Sprint vs Waterfall: Why Not Use Both with monday Dev?

Sprint-based delivery suits projects where feedback will shape the solution. Waterfall suits work with stable requirements and a clear sequence of phases. A hybrid approach can work when a business needs formal approvals alongside development that changes as the team learns.

There is an important distinction behind the sprint vs Waterfall comparison. A sprint is part of Scrum, not a separate project management methodology. Waterfall describes a broader approach to organising delivery.

That distinction matters when you choose how to run a project. Short deadlines alone do not make a team Agile, just as a detailed project plan does not automatically make a project Waterfall. What matters is how your team plans work, tests assumptions, and responds to change.

Understanding Sprints, Scrum, and Waterfall

Agile describes values and principles for collaborative, adaptive work. Scrum is a framework that applies an iterative approach, and a sprint is a fixed-length event within Scrum. Waterfall organises project delivery around sequential phases. This article compares sprint-based delivery with Waterfall rather than treating sprints as a separate methodology.

Waterfall Methodology

Also known as the Waterfall model, this project management technique follows a sequential approach. Projects will get broken down into sequential linear phases that lead into the next, relying on deliverables from the previous one.

Safe to say that this method lives up to its name, right? It flows exactly like a waterfall, where one step must be completed before moving on.

TechTarget reports that Winston W. Royce introduced this linear approach in a 1970 research paper. He stated that the Waterfall model allows you to set a structure and plan for a project early on.

This methodology helps in the following ways:

• Projects are easier to manage and execute.
• Milestones, deliverables, and release dates are more predictable.
• Ensures accurate estimations.

How Waterfall Works

Waterfall gives a project a defined sequence. A typical software project moves from requirements and design into development, formal testing, and deployment.

Each phase produces information or deliverables that later work depends on. Reviews and approvals establish whether the project is ready to move forward.

This can be a sensible arrangement when requirements are stable and the sequence of work is well understood. It also helps when contracts or business stakeholders require formal acceptance of specific deliverables.

Waterfall does not mean change is forbidden. A team can revisit earlier decisions, but it must understand the consequences. A new requirement might affect the design, create additional testing, or change a delivery commitment.

The risk is discovering too late that an approved requirement does not solve the user’s problem. Clear documentation helps control a project, but it does not replace validation.

Sprint Methodology

As mentioned earlier, the Sprint method is part of the Agile model. It works in sprints or iterations. These are small deliverables with short deadlines (one to three weeks), which your team must complete before getting feedback. Based on the insights, they'll adapt and change the project management techniques.

It's a collaborative project management style that breaks down a large project into smaller tasks. Teams can then tackle these attainable tasks in a collaborative setting. Industry leaders have deduced that it's based on the twelve principles available in the Agile manifesto.

It values:

• Flexibility in deliverability.
• Cross-team collaboration.
• Project progression without a step-by-step structure.

Agile project management is an iterative and incremental approach that delivers a project throughout its life cycle. It promotes speed and adaptability and takes customer feedback to solve problems.

When it comes to Waterfall vs Agile, the former isn't flexible and cannot jump ahead to different phases unless a problem is solved.

How Sprint-based Delivery Works

A sprint begins with a conversation about value. The team needs to understand what it wants to achieve and why that outcome matters.

The Product Owner orders the product backlog, which holds the work needed to improve the product. During sprint planning, the team agrees on a sprint goal and selects work it believes it can complete.

Development and verification happen throughout the sprint. Work is complete only when it meets the team’s Definition of Done, the shared standard for quality and usability.

At the sprint review, the team and its stakeholders inspect the outcome. They discuss what has changed and what should happen next. The retrospective then gives the team a separate opportunity to improve how it works.

This approach is useful when the right solution cannot be fully specified at the start. Regular reviews help the team test its assumptions before committing more effort.

It also requires involvement. If stakeholders never review outcomes or nobody can settle competing priorities, the sprint calendar becomes a schedule of meetings rather than a way to improve delivery.

What is the Difference Between Sprint-based Delivery and Waterfall?

Sprint-based delivery organises work into short, repeated cycles. The team produces usable work, reviews the outcome, and uses what it learns to guide future priorities.

Waterfall organises work around a planned sequence. Requirements and design usually establish the basis for development, testing, and acceptance. Changes are assessed against the agreed scope and schedule.

Both approaches involve planning. The difference is how much detail the team establishes early and how it makes decisions when new information arrives.

Neither approach removes uncertainty. A fixed plan can rest on incorrect assumptions, while a sprint-based team can still make poor decisions about priorities.

Waterfall Model and Sprint Model: Some Examples

Let's simplify what we just learnt. Waterfall methods flow through the project in a structured manner without the ability to break out of the steps. Whereas Sprint methods break down the project into smaller tasks, allowing for more flexibility.

An example of how to use both the Sprint and Waterfall methodologies can help you understand them further.

Example of Agile Methodology

Your software development team wants to create a productivity tool for a small business. Agile (Sprint) methods will include a process of:

• Creation of a high-level vision for project kickoff detailing the key features.
• Each team is working on a feature for iterative development based on priority and feedback. For example, short sprints throughout the project timeline to develop a working increment.
• Integrated testing to identify errors in each sprint to ensure continuous feedback before it's presented to stakeholders.
• Moving on to the next sprint (feature) once the previous one is approved.
• Deployment of a minimum viable product that showcases the productivity tool.
• Ongoing maintenance and development where your team adds features, improves subsequent sprints, fixes bugs, and more.

Example of Waterfall Methodology

Imagine your software development team uses the Waterfall method to design the same productivity tool. The process will be:

• Clearly define the scope based on every feature the tool needs as part of requirements gathering.
• Detailed product design to document a guide for development.
• Coders will follow a structured process based on the implementation modules laid out by the design team.
• The system will be tested for performance issues, alignment with business needs, and bugs.
• Once bugs are fixed, the next step would be to roll out the product to customers.
• For maintenance, the team will address post-deployment issues.

Can You Combine Sprints and Waterfall?

Yes. A hybrid approach can retain formal project controls while allowing development priorities to evolve.

For the customer portal, the business could approve the funding boundary, security requirements, and release conditions upfront. The delivery team could then use sprints to develop and test the customer journeys.

Feedback would influence the solution without allowing the team to ignore agreed business obligations.

The boundary needs to be explicit. A Product Owner might be authorised to reorder features within the agreed scope. A change that affects a contractual commitment could require a sponsor’s decision.

A hybrid model works best when everyone understands that these are different decisions. Reordering work is not the same as changing the budget or authorising a release.

When Combining Approaches Creates More Problems

Hybrid delivery becomes difficult when the organisation adds controls without deciding what they protect.

A team might be asked to respond to feedback while also being told that every original requirement is fixed. It might hold sprint reviews even though stakeholders have no opportunity to change future priorities.

Another common conflict is reporting development as complete while testing and acceptance remain unresolved. This gives managers an optimistic picture of progress without showing what is still required for release.

Using both approaches is not automatically more mature. A simpler process with clear ownership is often better than a hybrid structure that creates duplicate approvals.

When Should You Choose Each Approach?

The decision should follow the nature of the work.

Sprint-based delivery is a strong fit when users need to interact with working software before they can give meaningful feedback. It also suits products whose priorities will evolve as the business learns.

Waterfall is more useful when requirements can be defined reliably and important dependencies determine the sequence. Formal acceptance may also be central to the project’s commercial arrangements.

A deadline alone does not settle the choice. Both approaches can work towards a fixed date. The harder question is what the organisation will change if the available time cannot accommodate everything it wants.

How Can monday Dev Help?

Reports suggest that the valuation of the project management software industry will reach USD 7 billion by 2026. That's because 85% of businesses actively use such tools.

What if we told you that there's a work management platform that can help manage Agile and Waterfall processes? With monday Dev, you can streamline product development strategies (start) to post-launch feedback (finish).

It's a flexible platform built for Product and R&D teams. monday.com Dev is filled with customisable features designed to take Agile and Waterfall methods to the next level.

Agile Sprints with monday Dev

If you're using Agile methods, monday Dev can help you with Sprint management. With this, you can gain an immediate overview by assigning ownership, priorities, timelines, and statuses to each sprint.

Sprint management on monday Dev comes with the following features:

• Burndown charts to identify potential bottlenecks by comparing ideal sprint progress with remaining effort.
• Kanban boards and dashboards maximise efficiency by giving you a 360-degree view of into ongoing development tasks.
• monday Dev integrations with 72+ tools like GitLab, GitHub, etc., to automatically sync bug reports and share updates.
• Burndown Chart, Kanban Board, & Git UI Integration on monday Dev

Waterfall Projects with monday Dev

Waterfall methodology is a more traditional (complicated) approach. Well, the entire lifecycle can be easier to manage using monday Dev features.

• Lay out the entire project from start to finish. It has 25+ widgets and 36+ columns to display quarterly plans, budgets, team progress, etc.
• monday WorkDocs helps with knowledge management, where you can store detailed Waterfall documentation in a single location.
• Set up notification alerts for team members to begin the project stage once the previous stage is complete, using monday automation.
• Gantt charts help visualise crucial project milestones or task dependencies, ensuring Waterfall projects run smoothly and on time.

How Fruition Can Help?

Fruition is a monday.com Platinum Partner providing consulting, implementation, and workflow automation services.

A useful implementation begins with how the business makes decisions. Who owns priorities? What does completed work mean? Which handoffs require approval? What information should managers trust?

Fruition’s monday.com implementation services connect those operating requirements with boards, permissions, reporting, and automations.

The objective is not to make every team follow the same template. It is to create a system that supports the delivery approach the business has chosen and remains understandable to the people using it.

FAQs

Is a sprint a project management methodology?

No. A sprint is a fixed-length event within Scrum, lasting one month or less. Sprint-based delivery is a more accurate term when comparing this way of working with Waterfall.

Is Scrum the same as Agile?

No. Agile describes values and principles, while Scrum provides a framework for iterative, incremental work. Teams can follow an Agile approach without using Scrum or fixed-length sprints.

Can Waterfall projects use sprints?

Yes. A project can retain phased planning and approvals while using sprints for development. This creates a hybrid delivery model, which needs clear rules for priorities, changes, and release decisions.

Does Waterfall prevent changes to requirements?

No. Waterfall projects can change requirements through an agreed assessment and approval process. The team needs to understand how a change affects completed work, remaining effort, dependencies, and delivery commitments.

Does every sprint end with a product release?

No. Scrum requires usable increments, but release timing is a separate decision. Work can be released before a sprint ends, while relevant business or regulatory conditions can also affect when a release happens.

Which monday dev plan supports sprint management?

monday.com’s documentation lists sprint management under Standard and higher plans. Timeline and Gantt views are also listed under Standard and higher, while Agile Insights requires Pro or higher.

When should a team avoid hybrid project management?

Avoid a hybrid approach when it adds approval layers without addressing a genuine project need. If the team cannot explain which decisions need formal control and which need flexibility, resolve that before combining approaches.

Can monday dev manage both sprint work and project milestones?

Yes. monday dev provides sprint management alongside roadmap and timeline capabilities, subject to the selected plan. Teams still need to configure ownership, reporting, and approval arrangements around their actual process.