[SideburnsOfDoom]

Waterfall is only mostly dead. I'm told that the reason why the public sector prefers price-and-scope-up-front is that the alternative of "we'll keep delivering things as long as you keep paying us" sounds to them far too much like ways that they have been ripped off badly in the past when buying tanks, bridges, etc.

However there is hope. www.gov.uk is a notable recent success story. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/agile

The difference is that in the early 1990s, most of us thought that larger software projects were just like that. We didn't know any better.

[vonmoltke]

That is absolutely the reason. On top of that, the only reason they want to use iterations (along with the dreaded inchstone) is so they can use Microsoft Project as a progress bar. If you try to change your iteration deliverables (that were set three years ago) because of actual project issues, you get a ration of shit from the government and their advisors.