The document discusses issues with the conventional "waterfall" model of software development and proposes improvements. It analyzes that the waterfall model is risky and invites failure due to late testing exposing design flaws. It then provides 5 necessary improvements: 1) adding a design phase before analysis, 2) increased documentation, 3) developing the software in two iterations, 4) improved testing planning and 5) increased customer involvement. It also discusses common issues seen in practice with the waterfall model like protracted integration, late risk resolution, and adversarial stakeholder relationships due to a focus on documents over working software.