Public sector IT body Socitm has urged tech pros to combine two polar opposite IT approaches to meet with success.
The organisation said a pure agile approach to IT came with a perceived risk of costly overruns, while there are also concerns over scalability due to the use of small development teams, which may not support the large nature of public sector projects.
Meanwhile, the waterfall approach, known as PRINCE2 in the public sector, is a series of lengthy and linear steps.
It is often criticised for not being collaborative enough, and can result in the business demands having changed dramatically by the time a project is finished.
Instead, Socitm suggested that public sector CIOs should adopt the Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), first released in 1994, which combines the best of agile and waterfall development approaches.
"We need new systems urgently, and while an agile approach offers quick delivery, public services want the strong governance associated with PRINCE2, as well as scalability," said Chris Head, author of a briefing on Socitm’s recommendations titled ‘Agile or PRINCE2 – a need to choose?‘.
"DSDM is a development methodology that combines the best of both," he added.
The briefing outlines how DSDM makes it possible to combine the speed and fitness for purpose that agile promises, while maintaining the control that PRINCE2 offers.
The news comes after Socitm rejected calls for a single website to be created for all local councils.
It can be downloaded from www.socitm.net.
