Is Life Waterfall or Agile

"I think that waterfall is the natural way we do things in our lives and that it is the best big picture approach."

In relation to the assertion above we can spin this out to show the pros & cons of Waterfall/Agile. I agree that we do split and plan our lives in a big picture way. When I was eighteen my phases were university, travelling, jobs in IT or banking, get hitched and have kids. (With partying along the way.) (Pretty much the way it turned out.)

If I had planned my life in Waterfall, my university days would have been done with MS Project in minute detail. Of course, life would have forced change on me, making the plan late and missing its objectives as stated at the start. Instead I took an agile approach, all the time looking at the big picture goals (1) getting a degree 2) enjoying myself.) I suppose in terms of iterations you would have 13 weeks (1 semester). That is what suited me. In project terms this suited me as a fresh eighteen year old.

Of course, others could opt for a more structured waterfall approach. Typically these were mature students, who had to take certain options fit university in with career/family.

When people denigrate Waterfall, it is done from a perception that it means, every requirement to the nth degree is described in mind numbing detail before a single line of code is cut. Similarly when the code moves from development to testing. Conversely, Agile is seen as ad-hoc. Hardly ever can you say a project was fully Agile or fully Waterfall.

In the example above, I had to meet coursework deadlines and exam dates. These elements required structure. Conversely the mature students had enough latitude to deviate from the plan (and have a beer!)