Discuss the Limitation of the linear sequential model in software engineering

The following are the limitation of linear sequential model in software engineering:

·         It assumes the requirements of a system which can be frozen before the design begins.

·         Freezing the requirements usually requires choosing the hardware. A large project might take a few years to complete.

·         The waterfall model stipulates that the requirements be completely specified before the rest of the development can proceed.

·         It is a document driven process that requires formal documents at the end of each phase. This approach tends to make the process documentation heavy and is net suitable for many applications.

·         It is difficult for the customers to state the requirements clearly at the beginning. There is always certain degree of natural uncertainty at beginning of each project.

·         Difficult and costlier to change when the changes occur at later stages.

Customer can see the working version only at the end. Thus any changes suggested here are not only difficult to incorporate but also expensive. This may result in disaster if any undetected problems are precipitated to this stage.