To manage complex endeavors, many organizations suffer from the powerful motivation to stay within their safe zone by adhering to top-down, or “waterfall” processes. Waterfall processes are straightforward, predictable, and relatively easy to understand. This seems to eliminate any unknowns and gives us a sense of security. However, more complex, or “agile,” processes are more reliable, solve more unforeseeable problems- and in the end analysis- are often less expensive.

In any discipline, there are analogs for waterfall and agile processes. Switching from the comfort and predictability of a waterfall process to an agile one means learning new skills, investing in new tools, and re-training team members. During the process of adopting new skills and integrating new tools, there will inevitably be costs in time, effort, and capital.