Spiral Methodology - Strengths & Weaknesses
Computer Science: OCR A Level, topic 2.3.9
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Spiral Methodology
Software development methodologies are suitable in different situations and all of them have positive and negatives.
Merits of spiral methodology
- With the spiral methodology, a product can be developed at each cycle and more added to the system after each spiral.
- This means the user sees a system very early on.
- Spiral makes use of prototypes.
- The client is able to see the product being developed to ensure it is what they want.
Drawbacks of spiral methodology
- Like other agile methodologies, spiral can easily fall off track and the costs and time scales can escalate quickly.
- The client is needed to make a significant time investment for feedback and evaluation to steer the project.
- Spiral, again like other agile methodologies, produces poor quality documentation compared to waterfall.
Usage
- Spiral is best suited to projects where the client can heavily invest their time in guiding what is being produced.
- The client should have a clear idea of what they want.