where requirements are stable and well-understood from the outset.
Developers should learn Traditional Development for projects with fixed requirements, regulatory compliance needs, or in industries like aerospace or healthcare where predictability and documentation are critical. It is suitable when the scope is clear, changes are costly, and stakeholders prefer a structured timeline with defined deliverables at each stage. Understanding this methodology helps in contexts where Agile or iterative approaches may not be feasible due to contractual or safety constraints.