Abstract
This paper identifies some key characteristics of the implementation of the waterfall process model of software development that is in adoption by the Japanese software industry. It emerged in the hierarchical structure of the industry and evolved to overcome some of the shortcomings of the waterfall process model. Despite the common view of the waterfall model as being rigid, the Japanese version of it comes with flexibility and pragmatism. The element that adds these to it is called "suri-awase," which is a method of rapidly resolves mismatches between any two stages in the process.
