Module 2 checkpoint: pick the style for your project

You have read about both styles. Now pick one (or a named mix) for the project on your card, and write down why.

The decision is rarely "agile" or "waterfall" — it is usually "mostly one, with the other for the part where the destination is fixed". The goal of this checkpoint is to get that decision in writing, with reasoning your team can review.

Write three sentences: (1) "The project is mostly ___ because ___." (2) "The fixed dates I am protecting are ___." (3) "The cycles between those dates will be ___ weeks long." If you can answer those three, you have a project style.

Watch out for two traps. Trap one: borrowing waterfall vocabulary ("milestone", "stage gate") for an agile project because it sounds more professional. It will make your team feel watched and slow them down. Trap two: calling something agile because you have not done the scoping work and want flexibility as a cover. Agile requires more discipline than waterfall, not less.

You are going to refine this in Module 3 when we write the scope. For now, the picked style goes at the top of the scope doc as the project's working assumption.