Agile vs Waterfall? or Empiricism vs. Rationalism?

#1

Dear Agilists,

I would like to propose a more philosophical theme for a podcast.

We keep talking about Agile, about Waterfall and the differences in-between. To me, this is very similar to the dispute between Rationalism (Descartes, Leibnitz, Spinoza) and Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume) about the extent to which we are dependent upon sense experience in our effort to gain knowledge. Rationalists claim that there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience. Empiricists claim that sense experience is the ultimate source of all our concepts and knowledge.

Steven West at http://philosophizethis.org/ has an interesting series of podcasts on this topic and would be very interesting to have a cross-over podcast of my favourite 2 podcasts.

What do you think?

Bogdan

#2

I’m in. And always up for a philosophical humdinger of a challenge.

That said, I have no idea what I’d say… :slight_smile:

Gil Broza has a nice hand out of the belief systems behind both mindsets:

agile and waterfall values and principles.pdf (1.7 MB)

Maybe time to reread that…

Mid March for recording?

#3

Hi,

About the rationalism vs. empiricism dispute, you can read more here.

I think the big discussion to have is around how we gain knowledge while developing a product.

Bogdan

#4

@Bogdan_Onaca you write the agenda, we’ll schedule a session and convene a panel. You lead off and we have a dialog…how’s that sound?

Anybody else want in on this episode? We have to cap it at four (4) attendees as any more than that gets muddy…

#5

Probably beyond my ken, but I’m looking forward to hearing it.

#6

Hey,

I wasn’t thinking I could be leading this, but why not? Let me try to get in touch with Steven West first to see how he would feel about a cross-over episode.

Bogdan

#7

This is a very intriguing perspective. Drawing a parallel between Agile vs. Waterfall and Rationalism vs. Empiricism provides a fresh lens to explore how knowledge is acquired in product development.

A crossover episode with Steven West’s podcast would add significant value. I would be very interested in following this discussion.

#8

Agile is really empiricism on steroids if you break it down: you’re always testing hypotheses, making adjustments based on actual input, and learning as you go.

Waterfall has a strong rationalist bent and prioritizes planning, reasoning, and structure before making any changes.

Realizing that no team exists in a pure form rather, it is a spectrum is the interesting philosophical part.

While you test and adjust (empiricism), you plan (rationalism). The lesson for product developers is straightforward: when there is a lot of ambiguity, embrace empiricism; when you are familiar with the field, rely on rationalism.

Agile really excels at striking that balance.