Comparison of Risk Management between Waterfall, Prototype and Incremental Development

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22303/iesm.7.2.2026.60-72

Keywords:

Risk Analysis, Software Development Life Cycle, Waterfall, Prototype, Incremental

Abstract

The success of a software project depends on risk management. The first and most important step is to choose a risk management friendly software development methodology. The aim of this research is to identify the most effective software risk management approach that will prevent software project failures. To this effect, comparative analysis is used to compare between the three most common approaches to developing software: the waterfall model, the prototype model, and the incremental model. The purpose of this comparison is to determine which model provides the best assistance for risk management. During the process of writing this article, several limitations were encountered in the literature for related work as a result of the lack of up-to-date information in comparative risk management studies. In the end, it was found that incremental has the potential to be the best risk management considering the evolution of software requirements.

References

Adriani, Z. A., Raharjo, T., & Trisnawaty, N. W. (2024). A Comprehensive Examination of Risk Management Practices Throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC): A Systematic Literature Review. The Indonesian Journal of Computer Science, 13(3). DOI: 10.33022/ijcs.v13i3.401.

Aina, T. S., Akinte, O. O., Awelewa, A. J., & Adelakun, D. O. (2022). Critical evaluation of waterfall project management methodology: A case study of digital management conference project. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Research and Studies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361092440

Almazaydeh, L., Alsafasfeh, M., Alsalameen, R., & Alsharari, S. (2022). Formalization of the prediction and ranking of software development life cycle models. International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 12(1), 534–540. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v12i1.pp534-540

Andryadi, A. A., Zulkifli, R., Amrullah, F., Puspita, N. N., Pratama, F. P., Amalia, D. A., Aulya, S., Agustina, N. S., & Nuraeni, M. (2026). Identifikasi Best Practice Pengembangan Sistem Informasi Melalui Perbandingan Model SDLC: Tinjauan Literatur. Jurnal Nasional Komputasi dan Teknologi Informasi, 9(1).

Aroral, H. K. (2021). Waterfall Process Operations in the Fast-paced World: Project Management Exploratory Analysis. International Journal of Applied Business and Management Studies, 6(1).

Azanedo, D., & Dávila, A. (2025). Risk Management in Software Development Using Scrum: A Systematic Literature Review. IEEE.

Camburn, B., Viswanathan, V., Linsey, J., Anderson, D., Jensen, D., Crawford, R., Otto, K., & Wood, K. (2017). Design prototyping methods: State of the art in strategies, techniques, and guidelines. Design Science, 3. https://doi.org/10.1017/dsj.2017.10

Dhiman, K. L. (2024). Reassessment of Software Development Life Cycle Models. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 7(2), 4–10.

Gowtham, V., Manoj, Y., Pooventhiran, G., Praveen, A., Shivaram, R., & Kathiresan, A. (2017). Evolutionary Models in Software Engineering. International Journal of New Technology and Research (IJNTR), 3(5), 30–33.

Haniva, D. T., Ramadhan, J. A., & Suharso, A. (2023). Systematic Literature Review Penggunaan Metodologi Pengembangan Sistem Informasi Waterfall, Agile, dan Hybrid. Journal of Information Engineering and Educational Technology.

Herawati, S., Negara, Y. D. P., Febriansyah, H. F., & Fatah, D. A. (2021). Application of the Waterfall Method on a Web-Based Job Training Management Information System at Trunojoyo University Madura. E3S Web of Conferences, 328. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202132804026

Jason Henri, E., & Henri, J. (2020a). A Review of Risk Management in Different Software Development Methodologies. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343584508

Jovliyevich, K. B. (2022). A Survey of Software Development Process Models in Software Engineering. Eurasian Scientific Herald, 8, 69–72.

Kitchenham. (2007). Guidelines for Performing Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering.

Kramer, M. (2018). Best Practices in Systems Development Lifecycle: An Analyses Based on the Waterfall Model. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328770195

Luthfiansyah, F., Prasetyo, A., & Raharjo, T. (2024). A Systematic Review of Risk Management Tools and Techniques in Software Projects. The Indonesian Journal of Computer Science, 13(1). DOI: 10.33022/ijcs.v13i1.3694

Madhukar Salve, S., Neha Samreen, S., Khatri-Valmik, N., & Professor, A. (2018). A Comparative Study on Software Development Life Cycle Models. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 5(2), 696–700. www.irjet.net

Martins, H. F., de Oliveira, A. C., Canedo, E. D., Kosloski, R. A. D., Paldês, R. Á., & Oliveira, E. C. (2019). Design thinking: Challenges for software requirements elicitation. Information, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/info10120371

Meckenstock, J.-N., et al. (2024). Shedding light on the dark side – A systematic literature review of the issues in agile software development methodology use. Journal of Systems and Software, 211, 111966. DOI: 10.1016/j.jss.2024.111966

Nwekori, F. E. (2026). Comparative Analysis of Agile and Traditional Software Development Methodologies: A Systematic Review of Project Success, Flexibility, and Organizational Performance.

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., et al. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71

Pressman, R. S. (2010). Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach. 7th Edition. McGraw Hill, New York.

Qolbi, R. M., Putra, R. M., & Nugroho, W. (2024). Analisis Pengembangan Sistem Informasi Dengan Metode Waterfall Systematic Literature Review. Infoman's: Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Informatika dan Manajemen.

Rastogi, V., & Professor, A. (2015). Software Development Life Cycle Models-Comparison, Consequences. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, 6(1).

Salve, S. M., Samreen, S. N., & Khatri-Valmik, N. (2018). A Comparative Study on Software Development Life Cycle Models. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 5(2), 696–700.

Samihardjo, R., Anggadita, Y., & Nugraha, E. (2020). Implementation of Prototyping Process Model in Task Management Application and Objective Key Result Case Study PT. XYZ-Palarch's. Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(5).

Sarker, I. H., Faruque, F., Hossen, U., & Rahman, A. (2015). A survey of software development process models in software engineering. International Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications, 9(11), 55–70. https://doi.org/10.14257/ijseia.2015.9.11.05

Sitepu, A. I. B., & Tanjung, D. Y. H. (2020). Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Pemesanan dan Penjualan Berbasis Web dan Android pada Toko YT. Wall Interior. Jurnal Mahasiswa Fakultas Teknik dan Ilmu Komputer, 1(1), 816–828.

Sommerville, I. (2011). Software Engineering. Pearson.

Supandi, F., & Sudir, M. (2019). Analisis Resiko Pada Pengembangan Perangkat Lunak Yang Menggunakan Metode Waterfall dan Prototyping. Seri Prosiding Seminar Nasional Dinamika Informatika, 2(1).

Thakur, A., Singh, D., & Maurya, H. C. (2013). A Survey on Incremental Software Development Life Cycle Model. International Journal of Engineering Technology and Computer Research (IJETCR), 3(2), 102–106.

Thesing, T., Feldmann, C., & Burchardt, M. (2021). Agile versus Waterfall Project Management: Decision model for selecting the appropriate approach to a project. Procedia Computer Science, 181, 746–756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.01.227

Tilley, S., & Rosenblatt, H. (2017). Systems Analysis and Design. 11th Edition. Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd.

Wahyuni, et al. (2025). Analisis Komparatif Metode Spiral dan Incremental Berdasarkan Manajemen Resiko dan Fokus Utama Pengembangan. JEKIN – Jurnal Teknik Informatika, 5(2). DOI: 10.58794/jekin.v5i2.1520

Yas, Q. M., ALazzawi, A., & Rahmatullah, B. (2023). A Comprehensive Review of Software Development Life Cycle Methodologies: Pros, Cons, and Future Directions. Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics, 4(4), Article 14.

Downloads

Published

2026-08-31