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Can anyone explain me the differences between the spiral and agile models in simple terms as I am beginner?? Can you give me some real world egs. where spiral is more useful than agile and vice-versa... I know there are so many links available on internet but they are hard to understand as I am a beginner .. So it would be great help if you explain in simple terms?? Thanx in advance...

Thomas Owens
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Mishthi
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The Spiral Model is an example of iterative development. A typical iteration will be somewhere between 6 months and 2 years and will include all aspects of the lifecycle - requirements analysis, risk analysis, planning, design and architecture, and then a release of either a prototype (which is either evolved or thrown away, depending on the specific methods chosen by the project team) or working software. These steps are repeated until the project is either ended or finished.

Agile development, on the other hand, includes a number of different methodologies with specific guidance as to the steps to take to produce a software project, such as Extreme Programming, Scrum, and Crystal Clear. The commonality between all of the agile methods is that they are iterative and incremental. The iterations in the agile methods are typically shorter - 2 to 4 weeks in most cases, and each iteration ends with a working software product. However, unlike the spiral model, the software produced isn't a prototype - it is always high quality code that is expanded into the final product.

Thomas Owens
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  • And is whether there also a case with spiral that during prototyping all the requirements must be well discovered so that when actual working model designing commences no changes can be incorporated?? – Mishthi Jan 08 '11 at 15:54
  • No. That's the point of a spiral model. As you iterate and prototype, you clarify known requirements and learn about new ones (as well as find out what isn't really a requirement). – Thomas Owens Jan 08 '11 at 19:13