FBI Sentinel: Waterfall Failure, Agile Success
The FBI Sentinel project failed with a waterfall approach, wasting years and budget, but succeeded rapidly after switching to Agile and iterative …
TL;DR; The FBI launched a criminal records system in 1995 that was already outdated, and it remained in use for 15 years. Relying on big, infrequent releases means technology and user needs quickly outpace your delivery. To avoid delivering obsolete solutions, shift to frequent, incremental releases so you can keep up with changing requirements and user expectations.
In 1995, the FBI launched a criminal records system that was obsolete the day it shipped. It used green screens while Windows 95 was on the shelves.
That system lasted 15 years.
Waterfall creates a world where value arrives too late to matter. By the time the big launch finally comes, the world has moved on, your tech stack is ancient, and your users are stuck in the past.
Agile delivery doesn’t just help you fail faster. It helps you deliver before failure is baked in.
Still waiting for that “big release”? Your users have already left.
Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.
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Genus Breeding Ltd
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DFDS
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Milliman
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Akaditi
Boxit Document Solutions
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Royal Air Force
Washington Department of Transport
Ghana Police Service
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Lockheed Martin
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Genus Breeding Ltd
Emerson Process Management
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Workday