Waterfall, Agile, or Wagile

Which is the Best Approach for

Salesforce Implementations?
 Author
Marc Pulverman, Senior Project Manager, Salesforce Practice
Marc is a practice manager and senior project manager with more than 13 years of project delivery
experience serving both public and private sector clients. He is a certified Salesforce developer with
extensive experience focused on managing sales, service and custom cloud engagements, as well as
customer and partner communities for clients with more than 1,000 business users.
Abstract
Since the Mythical Man Month was first written in 1975 by Fred
Brooks, project management of IT systems has been a constant
struggle to manage time, cost, and quality, as plans slip, budgets
soar and scope creeps. The premise of this book was based
on a common misconception amongst project managers. The
secret to meeting software delivery timelines is not simply adding
manpower. More recently, business leaders in small, medium,
and large organizations view Salesforce as a tool that needs to
be implemented quickly and leveraged often to manage business
goals. To successfully meet these requirements, effective project
management processes will help minimize risk and lead to faster
results and business value with Salesforce implementations. This
white paper offers a project managers perspective on the best
way to choose an approach for success with your next Salesforce
implementation.
Why is Salesforce Unique?
Technology stacks for most businesses today have evolved to
include not only the large enterprise platforms, but now more
nimble and flexible business systems like mobile apps and
devices and cloud technology. So why does Salesforce need
special mention when it comes to implementation? While there
are many differentiators and unique facets of Salesforce, there
are four significant areas where the platform accelerates a CRM
implementation:
Ease of use out-of-the-box Salesforce is a straightforward
solution that almost any budding sales operations manager
or service technician can use without a large learning curve.
This means that firms implementing Salesforce can quickly
understand what they are getting and wont have long lifecycles
to endure before realizing value for the business.
Customizable to fit business needs Salesforce comes
ready to meet current customer engagement needs and even
transform how you do business today. Custom objects, fields,
tabs, user profiles, UI/UX, and the application development
platform are more user-friendly and robust than other solutions,
2 Agile, Waterfall or Wagile Approach for Salesforce Implementations?
with simple configuration options allowing you to expose existing
customizations to your users. As such, Salesforce is much more
of a business tool, developed with business users in mind,
maximizing the value of consumer technologies as opposed to
the limitations of many on-premises, IT-centric systems.
Allows your business to scale One of the biggest
advantages of leveraging the cloud is that Salesforce comes
ready to support your business requirements whether you are
a five-person startup or a 100,000-employee multinational
business. Based on this scalability, you will find just as many
successful Salesforce implementations in SMBs as in large
enterprises.
Access anytime, anywhere In an always-connected world,
mobile CRM delivers increased access and mobility to sell on
the go. It also gives your IT department a platform on which
to build your enterprise mobile strategy. Connected apps.
Connected devices. Connected customers. Salesforce allows
you to easily become a connected enterprise with APIs, mobile
tools and more, to sell, service, and market to your customers
like never before.
Because Salesforce is such a unique, simple, business-ready and
scalable tool, its implementation needs to be supported by a project
methodology that benefits the project team as much as the end
business users. So, how can project stakeholders, IT directors and
lead Salesforce implementers ensure that their projects dont spiral
out of control, while ensuring that they dont make the mistake of
choosing a methodology that doesnt fit their business? Lets take a
deeper look.
Evaluating Project Management
Methodologies for Implementing
Salesforce
Within the project management community, there are a number
of well-worn and well-used solutions, even before the Mythical
Man Month days, which were already succeeding and failing with
regularity. Within the Salesforce community, the focus seems to
be around three primary methodologies: Waterfall, Agile, and the
Waterfall-Agile hybrid often referred to as Wagile.
Waterfall Methodology
The Waterfall model (Figure 1) is the granddaddy of project
management methodologies. Around since at least the mid-1950s,
it has been the easiest method to successfully get an IT project off
the ground. It involves a simple, step-based process from discovery
through deployment.
compared to Waterfall. The focus of Agile is on collaboration between
self-organizing, cross-functional teams. These teams work on a time-
boxed set of deliverables which will deliver success or failure by the
end of the project based on an early understanding of what should
be achieved.
Pros of using the Agile model when deploying
Salesforce include:
Speed Theoretically, Agile should see projects through to
completion more quickly. Salesforce projects rely on speed as
the business often needs to realize the cost of its investment
early.
Technical & Functional Agile allows the technical and
functional parts of the project to lead the development of the
solution. Salesforce needs technical and functional individuals
to be front and center in any implementation, and this method
facilitates that.

Cons of the Agile model when deploying Salesforce include:

Figure 1: Waterfall Model
Pros of the Waterfall model when deploying Salesforce include:
Regulated Waterfall has a set of clear gates which are closely
monitored by project managers and others. The gates, as
well as the entire project, are closely planned and budgeted.
Salesforce implementation teams will see the value in closely
monitoring every step of the solution.
Regimented Waterfall is also closely controlled. This allows for
Salesforce teams to report effectively to those within the team
and outside of it.
Scope The project scope can spiral out of control. If a Scrum
master and/or product owner is/are not strong, then the technical
team may lack clear direction as to what they are delivering.
Salesforce has many options for delivery and many more tools
that a small- or medium-sized business will use in a first phase
implementation. As such, scope changes can create significant
chance of project failure.
Cost Although time and cost are closely linked, the innovations
that come from Agile and potential scope creep can cause costs
to rise significantly. Salesforce is, compared to similar CRM
solutions, a more cost-effective solution. That said, with reduced
control over costs, these type of projects can spiral considerably.

Cons of using the Waterfall model when deploying

Salesforce include:
Rigid Projects delivered using Waterfall wont show any
system progress until the build is complete. By the end of a
build, the project is more than halfway complete, so viewing
what has been built is incredibly risky. This is especially true
for Salesforce, as the relative simplicity of the tool means
that business leaders can show value quickly through an
iterative process, and waiting for the end of the build will not
allow enough time for buy-in to the changes coming from the
implementation.

Agile Methodology
Agile (Figure 2), and its cousin Scrum (not to mention XP, Crystal,
DSDM, etc.), define a different approach to project management Figure 2: Agile Model

Agile, Waterfall or Wagile Approach for Salesforce Implementations? 3

Wagile Methodology Pros of using the Wagile model when deploying Salesforce
(and other Agile-Waterfall hybrids) include:
Iterations Allows for iterations in design and build, even if
The Wagile approach attempts to combine the best features of
the approach is mostly Waterfall. This benefits Salesforce,
both Agile and Waterfall by adopting a few Agile practices, such as
as the system can be built and then changed throughout the
short iterations, the daily stand-up or continuous integration, on top
project to ensure buy-in to the final design and a match with the
of a Waterfall model (or vice versa). That said, by leveraging the
organizations strategy.
best of both practices, it often ends up being the superior project
Plans Planning is done early and plans are reviewed often to
management methodology for Salesforce implementations.
ensure adherence to the timeline. Because of the breadth of
tools available in Salesforce, early adherence to a project plan
The models shown in Figure 3 are two views of the Wagile
and following it through is essential.
spectrum. One approach is more Waterfall but includes significant
The Best of Both Wagile allows the project to take the best
time for iterations and demos. The other is closer to Agile, but
from both Waterfall and Agile, including but not limited to:
includes upfront planning, release breakdown, and finishing the
understanding the business need, alignment of budget/scope/
project with clear transition and signoff.
time, and iterations to reduce risk of scope creep. Wagile also

OPTION #1: Modified Waterfall Approach

OPTION #2: Modified Agile Approach

Figure 3: Wagile Models

4 Agile, Waterfall or Wagile Approach for Salesforce Implementations?

 encourages continuous communication and involvement from all While each of these approaches has its merit, I encourage the
parts of the project to instill ownership among team members. Wagile approach, as it utilizes the best of Waterfall and Agile to
This allows you to leverage the best parts of Salesforce consistently produce a Salesforce project with the greatest potential
including Chatter and other social functions. to be completed on time and on budget.

Cons of using the Wagile model when deploying Salesforce An early decision about methodology in your next implementation
include: should not be taken lightly. With the right approach and a team that
Clarity As a non-traditional approach, Wagile needs to be can implement it with confidence, your Salesforce project has every
identified early and the process agreed upon by all parties. chance of success!
Salesforce will benefit from being exposed to users early, but if
the team is expecting to have a product backlog and the project
manager is expecting to test at a specific time, this method may
not work.

Conclusion
Choosing the right project management methodology when
implementing Salesforce is potentially more important than the final
deliverable. It will ensure this easy-to-use, tailored, and scalable
product is delivered on time, on budget and within scope. The
right methodology will also help ensure that Salesforce is used by
delivery teams from day one, and respected by leadership to deliver
the right information to make important business decisions.

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Agile, Waterfall or Wagile Approach for Salesforce Implementations? 5