“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” For product development teams, those words from French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ring especially true.
Every new product starts with an idea, but without a structured process, even the best ideas can stall. The waterfall product management framework provides that structure, guiding teams step by step from the brainstorming stage of the product development process to making adjustments based on customer feedback.
A structured project management approach like the waterfall technique helps teams avoid costly missteps and deliver products on time and within budget. Below, explore how this approach works, its discrete phases, and the tools that can help bring products to life more efficiently.
What is waterfall product management?
Waterfall product management is a linear approach in which you and your team must complete each of six project phases before the next phase begins. The model’s name comes from the way progress flows downward through clearly defined stages, much like a waterfall.
Computer scientist Dr. Winston W. Royce first outlined the process in 1970, and researchers Thomas E. Bell and T. A. Thayer expanded on it in the mid-1970s. Together, they helped establish it as a structured model for managing complex software development projects. It emphasizes detailed planning, comprehensive documentation, and timelines at every step.
Teams use the waterfall model to map out an entire product development process, from identifying product requirements and designing prototypes to building and testing final products. It helps them stay organized and avoid miscommunication between stages of development.
Waterfall product management phases
The waterfall product management framework unfolds through six distinct, sequential phases. This structure helps teams maintain order, documentation, and accountability throughout the development process, minimizing risk and confusion. Let’s walk through each step:
1. Requirements
The requirements phase begins with creating a well-defined business requirements document (BRD)—a formalized description of your project’s goals, scope, and success criteria.
Next, you’ll develop a functional requirements document (FRD), translating those goals into actionable details, including technical specifications, fixed requirements (meaning non-negotiable resources like budget, labor, and timeline), and performance expectations.
In waterfall product management, the purpose of the requirements phase is to gather all relevant information for what your product is, how you’ll create it, and what resources you need to develop, produce, and launch it. This typically involves consulting stakeholders, reviewing customer feedback or market research, and defining measurable success criteria for the finished product.
This helps prevent misunderstandings and scope changes later in the process.
2. Design
Once you’ve reviewed and approved your requirements documents, you can move into the design phase.
In product development, this phase involves creating a product design document that captures the research, brainstorming, and design work for your new product. In this document, you’ll outline your product’s functionality and aesthetic plans while explaining how these designs align with your overall business goals and customer needs.
After documenting the product designs, create a physical product prototype—an unreleased version of your product—to evaluate feasibility. Share this prototype with relevant stakeholders, including managers, investors, and team members, for feedback before moving to implementation.
3. Implementation
After approving the product designs, you can move to the implementation phase. This is where your planning turns into production. For software tools, this means writing the necessary source code. For physical products, it involves producing items based on your approved prototypes. Ideally, this phase can move efficiently, since you already have the resources, documentation, and timelines established in previous phases.
4. Testing
In this phase, you test your product to evaluate how well it performs against the goals set in your business requirements and product design documents (the plans finalized in the previous stage). Is your product meeting specifications? Is your production process consistent enough to avoid defects?
This stage allows businesses, merchants, and product teams to do quality assurance and usability tests before release. You can also use this time to make last-minute adjustments to designs or processes based on test results. Thorough testing helps prevent recalls, refunds, or customer dissatisfaction after launch.
5. Deployment
After testing is complete, the deployment phase is when you deliver a final product to customers. Develop a comprehensive product launch strategy that fits your goals—whether a soft launch to gather early user feedback from a limited group or a hard launch to reach your entire target market at once.
Set a clear launch date, select the sales channels most used by your customer base, and promote the release through marketing campaigns. For example, a cosmetics brand might partner with social media influencers to create content using and recommending the new product. Gather initial feedback and performance data during this phase to guide future improvements.
6. Maintenance
The final stage of waterfall project management is the maintenance phase, where you monitor customer feedback and make adjustments to your product or process as needed. This may include fixing software bugs, repairing production equipment, or addressing product defects.
A key aspect of this phase is customer service, which helps customers get full value from their purchase, leading to greater customer satisfaction and repeat sales. Offer multiple communication channels, such as email, social media, phone, and live chat, to make it easy for customers to share feedback or report issues. Insights from this stage can also inform future updates or product improvements.
When to use waterfall product management
The waterfall product management framework can benefit ecommerce merchants, manufacturers, and software developers who need a sequential, structured approach to developing and releasing products. Here are a few examples of how this framework can work well:
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Product development. Businesses creating new products can use the waterfall method to define required resources, design a prototype, and implement design plans in a controlled sequence. This approach also suits the development of new product features or product line extensions that build upon an existing item in the same category.
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Manufacturing. Waterfall can help manufacturers develop a comprehensive production plan to meet customer demand. For example, a tech accessories manufacturer could use the waterfall process to identify equipment, labor, and material needs, and then design and test an assembly line workflow.
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Software development. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies often apply the waterfall framework when building new tools or features. For example, a team developing a customer relationship management (CRM) platform could use the framework to plan the entire project—from creating a product road map through source-code development and functionality testing before release.
Each of these examples involves predictable requirements and fixed deliverables, making the waterfall’s step-by-step approach ideal. However, keep in mind that this framework is meant to guide you, not constrain you. Even the most well-planned projects sometimes need adjustments.
Pros and cons of waterfall product management
The waterfall product management approach provides a clear project structure with defined boundaries, steps, and timelines. However, it can be less effective for dynamic or complex projects that require flexibility. Below are some of the main advantages and disadvantages of the waterfall framework:
Pros
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Clear expectations. Because it emphasizes upfront planning and detailed requirements, the waterfall framework helps set expectations for budget, timeline, and outcomes with stakeholders.
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Comprehensive documentation. You approve each stage of the waterfall process before the next one begins, allowing you to reference previous steps or requirements when needed.
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Easy to measure progress. The linear design keeps team members and stakeholders informed about a project’s stage and whether it’s staying within budget and on schedule.
Cons
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Open to scope creep. Because each stage depends on the previous one, an unexpected delay or issue can create a chain reaction that slows the entire project.
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Difficult to change. The focus on upfront planning leaves little room for adjustments once execution begins, making it challenging to incorporate feedback or adapt your plan in the middle of the process. That said, if significant issues arise, it’s better to pause and address them than to rigidly stick to the original plan.
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Limited stakeholder involvement. After you set requirements, product teams often work independently, with fewer opportunities for stakeholder input compared to more iterative frameworks like the agile approach.
Types of waterfall product management tools
Several strategic tools use the waterfall methodology to help teams plan and track progress through each phase. Together, they give waterfall teams a clear, visual way to manage complex projects and ensure each phase stays aligned with the overall plan:
Gantt charts
A Gantt chart is a project management tool designed to track dependent tasks and deadlines using a bar chart format. The far-left column lists project deliverables, while the top row shows the overall timeline. Each task appears as a horizontal bar, with the length representing the task’s duration within the larger time frame.
By visualizing tasks and dependencies, Gantt charts help merchants and project managers (PMs) manage the waterfall process and keep different teams informed about project status and responsibilities. For example, a product owner can create a Gantt chart showing each waterfall phase as a horizontal bar and share it with their entire product development team to assign tasks and track progress.
Product roadmaps
Product road maps are strategic documents that outline the plan and timeline for a product’s development, including goals, resources, and competitive advantages. You can create them as written summaries, visual flowcharts, or process maps that guide product teams through each sequential step in your waterfall product management plan. A road map for a seasonal apparel line, for instance, could outline key design, production, and launch milestones.
PERT tools
The Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) is a visual tool used for project planning. PERT charts feature numbered circles or rectangles for milestones and arrows showing task dependencies and sequence. Teams can use PERT tools to identify start and end dates for each waterfall phase and visualize the order of tasks required to complete the entire project.
PERT charts are especially useful for mapping your project’s critical path—the sequence of tasks that determines the minimum total project duration—and for spotting bottlenecks that could slow project progress. A manufacturing team might use a PERT chart to identify the steps most likely to delay assembly-line completion.
Waterfall vs. agile framework: What’s the difference?
The agile methodology is an iterative process for project management that divides work into short cycles called sprints. After each sprint, teams meet with stakeholders to review deliverables, evaluate progress, and adjust the overall strategy as needed. Agile practices serve a similar purpose as waterfall, creating a visual and shareable plan for the completion of a particular project, like developing a new product.
While both aim to organize work efficiently, agile focuses on continuous improvement, adaptability, and collaboration, whereas waterfall emphasizes upfront planning and fixed expectations.
The waterfall process follows sequential steps, but the agile approach allows teams to revisit earlier stages and modify work based on new feedback. It gives your team the structure needed to turn ideas into successful products. Whether you’re launching your first product line or expanding into new markets, this approach helps prevent costly mistakes and keeps projects on track.
Ready to streamline your product management process? Start with Shopify’s free product development worksheet to map out your next project using waterfall product management principles.
Waterfall product management FAQ
What is a waterfall in product management?
In product management, the waterfall methodology is a linear approach that divides work into six project phases, where the completion of one phase triggers the start of the next. It’s commonly used in product development, manufacturing, and software projects.
What is the difference between agile and waterfall product management?
Waterfall is a sequential approach that prioritizes upfront planning and clear expectations for goals, outcomes, budgets, and timelines. By contrast, agile is an iterative process that breaks work into short cycles with ongoing collaboration and flexibility to adjust plans based on mid-project feedback.
What are the main phases of waterfall product management?
The six phases of the waterfall product management approach are requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
What is an example of a waterfall product management tool?
A common example of a waterfall product management tool is a Gantt chart—a type of bar chart designed to track dependent tasks and deadlines on a visual timeline. This is ideal for managing the linear, phase-by-phase structure of waterfall projects.
