Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and the Unified Process, Second Edition

2.6. The Agile UP

Methodologists speak of processes as heavy vs. light, and predictive vs. adaptive. A heavy process is a pejorative term meant to suggest one with the following qualities [Fowler00]:

• many artifacts created in a bureaucratic atmosphere

• rigidity and control

• elaborate, long-term, detailed planning

• predictive rather than adaptive

A predictive process is one that attempts to plan and predict the activities and resource (people) allocations in detail over a relatively long time span, such as the majority of a project. Predictive processes usually have a “waterfall” or sequential lifecycle—first, defining all the requirements; second, defining a detailed design; and third, implementing. In contrast, an adaptive process is one that accepts ...