Failure looms for "world’s biggest agile project", UK welfare payment system

The essay and its followup [1] are sadly lacking in specifics. "Agile" is an umbrella term that encompasses everything from small, flexible teams using rigorous engineering practices and collaborating closely with product management; to large, monolithic organizations slapping the word "agile" on the door, ditching documentation and testing, but not actually changing any of their dysfunctional habits. [2] The former tend to succeed; the latter tend to fail.

[1] "A bit more on Universal Credit and “Agile”" http://cartesianproduct.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/a-bit-more-...

[2] "The Decline and Fall of Agile" http://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/The-Decline-and-Fall-of-Agile...

Fascinating stuff, but I have no idea what the author is talking about in this section:

"Some steps have been taken to try to rescue the project. The back end – the benefits calculation – has reportedly been shifted to a “waterfall” development process – which offers some assurances that the government at least takes its fiduciary duties seriously as it should mean no code will be deployed that has not been finished."

It was so out of step with the rest of the post(s) that I thought it sarcasm at first.