Waterfall is like baking a cake. You follow a recipe step-by-step: mix ingredients, bake, cool, and then frost. Once you start, it’s tough to change the recipe. This method is very structured and linear. For example, if you’re developing a new software, you gather all requirements first, then design, develop, test, and finally deploy.

Agile, on the other hand, is like cooking a soup. You taste and adjust as you go. You might start with a basic recipe, but keep tweaking ingredients based on taste tests. Agile is flexible and iterative. For example, in software development, you work in small chunks called “sprints.” You build a piece of the project, test it, get feedback, and improve it continuously.

Example: If you’re building a website:

• Waterfall: Plan every detail upfront, design the entire site, code it all, then test and launch.
• Agile: Create a basic homepage first, get feedback, then add features like a blog, contact form, etc., improving with each sprint.

Key difference: Waterfall is like a straight line; Agile is like a loop, allowing changes and improvements throughout the process.