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Agile Software Development Life Cycle: Case Study

Learn more about our agile software development life cycle from our Mitsubishi case study.

Any software development project, either big or small, requires a great deal of planning and steps that divide the entire development process into several smaller tasks that can be assigned to specific people, completed, measured, and evaluated. Agile Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), is the process for doing exactly that – planning, developing, testing, and deploying information systems. The benefit of agile SDLC is that project managers can omit, split, or mix certain steps depending on the project’s scope while maintaining the efficiency of the development process and the integrity of the development life cycle. 

Today, we are going to examine a software development life cycle case study from one of Intersog’s previous projects to show how agility plays a crucial role in the successful delivery of the final product. Several years back, we worked with Mitsubishi Motors helping one of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers to develop a new supply chain management system. With the large scope of the project, its complex features, and many stakeholders relying on the outcomes of the project, we had to employ an agile approach to ensure a secure software development life cycle.

Business Requirements

Mitsubishi Motors involves many stakeholders and suppliers around the world, which makes its supply chain rather complex and data-heavy. That is why timely improvements are crucial for the proper functioning of this huge system and a corporation as a whole. Over the years of functioning, the old supply chain has been accumulating some noticeable frictions that resulted in the efficiency bottlenecks, and Intersog offered came ups with just the right set of solutions to make sufficient solutions that would help Mitsubishi ensure a coherent line of communication and cooperation with all the involved suppliers.

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Previously, Mitsubishi used an outdated supply chain management system that involved a large number of spreadsheets that required a lot of manual input. Considering a large number of stakeholders, the problem of synchronization has been a pressing one as well – different stakeholders would input the data at different speeds and at different times of day, which created a degree of confusion among suppliers. Though the system has been sufficient for a long time, the time has come to eliminate all the redundancies and streamline data input. 

The legacy system has been partially automated and ran on the IBM AS400 server, which allows for impressive flexibility, but it no longer sufficed for Mitsubishi’s growing needs. The main requirement, thus, was to create a robust online supply chain solution that would encompass the entire logistics process starting with auto parts and steel suppliers and ending with subcontractors and car dealerships around the world. That being said, Mitsubishi did not want to completely change the system, they opted for overhaul, and we came up with the idea of an integrated web application that was meant to function in conjunction with a DB2 base that was already used on the IBM AS400 server. 

IT Architecture and Agile SDLC

Mitsubishi employs a series of guidelines and rules on how to build, modify, and acquire new IT resources, which is why Intersog had to be truly agile to adapt to the client’s long-established IT architecture. Adapting to the requirements of the client, and especially to the strict regulations of the IT architecture of large corporations like Mitsubishi requires knowledge, flexibility, and strong industry expertise. Each software development company has its own architecture standards and frameworks for building new systems but many face difficulties when working with the existing systems and modifying them to the new requirements.

Intersog has no such problems. We approached Mitsubishi’s case with strong industry expertise and flexibility to account for all the client’s needs and specifications of the existing system. Obviously, following the client’s architecture regulations requires a profound understanding of said regulations, which is why information gathering is an integral phase of the software development life cycle.

Requirements Gathering

The requirements gathering phase can take anywhere from just a couple of days to several weeks. Working with complex and multi-layered legacy systems like the one used by Mitsubishi requires serious analysis and information gathering. In the case of Mitsubishi, our dedicated team had to gain a clear understanding of how the legacy system functions, create new software specifications, map out the development process, gather and create all the necessary documentation, track all the issues related to the functioning of the legacy system, outline the necessary solutions, and allocate all the resources to achieve the project’s goals in the most efficient manner. 

Working on the Mitsubishi project, our team has been gathering all the required information for up to 4 weeks. This included a profound examination of the legacy system, mapping out all of its flaws and specifications, bridging the gaps between the current state of the system and the requirements of the client, and outlining the development process. 

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The design stage includes all the integral decisions regarding the software architecture, its makeover, the tech frameworks that would be used in the system’s rework. During this stage, developers discuss the coding guidelines, the tools, practices, and runtimes that will help the team meet the client’s requirements. Working with large corporations like Mitsubishi, a custom software development team has to work closely with the company’s own developers to better understand the specifics of the architecture and create a design that reflects all the requirements. 

After all the requirements are gathered, we initiated the design stage based on all of the client’s specifications and came up with a number of solutions that matched Mitsubishi’s specs:

• Convenient data model meant to optimize data duplication;
• Permission system that differentiated the users by their access levels;
• Appealing user interface mockup to improve the comfortability of user-system interaction;
• Integration with the legacy RPG system;
• Notifications for the partners to keep them up with the important activities.

This set of essential solutions has been discussed and approved in the course of the design stage that lasted for 2 months. During this stage, Intersog and Mitsubishi development teams worked closely to come up with the solutions that matched the client’s requirements to the tee. Proper functioning of the supply chain is vital for the entire corporation, which is why it was critical to do everything flawlessly. 2 months might seem like quite a timeline, but for this case study on software development life cycle, it was not that long considering how complex Mitsubishi’s legacy system was. 

Solution Development

After approving the solution design, the team can move to develop those solutions. That’s the core of the entire project, a stage at which the teams meet the goals and achieve the outcomes set during previous stages. The success of the development stage depends heavily on how good a job the teams did during the design stage – if everything was designed with laser precision, the team can expect few if any, surprises during the development stage. 

What happens during the development stage is the teams coding their way towards the final product based on decisions that have been made earlier. With Mitsubishi, we followed the guidelines we came up with earlier and implemented a set of essential solutions:

• We built a convenient data model that minimizes the risk of human error by reducing redundant and repetitive data entry and duplication. 
• Improved Mitsubishi’s security system to differentiate the users by their level of access and give them the respective level of control over the data.
• Added the notifications for the users so that they could react to the relevant changes faster.
• Designed an appealing and comfortable user interface using the AJAX framework to make the user-system interaction more comfortable and time-efficient. 
• Deployed the platform running on the IBM AS400 server with the integration of DB2 databases.
• Integrated the existing RPG software into the new system.
• Migrated the existing spreadsheets and all the essential data into the new system.

All of these solutions took us 6 months to implement, which is rather fast for a project of such scale. Such a time-efficiency was possible only thanks to the huge amount of work we’ve done throughout the research and design stages. The lesson to learn from these software development life cycle phases for the example case study is that the speed of development would depend heavily on how well you prepare. 

Depending on the scale of the project, you might be looking at different timelines for the development stage. Small scale projects can be finished in a matter of weeks while some of the most complicated solutions might take more than a year to finish. In the case of the Mitsubishi project, it was essential for the client to get things done faster. Rushing things up is never a good idea, but you can always cut your development timeline by doing all the preparation work properly and having a clear understanding of what needs to be done and in which order.

Quality Assurance                   

Quality assurance is as vital for your project’s success as any other stage; this is where you test your code, assess the quality of solutions, and make sure everything runs smoothly and according to plan. Testing helps you identify all the bugs and defects in your code and eliminate those in a timely manner. Here at Intersog, we prefer testing our software on a regular basis throughout the development process. This approach helps us to identify the issues on the go and fix them before they snowball into serious problems. 

That’s it, quality assurance is a set of procedures aimed at eliminating bugs and optimizing the functioning of the software solutions. Here at Intersog, we run both manual and automated tests so that we can be truly sure of the quality of solutions we develop for our clients. With Mitsubishi, we ran tests throughout the development process and after the development stage was over. It took us an additional month to test all the solutions we’ve developed, after which we were ready for the implementation stage.

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Integration and Support

Following the testing, and once we are sure all the solutions work flawlessly, the development team gets to the implementation stage. Also known as the integration stage, this is where we integrate the new solution into the client’s pre-existing ecosystem. Basically, you are putting new gears into a complex mechanism that has been functioning for many years, and it is essential to make sure all of those gears fit perfectly. 

With such a complex system as the one employed by Mitsubishi and a vast amount of accumulated data, our developers had to be incredibly precise not to lose anything. We are talking about surgical precision because Mitsubishi’s suppliers amassed thousands upon thousands of spreadsheets full of critical data on supplies, material and product deliveries, accounting data, and more. All of that had to be carefully integrated with the new automated solution. 

After 2 months, the solutions have been fully integrated with Mitsubishi’s existing ecosystem. Intersog usually backs the clients up by offering support and maintenance services to ensure flawless functioning of the system over time, but this time, our client was fully capable of maintaining the new system on their own. As said, Mitsubishi has its own development team that is able to take care of the system maintenance, so that our cooperation was finished after the integration stage. 

Final Thoughts and Outtakes

A software development life cycle depends on many factors that are unique for each company. In the case of Mitsubishi, we’ve managed to get things done in just under a year, which is rather fast for a project of such an immense scale. Different projects have different life cycles, and it depends on the scale, the client’s ability to explain their needs, and the development team’s ability to understand those needs, gather all the necessary information, design the appropriate set of solutions, develop said solutions, ensure their quality, and implement them fast.

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Understanding the SDLC: Software Development Lifecycle Explained

Learn about the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and gain valuable insights into its essential phases, methodologies, and best practices. Enhance your understanding of this crucial process to drive successful software development projects.

Building great software is a big challenge, and development teams rely on the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to help them succeed. By providing a structured approach to software development, an effective SDLC helps teams:

Clarify and understand stakeholder requirements.

Estimate project costs and timeframes.

Identify and minimize risks early in the process.

Measure progress and keep projects on track.

Enhance transparency and improve client relations.

Control costs and accelerate time to market.

What is SDLC?

The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is a step-by-step process that helps development teams efficiently build the highest quality software at the lowest cost. Teams follow the SDLC to help them plan, analyze, design, test, deploy, and maintain software. The SDLC also helps teams ensure that the software meets stakeholder requirements and adheres to their organization’s standards for quality, security, and compliance.

The SDLC includes different phases, and each phase has a specific process and deliverables. Although SDLC meaning might vary for each development team, the most common phases include:

Requirements gathering and analysis: Business analysts work with stakeholders to determine and document the software requirements.

System design: Software architects translate the requirements into a software solution and create a high-level design.

Coding: Developers build the software based on the system design.

Testing: The software is tested for bugs and defects and to make sure that it meets the requirements. Any issues are fixed until the software is ready for deployment.

Deployment: The software is released to the production environment where it is installed on the target systems and made available to users.

Maintenance and support: This ongoing process includes training and supporting users, enhancing the software, monitoring performance, and fixing any bugs or security issues.

SDLC phases and how they work

Each phase of the SDLC has key activities designed to drive efficiently, quality, and customer satisfaction.

Requirements gathering and analysis

Accurate, complete, and measurable user requirements are the foundation for any successful SDLC project—to ensure that the software meets user expectations and to avoid costly rework and project delays. The IT business analyst:

Gathers requirements by conducting interviews, holding workshops or focus groups, preparing surveys or questionnaires, and observing how stakeholders work.

Evaluates the requirements as they relate to system feasibility, and software design and testing.

Models the requirements and records them in a document, such as a user story, software requirements specification, use case document, or process specification.

System design

Effective system design properly accounts for all documented requirements. In this phase, software architects use tools to visualize information about the application’s behavior and structure, including:

The unified modeling language (UML) to illustrate the software’s architectural blueprints in a diagram.

Data flow diagrams to visualize system requirements.

Decision trees and decision tables to help explain complex relationships.

Simulations to predict how the software will perform.

To support the distinct layers within a software application, software architects use a design principle called separation of concerns. A software program that’s designed to align with the separation of concerns principle is called a modular program.

Modular software design separates program functionality into interchangeable, independent modules, so that each module contains everything it needs to execute one aspect of the software’s functionality. This approach makes it easier to understand, test, maintain, reuse, scale, and refactor code.

In the coding phase, developers translate the system design specifications into actual code. It’s critical that developers follow best practices for writing clean, maintainable, and efficient code, including:

Writing code that’s easy to understand and read.

Using comments to explain what the code does.

Using version control to track any changes to the codebase.

Refactoring the code if needed.

Conducting a code review when coding is completed to get a second opinion on the code.

Providing code documentation that explains how the code works.

Before it’s released to production, the software is thoroughly tested for defects and errors.

The software test plan provides critical information about the testing process, including the strategy, objectives, required resources, deliverables, and criteria for exit or suspension.

Test case design establishes the criteria for determining if the software is working correctly or not.

Test execution is the process of running the test to identify any bugs or software defects.

Developers and quality assurance teams use automated testing tools to quickly test software, prepare defect reports, and compare testing results with expected outcomes. Automated testing saves time and money, provides immediate feedback, and helps improve software quality. Automated testing can be used for:

Unit testing: Developers test the individual software modules to validate that each one is working correctly.

Integration testing: Developers test how the different modules interact with each other to verify that they work together correctly.

System testing : Developers test the software to verify that it meets the requirements and works correctly in the production environment.

User acceptance testing: Stakeholders and users test the software to verify and accept it before it’s deployed to production.

There are three main phases to deploying software in a production environment:

The development team commits the code to a software repository.

The deployment automation tool triggers a series of tests.

The software is deployed to production and made available to users.

Effective software installation requires a consistent deployment mechanism and a simple installation structure with minimal file distribution. The team must also make sure that the correct configuration file is copied to the production environment and that the correct network protocols are in place. Before migrating data to the new system, the team also needs to audit the source data and resolve any issues.

Release management makes software deployment smooth and stable. This process is used to plan, design, schedule, test, and deploy the release. Versioning helps ensure the integrity of the production environment when upgrades are deployed.

Maintenance and support

After the software is deployed, the software maintenance lifecycle begins. Software requires ongoing maintenance to ensure that it operates at peak performance. Developers periodically issue software patches to fix bugs in the software and resolve any security issues.

Maintenance activities also include performance monitoring of both the software’s technical performance and how users perceive its performance. Providing training and documentation to users, along with addressing user issues and upgrading their systems to make sure they’re compatible with the new software, are also key components of the software maintenance lifecycle.

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What are the SDLC methodologies?

In the world of software development, different methodologies serve as structured approaches to guide the process of creating and delivering software. These methodologies shape how teams plan, execute, and manage their projects, impacting factors such as flexibility, collaboration, and efficiency. Let's take a look at some of the more prominent SDLC methodologies.

Waterfall model

Introduced in 1970, the first SDLC approach to be widely used by development teams is called the waterfall model. This method divides the software development process into sequential phases. Work flows down from one phase to another, like a waterfall, with the outcome of one phase serving as the input for the next phase. The next phase can’t begin until the previous one is completed.

The waterfall model works best for small projects where the requirements are well-defined, and the development team understands the technology. Updating existing software and migrating software to a new platform are examples of scenarios that are well-suited for the waterfall model.

Waterfall model advantages

The straightforward process is easy to understand and follow.

An output is delivered at the end of each phase.

Project milestones and deadlines are clearly defined.

Waterfall model disadvantages

Lack of flexibility makes it difficult for development teams to adapt when stakeholder requirements change.

Once a phase is completed, any changes can be costly to implement and might delay the project schedule.

Testing does not take place until the end of the SDLC.

Agile methodology

The term “agile” describes an approach to software development that emphasizes incremental delivery, team collaboration, and continual planning and learning. Unlike the waterfall model’s sequential process, the agile methodology takes an iterative approach to software development.

Iterative software development speeds the SDLC by completing work in sprints, which are fixed project cycles that typically last between two and four weeks. Key terms include:

User stories: User stories are short descriptions of product requirements from the customer’s point of view. The most critical user stories are prioritized at the top of each sprint’s backlog of work.

Increment: The sprint’s output is called the increment. Each increment should be of potentially shippable quality, with all coding, testing, and quality verification completed.

Retrospectives: At the end of each sprint, the agile team conducts a retrospective meeting to evaluate the process and the tools, discuss what did and didn’t go well, and determine what to improve in future sprints.

The agile methodology is well-suited for projects that require flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt to changing requirements. Because it encourages collaboration, agile is also well-suited for complex projects where many teams work together.

Agile methodology advantages

Stakeholders and users can provide feedback throughout the SDLC, making it easier for developers to build software that meets their needs.

Incremental delivery helps development teams identify and fix issues early in the project before they become major problems.

Cost savings might be realized by reducing the amount of rework required to fix issues.

Retrospectives provide an opportunity for teams to continuously improve the process.

Agile methodology disadvantages

Requirements must be clearly defined in the user story. If not, the project can quickly derail.

Too much user feedback might change the scope of the project, cause delays, or make it difficult to manage.

Incremental deliverables can make it difficult to determine how long it will take to finish the entire project.

Agile frameworks

Agile methods are often called frameworks and the most common agile framework is called “scrum.” There are the three key roles on the scrum team:

The scrum master ensures that the team follows the scrum process and is continuously looking for ways that the team can improve while resolving issues that arise during the sprint.

The product owner takes responsibility for what the team builds and why they build it, along with keeping the backlog of work in priority order and up to date.

The scrum team members build the product and are responsible for engineering and quality.

The scrum team decides how to manage its own workload for each sprint based on the backlog shown on a task board. Team members participate in a daily scrum (or daily standup) meeting where each person reports on their individual progress. At the end of the sprint, the team demonstrates their potentially shippable increment to stakeholders, conducts a retrospective, and determines actions for the next sprint.

Kanban is another agile framework. Kanban is Japanese term that means billboard or signboard. Kanban boards visualize work items as cards in different states to provides at-a-glance insight into the status of each project and make it easy to identify any bottlenecks.

To help them work most effectively, development teams might adopt aspects of both the scrum and kanban agile frameworks.

Other popular SDLC methodologies

The iterative model  emphasizes continuous feedback and incremental progress. It organizes the development process into small cycles where developers make frequent, incremental changes to continuously learn and avoid costly mistakes. The iterative model is well-suited for large projects that can be divided into smaller pieces, and for projects where the requirements are clearly defined from the start.

The spiral model  combines the iterative and waterfall models. It takes an evolutionary approach where developers iteratively develop, test, and refine the software in successive cycles, or spirals. Large, complex, and costly projects are well-suited for this model.

The v-shaped model  emphasizes testing and validation in a sequential process. This model is very useful for projects in industries like healthcare, where thorough testing is critical.

The lean model  focuses on increasing efficiency throughout the development process. This model takes an iterative approach and is well-suited for projects where achieving short-term goals is a priority and when there’s frequent interaction between the development team and users.

SDLC best practices and challenges

The biggest challenges to a successful SDLC often stem from inadequate communication, planning, testing, or documentation. Best practices to address these issues include:

Collaboration between the development team, IT operations, the security team, and stakeholders.

Clearly defining user requirements and project deliverables, timelines, and milestones.

Detailed documentation of resources, schedules, code, and other deliverables.

Daily scrum meetings to identify and resolve issues.

Retrospectives to drive continuous improvement across the SDLC.

SDLC security

Due to increasing cyberattacks and security breaches, development teams are under pressure to improve  application security . SDLC security is a set of processes that incorporate robust security measures and testing into the SDLC. Best practices support the detection and remediation of security issues early in the lifecycle—before the software is deployed to production.

Security that empowers developers

To get ahead of security issues, some teams are using development platforms that build security analysis into their workflow. For example, the  GitHub platform  scans code for security issues as it’s written in the coding phase.

How does DevOps work with the SDLC?

DevOps  is an approach to SDLC that combines development (dev) and operations (ops) to speed the delivery of quality software. The core principles of this approach are automation, security, and  continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) , which combines the SDLC into one integrated workflow.

DevOps follows the lean and agile SDLC methodologies and emphasizes collaboration. Throughout the entire SDLC, developers, IT operations staff, and security teams regularly communicate and work together to ensure successful project delivery.

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A well-structured SDLC helps development teams deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently. Although SDLC methods vary by organization, most development teams use SDLC to guide their projects.

The SDLC helps development teams build software that meets user requirements and is well-tested, highly secure, and production ready. Popular tools that support the SDLC process include:

GitHub Actions to automate SDLC workflows.

GitHub security tools to help developers ship secure applications.

GitHub Copilot to developers write code faster with AI.

GitHub code review tools to help avoid human error.

Frequently asked questions

What are the phases of sdlc.

The phases of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) include requirements gathering and analysis, system design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance and support. By taking a structured approach to software development, SDLC provides a process for building software that’s well-tested and production ready.

The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is a step-by-step process that helps development teams efficiently build the highest quality software at the lowest cost. Teams follow the SDLC to help them plan, analyze, design, test, deploy, and maintain software. The SDLC also helps teams ensure that the software meets stakeholder requirements and adheres to the organization’s standards for quality, security, and compliance.

What is the main purpose of SDLC?

The main purpose of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) is to drive successful software development projects. Building great software is a big challenge, and most software development teams rely on the SDLC to help them succeed. By taking a structured approach to software development, SDLC provides a process for building software that’s well-tested and production ready.

What are SDLC models?

Software development lifecycle (SDLC) models are workflow processes that development teams follow to plan, analyze, design, test, deploy, and maintain software. Examples of SDLC models include the waterfall model, the iterative model, the spiral model, and the v-shaped model. Another type of SDLC model is the agile method, which emphasizes incremental delivery, team collaboration, and continual planning and learning.

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In the realm of software development, the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is akin to the architectural plan or methodology used in house construction. It’s a crucial process that outlines methodology for development cycles that create effective, high-quality software from concept to launch, and even thereafter.

However, the SDLC isn’t just about coding. It’s a complete guide involving seven key phases that help teams navigate through the twists and turns of software creation, ensuring no aspect is overlooked. From initiation to the maintenance phase post-deployment, each phase presents distinct tasks and objectives.

Why are each of these phases relevant? Consider them as checkpoints with project management associated with each software project. They ensure we’re on the right path, creating software that not only meets users’ needs but also accomplishes business goals. For instance, the planning phase clarifies what the software should do. The design phase sketches out its implementation and deliverables. The testing phase examines if everything functions as expected and so on.

Let’s examine the seven phases of the software development life cycle, shining light on how a digital product or application journeys from idea to execution.

Phase 1: Planning

The initial stage of software development, Planning, involves defining the software’s purpose and scope, much like pinpointing our destination and plotting the best route. We uncover the tasks at hand during this phase and strategize for efficient execution.

The team collaborates to understand the end-users’ needs and the goals the software should meet. Essentially, we ask, “What problem will this software solve?” and “What value will it offer to the user?”

A feasibility study also takes place during the Planning phase. Developers and product teams evaluate technical and financial challenges that might affect the software’s development or success.

So, what transpires in this phase? Key documents such as the Project Plan and Software Requirement Specification (SRS) are created. These guides detail the software’s functions, necessary resources, possible risks , and a project timeline.

The Planning phase fosters effective communication and collaboration within the team. By defining clear roles, responsibilities, and expectations, it lays a solid foundation for an efficient software development process.

Phase 2: Requirements Analysis

Phase 2 of the SDLC, Requirements Analysis, seeks to identify and record the precise requirements of the final users. In this phase, the team is looking to answer, “What are the expectations of our users from our software?” This is called requirements gathering.

The project team collects information from stakeholders, including analysts, users, and clients. They conduct interviews, surveys, and focus groups to understand the user’s expectations and needs. The process involves not only asking the right questions but also accurately interpreting the responses.

After collecting the data, the team analyzes it, distinguishing the essential features from the desirable ones. This analysis helps the team understand the software’s functionality, performance, security, and interface needs.

These efforts result in a Requirements Specification Document. It outlines the software’s purpose, features, and functionalities, acting as a guide for the development team and providing cost estimates if needed. To ensure its reliability, the document is validated for accuracy, comprehensiveness, and feasibility.

The success of the Requirements Analysis phase is pivotal for the entire project. Done right, it leads to a software solution that meets users’ needs and exceeds their expectations.

Phase 3: Design

The Design phase is all about building the framework. The development team is responsible for software engineering and outlines the software’s functionality and aesthetic. This ultimately results in the software product. The emphasis lies on outlining the software’s structure, navigation, user interfaces, and database design. This phase ensures that the software is user-friendly and performs its tasks efficiently.

So, what tasks does the team undertake? Key activities include crafting data flow diagrams, constructing entity-relationship diagrams, and designing user interface mock-ups. The team also identifies system dependencies and integration points. They also set the software’s limitations, such as hardware constraints, performance requirements, and other system-related factors.

The culmination of these tasks is an exhaustive Software Design Document (SDD). This document serves as the roadmap for the team during the coding phase. It meticulously details the software’s design, from system architecture to data design, and even user interface specifics.

The Design phase is the link between the software’s purpose (established in the Planning and Requirements Analysis phases) and its execution (defined in the coding phase). It’s an essential step in creating software that works efficiently and provides an excellent user experience.

Phase 4: Coding

The Coding phase in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is when engineers and developers get down to business and start converting the software design into tangible code.

This development phase aims to develop software that is functional, efficient, and user-friendly. Developers use an appropriate programming language, Java or otherwise, to write the code, guided by the SDD and coding guidelines. This document, acting as a roadmap, ensures the software aligns with the vision set in earlier phases.

Another key aspect of this phase is regular code reviews. Team members carefully examine each other’s work to identify any bugs or inconsistencies. These meticulous assessments uphold high code standards, ensuring the software’s reliability and robustness. This phase also includes preliminary internal testing to confirm the software’s basic functionality.

At the end of this phase, a functional piece of software comes to life. It embodies the planning, analyzing, and designing efforts of the preceding stages. Though it may not be flawless, it represents a significant stride towards a valuable software solution.

Phase 5: Testing

Consider the Testing phase of the SDLC as a stringent quality inspection on a production line. It is when vulnerabilities are uncovered. Software testing involves a thorough examination of the software for any bugs or glitches that might have slipped through during coding. The aim is to ensure flawless software operation before it reaches the end-users. And even identify opportunities for enhancement.

The testing process begins by setting clear parameters in line with the software’s requirements. This includes identifying the necessary software conditions, and outlining diverse scenarios to examine these conditions. This step aids in creating an efficient testing strategy.

After establishing test cases, developers and engineers should rigorously test the software . They should conduct various types of tests, including unit testing, security testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing. These tests range from scrutinizing individual components to ensuring the seamless operation of the entire system.

When a test reveals a bug, it is documented in detail, noting its symptoms, reproduction method, and its influence on the software. These bugs are then sent back to the developers for rectification. Once the required fixes are implemented, the software re-enters the testing phase for validation. This process is a cycle of persistent refinement until the software complies with all predetermined parameters.

The Testing phase is instrumental in ensuring the software’s robustness and reliability.

Phase 6: Deployment

After crafting a product with precision, it’s time to present it to the users by pushing to the production environment. The Deployment phase involves rolling out the meticulously tested and fine-tuned software to its end-users.

A specific strategy is executed for the software’s deployment to ensure minimal disruption to the user experience. Depending on the software and its audience, we might use different methods such as Big Bang, Blue-Green, or Canary deployments .

However, deployment isn’t just about launching the software. It’s about ensuring users can operate it with ease. This responsibility might involve creating user manuals, conducting training sessions, or offering on-site support. 

The Deployment phase doesn’t signal the end, but rather a notable milestone. It signifies the shift from a project phase to a product phase, where the software begins to fulfill its purpose.

Phase 7: Maintenance

In the Software Development Life Cycle, the maintenance phase is characterized by constant assistance and improvement, which guarantees the software’s best possible functioning and longevity and ensures it meets customer expectations.

The primary focus is to adapt to the software’s changing needs. This adaptation involves responding to user feedback, resolving unexpected issues, and upgrading the software based on users’ evolving requirements. It’s a continuous process of refining and adapting, much like a gardener tending to their garden.

Maintenance tasks encompass frequent software updates, implementing patches, and fixing bugs. User support is also a crucial component, offering help and guidance to users facing difficulties with the software.

The maintenance phase also considers long-term strategies, for instance, upgrading or replacing the software. This decision depends on the software’s lifecycle and technological progress. Similar to a homeowner contemplating a renovation or selling their house, the software might require a complete revamp or phase-out to stay relevant and valuable.

Frequent SDLC Models

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) encompasses various models that outline the processes involved in software development and maintenance. Here are seven commonly used SDLC models:

Waterfall Model

This is a linear and sequential approach where each phase must be completed prior to moving on to the next step. The phases include requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

Iterative Model

This model involves repetitive cycles of development, allowing for feedback and improvement in each iteration. Phases are often repeated until the final product is achieved with success.

Incremental Model

This is more of an incremental model that divides the system into small, manageable parts (also known as increments) with each increment representing a portion of the entire system’s functionality. In this approach, each increment is developed and delivered separately.

Spiral Model

The spiral model incorporates elements of both iterative and incremental models. In this model, development progresses in a spiral fashion through repeating cycles of planning, risk analysis, engineering, and critical evaluation.

V-Model (Verification and Validation Model)

Consider this an extension of the waterfall model that emphasizes the relationship between development stages and testing stages. In this model, each development stage has a corresponding testing phase.

Agile Model

The agile methodology is an iterative and incremental approach that emphasizes flexibility and collaboration between cross-functional teams. When implementing an agile model, requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration and adaptation to change.

RAD Model (Rapid Application Development)

This is not about giving fellow surfers props after riding a killer wave. Alternatively, the RAD model focuses on rapid prototyping and quick feedback from end-users. It involves user feedback and iterations to rapidly refine and enhance the software.

It’s important to note that these models are not mutually exclusive, and development teams often use a combination of methodologies tailored to the project’s specific needs. Factors such as project requirements, budget, timeline, and flexibility determine the choice of an SDLC model.

The Essential Steps in Software Development

We’ve thoroughly examined the seven crucial phases of the Software Development Life Cycle. Each phase – from planning to maintenance, adds value by generating a software solution fitting users’ requirements and meeting objectives. While the SDLC provides an effective pathway, adaptability is critical. Is this a large project or a small project? Adapting to your needs is key. Are you prepared for this systematic yet flexible method? To learn more about how Split’s suite of development tools can help your engineering team work more efficiently, contact us here . From feature flags to automated rollout monitoring, Split can help your engineering team ship more great products.

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What is the software development lifecycle (SDLC)? Phases and models

In this guide, we’ll provide an overview of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and its seven phases, as well as a comparison of the most popular SDLC models.

What is the software development lifecycle (SDLC)?

Every software development team needs a guiding framework. This might come from a lightweight framework such as scrum or a traditional heavyweight framework such as the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

The SDLC is a methodology that involves multiple steps (also called stages) that enable software development teams to produce low-cost and high-quality software products.

The development team often owns the SDLC. They use the SDLC alongside the engineering manager to organize their workflow. However, the SDLC is also a part of the holistic product development framework.

The product manager is typically involved in the SDLC in the same way as any other framework. Product managers:

• Ensure with the engineering manager and the development team that the SDLC is aligned with the business objectives
• Guard the team against any organizational obstacles
• Define the product vision and strategy and scope the features related to them in an unambiguous manner to avoid issues during the implementation
• Ensure that the product built during the SDLC aligns with the scope, schedule, and budget
• Remain actively involved during the testing stage to make sure the product produced adheres to the expected quality

What are the 7 phases of the SDLC?

Corporations use the SDLC to define, build, and maintain software products. It is a detailed process that creates a comprehensive outline for the engineers’ workflow.

The SDLC comprises seven phases (stages or steps) whose names and numbers differ from company to company and book to book. However, they all serve the same purpose.

The following phases are the most common within the SDLC model:

Defining requirements

Prototyping, implementation, integration and testing, operations and maintenance.

The work plan is constructed. The team members are assigned and the activities needed to build the software are defined (e.g., gather requirements, interview clients, conduct smoke tests, etc.).

A detailed requirements document is prepared (e.g., product requirement document , product specifications document, etc.).

In traditional SDLC, the requirements should be supported by different product architecture diagrams such as use case diagrams , activity diagrams, sequence diagrams, component diagrams, composite structure diagrams, and interaction overviews.

The designers pass the requirements to create a very detailed prototype that covers every aspect of the user journey. The prototype should cover all possible cases, including error messages, status, and interactions.

The engineers receive the requirements and the design from the other team members and the actual implementation work starts.

The backend work integrates with the front-end work and the testers start executing their test cases to identify bugs or any potential issues.

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After successfully building the software, the team coordinates with the product manager to deploy the software to production.

The team continuously identifies technical and functional enhancements to improve the product. This includes refactoring and bug bashing.

SDLC origins

The SDLC was initially introduced in a book called Global Business Information by Feoffrey Elliott. After it was proven successful by large organizations that develop business systems, countless software development companies started adopting it, and different variations of the SDLC model evolved over time.

SDLC models

The SDLC phases or stages can be used in various ways with multiple sequences. Organizing and reorganizing the steps of the SDLC will produce so-called models or methodologies.

Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages. SDLC methodologies are divided into traditional models and contemporary models:

• Traditional models — Frameworks or models that are distinguished by their linear nature, meaning that SDLC phases are carried out consecutively
• Contemporary models — Frameworks or models that are based on the iterative nature throughout SDLC phases to provide more adaptability during the production flow of the software. Those models have evolved into agile models down the road

Examples of traditional SDLC models

The SDLC has more than 10 traditional models, however the most popular models are:

Spiral development

Waterfall vs. spiral development.

The Waterfall model is one of the oldest SDLC models, known for its basic and classical structure. The stages of this model are fixed. Each phase must be completed before moving onto the next, which prohibits overlapping. The output of each stage is an input for the next stage.

Phases of the waterfall model

The six phases of the waterfall model are as follows:

Requirements

Maintenance.

This phase concentrates on communicating with the users/end users to gather the requirements and to capture information regarding a user’s needs. The product manager, at this stage, defines and documents the scope of the project in a document called a business case .

A business analyst evaluates the business case and starts the logical design of the software by using the requirements and information collected by the product manager. Based on the high-level design created by the business analyst, a system analyst translates the high-level design to a detailed low-level design that considers software and hardware technology.

A full user interface design with the system architecture is defined at this stage. A couple of documents are also produced to help the engineers understand the end-to-end expected output.

Here, the actual code of the software system is written. Software developers create the system according to the instruction and requirements recorded, written, and prepared in the design and requirement phases. The output of this phase is the actual product.

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This stage gets the input from the implementation stage. Software testers draft test plans based on the functional specification documented in the low-level design document (LLDD). On the other hand, software developers prepare testing plans in the form of a checklist to examine if every function is executable as expected.

Finally, quality assurance engineers gather all documents written in all phases and conduct an overall deep test on every specific aspect of the system.

After passing all processes of the testing phase, the product is ready to release. The software system is either released for users to install on their own machine or deployed to production servers.

This phase focuses on enhancements, delivering changes, or fixing any defects and issues that may arise.

Applications for the waterfall model

The waterfall model is most suitable for:

• Small and simple projects
• Projects with a limited number of unconfirmed and ambiguous requirements
• A software system that requires well-documented artifacts (e.g., issuance software)

Advantages of the waterfall model

The waterfall model helps to:

• Provide the team with the ability to detect errors early in the process
• Define the specific starting and ending point of the project. It ensures that the project deadline is in control
• Provide well-written and structured documents that make it easier to revise the code for future enhancements and scaling work

Disadvantages of the waterfall model

The waterfall model is limited by:

• The biggest disadvantage of this model is that there’s no way to go back to a specific phase. Once a phase is completed, it’s locked
• In some cases, estimating the required time to finish a phase is tough. An incorrect assumption may result in a failure to meet the deadline
• If changes are proposed during the execution of the project, the project has to stop and start all over again

The spiral model is a risk-driven hybrid model that features some of the traits of the waterfall model and Iterative model. Based on the identified patterns of risk, the team can adopt specific activities of different processes.

Phases of the spiral model

• Risk analysis
• Engineering/implementation

1. Planning

Requirements are collected and the overall objective is identified during this phase. A business analyst collects and generally documents those system and business requirements.

2. Risk analysis

This phase is meant to identify any potential risk by planning the risk mitigation strategy. The project manager, team members, and end user collaborate to identify potential risks that may impact the project.

3. Engineering/implementation

The system is developed along with quality assurance checks and testing processes at this stage.

4. Evaluation

The product manager/end user in this phase is responsible for evaluating the system software, which is the output of the previous phases. The evaluation is done before the project proceeds to the next planned spiral cycle.

Application of the spiral development model

The spiral development model is suitable for projects that:

• Have a large or medium scope
• Come with high risk
• Are complex or unclear in requirements

Advantages of the spiral development model

• Flexible and easy to manage
• The process of monitoring the process effectiveness is easy
• Coping with the late proposed changes is easy for the product manager
• It eliminates the errors early during the project

Disadvantages of the spiral development model

• Not easy to implement. Needs high expertise
• Requires risk analysts paired with the development team continuously
• High in cost
• Meeting the scheduling and budgetary constraints is challenging with this model

Final thoughts

The SDLC is a framework that was invented around 50 years ago. Since then, it has contributed to building tons of successful software products. Many companies later adopted and adapted it to develop an effective process tailored to their needs. The SDLC, by its nature, was invented to save costs, build quality and complex software, and satisfy the end-user.

Currently, the SDLC is not as popular as before, especially with the rise of agile models and mindsets. However, having information about all those frameworks will allow product managers and product teams to build better processes that generate better results.

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SDLC – The Software Development Life Cycle

Software Development projects can feel overwhelming. But when you break down large chunks of the work into smaller pieces, suddenly it’s manageable. That’s basically what any project management methodology is all about. The whole project, from start to finish, is evenly divided into phases. The software development life cycle (SDLC) is how it’s done in software development. Let’s define it, look at different models and the best way to manage SDLC.

What Is the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?

The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a process by which software is developed and deployed. It’s a process that encompasses every phase of software creation, from conception to maintenance after the software is released.

There are a variety of methodologies to manage your software development life cycle, including waterfall, agile and other models. Teams select a specific methodology with the goal of producing their software as quickly and as cheaply as possible without sacrificing quality. This is achieved by choosing the right SDLC model for the context of your software development life cycle.

SDLC Phases

Regardless of the SDLC methodology that you choose, there are consistent SDLC phases that should be followed in order to successfully complete a deliverable for the client. The name of the phases might vary, but the following list summarizes the core functions of typical SDLC phases.

Project management software helps you manage every phase of the project. ProjectManager is cloud-based work and project management software that has interactive Gantt charts that break larger projects into phases that reflect the project’s life cycle. Gantts are great for organizing tasks, linking dependencies and creating milestones. Our Gantt goes further, filtering for the critical path and then allowing you to set a baseline to track your progress when you execute the project. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

1. Requirements Gathering & Analysis

Understand the proposal put forth by the customer, and then gather their requirements for a suitable solution. Be sure to probe as much as possible to gather as much information as you can at this stage. This phase is heavily documented so that developers can revisit requirements at any time.

2. Planning & Designing

This is when you elaborate on a project plan for meeting those requirements laid out by the customer. Once you have a plan, design concrete specifications for the developers to utilize, like screen layouts and other materials. During this phase, you need to analyze the problem in the context of the organization’s policies and objectives.

3. Building

During this phase, the actual code is constructed. This can be done by a single developer, a larger team or even several teams depending on the scope of the work. Developers will need to track changes to the code and, if there are different teams working together, that they’re able to know what the others are doing. Changes should be documented, either formally or informally.

Now that the code has been written, it’s time to test. Usually, this is done in a special environment, so the team can check for bugs and other mistakes without being distracted by too many variables. Our test case template can help you as you go through the software testing process.

5. Deployment

After all known errors have been eliminated, the software is deployed. This is when the product is actually put into production and released in a business environment.

6. Maintenance

During the maintenance phase, the software is maintained so that it stays effective and relevant. Tweaks can be made to the initial software so that it remains a viable solution that is free of bugs.

Related: Product Development Template

SDLC Models

There are several different methodologies that can be used to execute the SDLC. Each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Below is a high-level explanation of a few different SDLC methodologies.

Waterfall Model

The waterfall model is the most traditional SDLC methodology. This model focuses on gathering all of the customer requirements on the front end of the project so that every step of the SDLC can be planned. Once planned, the steps must be executed in a linear fashion, where each phase must be completed before the next can begin. Its logical structure, and its ability to set near-accurate estimates for budgets, resources and deadlines, make it a popular methodology when the project is familiar and contains very few unknowns.

Drawbacks of this model include:

• Customers often don’t know exactly what they need at the beginning of the project.
• Formalized structure can reduce the speed of execution.
• If an error is found during the testing phase, it can be very expensive to fix.

Agile Model

The Agile model was made in response to the rigidity of the waterfall model. Agile is an iterative process where the team is constantly re-evaluating their priorities based on regular customer feedback and the success of their sprints. Sprints are short work periods, maybe 2 weeks, where the team tries to knock out high-priority tasks and release a workable product for customer feedback. The Agile model rejects the concept that you can know everything about a project at its onset.

• Too much customer feedback can send the project astray.
• A lack of a solid plan can make it difficult to estimate deadlines and resources.

Related: Agile vs Waterfall and the Rise of Hybrid Projects

V-Shaped Model

The v-shaped model is very similar to the waterfall model, in that it also features a rigid, well-thought-out plan (this time in a v shape). However, the biggest difference between v-shaped and waterfall is that the v-shaped model has a big emphasis on testing. Testing should be completed after each phase in order to reduce errors as the team progresses through the plan.

• An inability to hit deadlines due to extensive testing.
• A lack of adaptability due to a linear structure.

Big Bang Model

The big bang model rejects planning almost entirely. There is also very little emphasis on gathering requirements and instead relies on the ability of the developers to find a good solution through trial and error. This model jumps straight into the development phase, and the code is written without much analysis. The big bang model is better suited for short-term projects.

• Customer dissatisfaction due to a lack of requirements.
• An inability to establish hard deadlines.
• Not good for long-term projects due to the inherent high risk.
• Can end up being rather expensive due to a lack of planning.

Which Software Development Process is Right for You?

There is no right or wrong SDLC methodology, as it’s clear that each has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to choose your methodology based on the context of the problem that you and your team are trying to solve.

Regardless of the methodology that you choose, you’re going to need to use the best possible project management tools to bring your software development life cycle to a successful conclusion.

Templates to help with the Software Development Life Cycle

Regardless of the process, you use to manage your software development life cycle, you’re going to need project management software or, if you’re not ready for the upgrade, then at least a set of useful templates. ProjectManager is the online hub for free project management templates with dozens to help you from plan to completion. Here are a few SDLC templates to get you started.

Requirements Gathering Template The free requirements gathering template for Word collects everything you’re going to need in the design and development of your software product. It has space for business requirements, user requirements and system requirements. Needless to add, it’s a critical document to complete before any IT or software development.

IT Project Plan Template Our free IT project plan template has space for you to capture all the tasks, costs, resources, duration and deliverables in your project. This is where you’ll build a schedule to control the time, cost and scope of your project and deliver software that meets your stakeholder’s expectations. All the major phases of the project are included.

IT Risk Assessment Template Using the free IT risk assessment template for Excel will help you identify and resolve risks associated with IT projects, such as software failure, malware, viruses and more. Our template helps you avoid costly downtime due to errors or hacks to actions to mitigate those risks. You can even monitor them once identified until they are resolved.

Using ProjectManager for the SDLC Process

ProjectManager has the planning, tracking, collaboration and reporting tools you need to deliver a quality product to the customer every time.

Plan the Phases

Our interactive online Gantt charts are perfect for planning your software projects, especially with waterfall and v-shaped models.

Automate Workflows

Free your team up to focus on what matters with our custom workflows. You add as many triggers as you need, which set off actions that complete simple tasks and take care of busywork that would otherwise slow your team down.

Control the status of work with our task approvals. Managers can authorize who can move a task further down the production cycle. Control the process and make sure your deliverables make quality expectations.

Track Your Progress

No matter your methodology, you need to track your progress. If you’re using the Gantt chart, it’s easy to set milestones to see your progress at a high level.

For a detailed progress report, use our real-time dashboard which features a live look at task progress, expenses, workload, and more. Plus, we have 1-click reporting features that generate reports in seconds, which can then be shared online with your customers, managers and team members.

Distribute Resources

Use our workload management tools to track team workload across tasks in a software project. With a color-coded calendar, it’s easy to see on a daily basis which members of the team are being overburdened or underutilized.

Keep your schedule extra organized by setting regular working hours and holidays to limit the number of work hours you can assign to anyone on the team. This is especially helpful if your software team is spread out across the globe.

Collaborate with Purpose

Use ProjectManager to send direct messages to other team members, or, collaborate on a task level to stay focused on the work at hand. Leave comments on specific tasks and receive email alerts when tasks are updated. Plus, upload and share files with anyone on the team when you use our unlimited online storage.

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Now that you know about SDLC and the required tools, it’s time to get started on your project! Sign up for a free trial of ProjectManager today and see how our online project management software can make your team more prepared, collaborative and productive.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that connects hybrid teams at any time and anywhere. We have features that manage every part of the software development cycle. Get started with ProjectManager today for free .

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What is SDLC? Software Development Life Cycle Phases, Methodologies, and Processes Explained

James Taylor, who authored Managing Information Technology Projects , noted that a “project life cycle encompasses all the activities of a project." And the goal of systems development is the realization of the product requirements.

If you want to learn how to build, deploy, and create high quality software you will want to follow a blueprint.

As Taylor articulated, your goal should be to think holistically about all the activities of a project and how to best manage each stage.

But where should you start?

One answer is to leverage a framework to guide your behavior and work-flows.

One particularly powerful and popular framework is called the Software Development Life Cycle process (SDLC).

In this article I will walk you through the following:

• How SDLC works and why it is used
• Each stage of SDLC and the best practices and methodologies you must be aware of when using it
• I will conclude by citing examples to show the benefits of the SDLC approach.

How SDLC Works and Why it is Used

SDLC consists of six steps which I have diagrammed here for your reference.

In totality, SDLC is a closed loop. This means that each step influences actions that come after it and each stage provides forward looking guidance.

The six phases seek to build on each other in an efficient manner to answer questions and to ensure alignment in your development process.

I seek to take the abstract and provide examples that you, as students and practitioners of software development, can more readily relate to.

For example, if you strive to build software designed for hourly employees, as Zoomshift has done, or time tracking software, you would start at the “requirement analysis” stage.

Here, at this most foundational level, you would figure out what the requirements of workers are when it comes to tracking hours and labor.

You might do this by speaking with hourly employees. Perhaps you would engage in a conversation with managers who lead hourly worker teams.

Another idea is that you could test solutions on the market to better understand the pitfalls of existing software.

You could take notes, sketch diagrams, or build graphs to more deeply understand qualitative and quantitative feedback.

Only after deeply understanding these pain points will you be ready to go to the next phase of SDLC.

Only then can you start the planning phase.

The requirements analysis phase may be tedious.

But by going through these steps you can reduce your time to market, ensure a better product output, save money, and increase the likelihood of product market fit.

Think beyond time tracking.

Think about what you want to build and where your technology passions are.

Figure out the requirements to solve problems in that domain. This is where you start.

Stages of SDLC and Best Practices and Methodologies

Each step must be completed before proceeding to the next phase in the development journey.

Most importantly, the first three steps seek to generate answers to questions and the last three steps are optimized to provide outputs.

• Requirement analysis
• Answer: what problems need to be solved?
• Answer: what do we want to do?
• Architectural/software design
• Answer: How do we reach our goal?
• Software Development
• Solve: Let’s build
• Solve: Let’s ensure what we have built works
• Solve: Let’s take our solution and use it.

These six phases map to behavior you might already be implementing when scoping, building, testing, and releasing software. But SDLC makes the work-flow standardized and formal.

This is to your benefit: by following specific steps you can easily communicate where you are in the process, and inform others of where you are headed.

Let’s dive deeper into each stage and explain the probing questions and outcomes you will want to optimize for.

Phase #1: Requirements Analysis

This stage of the SDLC forces you to obtain feedback and buy-in from relevant internal and external stakeholders.

Think about my prior examples with time tracking software development. You will need to think broadly about who your “users” are.

Some ideas include your clients, designers, your boss, or other technical representatives on the team.

Ultimately you are looking to answer this question: what problems need to be solved? I find it helpful in phase one to take notes and to actively listen.

When you feel highly comfortable with your answers you can advance to the next phase.

Phase #2: Planning

You are seeking to answer this question: what do we want to do? This question might inspire you to understand the unit economics of your plan (costs and benefits), risk mitigation factors, and expected values.

Much like planning for a vacation, you need to get your possessions organized and think about what bags to pack.

Here is a relevant example.

I have read extensively about the history of Instagram. A tremendous amount of time was spent on the planning phase of the app’s development. This was just at the time social media was rapidly expanding.

How users would interact with the product was still very much unknown.

The founders knew that if the foundational experience was strong (taking, editing, and sharing photographs) then growth, success, and high conversion would follow. This is what they planned for.

The founders spent time on application and website design knowing that if they planned correctly the actual architecting and design stage would be smoother.

They were always looking one step ahead and thinking about the future of social sharing and e-commerce shopping.

Plan for what you can control and be mindful of things you can’t plan for. This will help you have a solid foundation heading into phase three.

Phase #3: Architectural/software design

By this stage you know what your requirements are and what you want.

You are on solid ground to now answer the following question before you start writing software: how do we reach our goal? In short, you need to decide what you are optimizing for and design for that.

Perhaps you are building software that you want to be secure, high-performing, resilient, and efficient. Which of those principles is most important to you and why?

Do the stakeholders from the first phase agree? Ensure that stakeholders are fully aligned.

After the design phase you will start putting “hands on keyboards” and making changes will become more costly in terms of time and money spent. Small variable costs will add up.

There are a few pillars of design that I advise you to consider during this phase: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization.

Use these buckets to drive final design decisions.

Phase #4: Software Development

This is the build phase in which you seek not to answer questions but to produce outputs.

Specifically you are looking to show a bias towards action and develop a prototype or system that others can experience.

When you start building, it's critical you follow the first three phases so that your output aligns with expectations.

Get your computer out, make sure your environment is conducive to work, grab a coffee and mug warmer, and turn on your monitor.

In this phase you get to earn the trust of your stakeholders by embodying a builder's mindset.

Phase #5: Testing

I used to see co-workers wear t-shirts that said the following: “Building rocks, testing not so much.”

You can’t produce a final version of a product without eating your own “dog food”.

At the completion of this phase you are able to ensure that what you have built works. Look for bugs or defects. Get second opinions.

Probe deeply to find errors that will slow down the release of your final product. Ensure strong fundamentals.

Phase #6: Deployment

Go take your solution and use it. Launch. Go Live.

Get the stakeholders from phase one to use your software in the wild. Celebrate. Start measuring sales engagement.

Listen to users and iterate because through user feedback surveys and guidance you can start again at phase one scoping new requirements.

Bringing It All Together: The SDLC Approach

SDLC exists to help you reduce your time to market, ensure a better product output, save money, and increase the likelihood that what you build is useful to the stakeholders that you care about.

SDLC is particularly helpful in the world of software development because it forces you to “color within the lines.”

In other words, SDLC will force you to follow steps and to ensure you are doing the right actions at the right time and for the right reasons.

Think of SDLC as a blueprint for success. Following it blindly doesn’t ensure anything - but it increases the likelihood that you will be satisfied with the results.

Software development - as we all know - is a broad domain and can cover website design tools and online forms to more robust machine learning or backend systems.

Whether or not you are coding in the browser or doing more robust development work, you need a plan of action.

Building software can be hard.

It can also be rewarding. SDLC is a guide for technical work, but more broadly it can be thought of as a guide in life.

You can deploy SDLC to many domains.

For example, SaaS content writing follows the SDLC cycle. Before writing content the author must first define the requirements, plan what will be written, and then actually put pen to paper.

SDLC is a great framework for technology entrepreneurs as well.

My friend wanted to start the a company and reached out to me and others for guidance. I advised him to use SDLC to first perform a requirements analysis even though his ambitions were quite large.

I asked him: what problems are you looking to solve? What do your users want? And lastly, how would this platform help you achieve these goals?

By framing these questions around SDLC he was better able to hone in on his ultimate solution and to build the right tools for the right users.

He narrowed his scope and more tightly defined his problem space. He was able to allocate resources to the planning phase before he started to do anything else.

He went on to build arguably the best Instagram growth service that I am aware of. But his field is constantly evolving.

Now software exists to perform the role of a social media scheduler at scale. Eventually he will need to go back to the basics: requirements analysis.

The adoption of his technology is proof that SDLC, when applied and executed correctly, can lead to profound technological and business outcomes. But as with the development of a business, software is never done.

Hence the cycle continues.

Regardless of what you are building - a company, a tool, a complex program, or an entirely new product - you would be wise to deploy SDLC to ensure quality and to help you maintain focus on your customers while you build.

“Building rocks” should be your North Star.

SDLC is a tool that will help guide you along the way.

Writing articles to share his experiences and his views on Financial Technology. Opinions are his own and not the views of his employer.

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Software Development Life Cycle, the practical guide

The Software Development Life Cycle is a process that software engineers go through to create new applications. Software development can be a tricky process, and it’s easy to make mistakes if you don’t know what you’re doing. This article will help you understand the Software Development Lifecycle and how it works so that your next project will have fewer problems and your product can sparkle with higher customer satisfaction.

What is the software development life cycle?

Software Development Life Cycle is a sequential model of time from initial planning to final delivery.

In the more advanced stages of software development, software professionals may use additional tools and techniques such as prototyping and design critiquing techniques to make improvements before final acceptance. It suits well in agile methodology . 

Why is SDLC important?

The software helps everyone from companies to individuals. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. Software development life cycle is important because it helps mitigate the massive risks inherent in today’s software design and programming, and aims to reduce the time and cost of future work with development cycles.

The software has a powerful influence on its users, who often value it as much as physical goods or services which have been encountered only tangentially if at all. Systematic planning for upgrades also helps anticipate user needs so that new issues arising from upgrading do not require any manual modification of the code to correct them – which would be extremely costly for businesses dependent on their software systems to function properly at all times.

How does your company benefit from following an SDLC process 

This process helps your company save time and money. Software development life cycle is important because it ensures that everyone involved knows ahead of time what the project requires, so there are no surprises later on during production – which can cause lots of problems!

Another benefit of having an SDLC process is that it helps you make sure that future changes to your software don’t cause problems with the existing code. Software is constantly changing and evolving, so making a plan for how those updates will be made ensures they go smoothly!

How does following a software development life cycle help with quality assurance and product management?

Users typically desire software that is bug-free, easy to use, and reliable. Software development life cycle helps with quality assurance because it ensures a formalized process in which all parties involved know what they are supposed to do in each step of the project’s creation – this creates a set system for creating new products from start to finish that can be repeated and improved upon. Software development life cycle also ensures that any new software is tested properly and thoroughly before it is used by the general public, so as to avoid potential problems with its functionality or usability.

Who should know about Software Development Life Cycle?

Anyone who creates computer programs for a living will benefit from understanding how an SDLC works, especially if they want to improve the process of creating new software. Software development life cycle is important for managers and project leaders, so it’s a good idea to get all team members up-to-speed on what an SDLC entails and how it can help them create better products in less time.

What are the phases of the software development life cycle?

In the production environment, quite a few development stages need to be completed in order to create a full software development project.  

1. Planning

The planning design phase is where the software development team makes the decision of what features are needed in order to meet business requirements. As well as, determine what processes need to be used in order for the project to succeed. Such activities may include but are not limited to gathering client input by conducting focus group meetings or usability testing sessions with representative users and potential customers.

2. Development

In the development phase, a working version of the software is created. Software developers write code using programming languages and tools. If necessary, they may have to take existing components from other sources or create new ones themselves that can be reused later in order to expedite the process.

It’s important for team members who are involved in this stage should meet regularly to ensure that the requirements set out by the planning phase are met and any changes needed should be made.

3. Testing and verification + implementation

In the testing phase, the software is tested to ensure that it works as expected. Software developers who wrote the code should test their work and have other team members do so as well in order to find bugs or other issues with the product. Once these are fixed, a release candidate may be created for testing by a wider audience before going live or being released. This step is as important as customer feedback once the product or service is launched. You should go through acceptance testing, unit testing, integration testing, functional capabilities, but also software development cost estimates – even the most agile model can cost a lot if you don’t specify that at the very start. All for meeting user requirements, after all!

4. Deployment 

The deployment phase is where the developed software goes live, which means that it becomes available for use. The previous stage should completely prepare the software for launch. Software developers and project managers, as parts of a project team, may have to undertake activities such as configuring servers with settings and security features before making the product accessible to end-users or customers. 

After this development process stage has been completed successfully the project can be closed along with all necessary documentation being archived in the case that the product has to be maintained or enhanced at a later date. That is a very common step in the development life cycle methodologies. 

5. Maintenance 

The maintenance stage is often omitted in the process but should be a part of the development of any software project by all software teams. As software is used over time by end-users or customers, it may need to be changed or adapted in the software development process . Software developers make these changes and updates in the maintenance phase after deployment has been completed successfully. If necessary, they will go back to one of the previous stages such as the planning design phase if further research needs to be done before the changes are made. 

6. Disposal or retirement of the system (archiving)

This phase is where the application development life cycle ends. Software developers will archive all documentation and any other materials that were created during previous stages in order to keep them safe for future reference if needed or simply dispose of them depending on whether it’s required by law to do so.

As well, they may carry out activities such as removing security features to ensure that any confidential data stored within the system is not accessible by unauthorized individuals.

What are some examples of how the SDLC impacts project success rates

Projects that are not deemed successful may have been affected negatively during the planning stage in the production environment. Software development team members involved in these activities did not gather all of the information they needed to make decisions about what features were required, who would use them, and which processes should be used for example. As well as, if product requirements weren’t clearly defined or communicated to other team members, it’ll be difficult for the development life cycle model to succeed.

How can you determine if your company’s SDLC process is effective or not

It’s difficult to answer this question without knowing more about your company and what you’re trying to accomplish. No two companies are the same so it depends on what would make a process successful for you. What is the end goal? Having tangible deliverables such as completed user stories or an identified problem that has been fixed (through traceability) could be good indications of whether the SDLC process is effective. The trick is in documenting why items were resolved when they’re closed, and the steps necessary in the process at each phase in order to create a meaningful report and analysis of where potential weaknesses lie in terms of project management. You can also ask yourself: “were we able to build everything we needed using all available resources?”.

To determine if your company’s SDLC process is effective you first need to define the boundaries of its effectiveness. What metrics will you use to measure success in your iterative model? Once you have defined what needs to be accomplished or what problems need solving, you can review the processes and compare them with your expected results.

To further refine this answer, we would recommend determining how often each stage in the SDLC process is performed by viewing which tools our teams are using most. You want all stages of development happening on a regular basis depending on the team size and complexity of the project (e.g. your software product). If developers are spending too much time on tasks that should generally only happen during design (reviewing large pull requests full of binary, for example), they may not be able to complete the work needed for that iteration. If too much time is spent on the design process, code may not be reviewed until the end of the iteration when it will need to be merged right away – this can lead to “merge hell” and frustration among teammates who are waiting on other tasks before they can continue their own.

What tools can be used during each phase of a typical SDLC process

It’s difficult to pinpoint which tools should be used in each phase of development because there are multiple ways to complete the same task. Software developers may use a tool such as GitHub and its pull requests feature during code review or they might prefer JIRA for issue tracking when it comes down to QA testing software before pushing it into production. The Software Development Life Cycle is an iterative process that requires more than just one tool. Software development teams should consider asking themselves: “what tools do we use to get the job done?”. If they’re not already using any particular product, it may be worth looking into what their industry peers are using and having a discussion along with a detailed plan with stakeholders about how each could benefit the team. It can turn out that even small software requirements or programming tools delivered to a testing team can positively affect the design plan and the actual development.

What are the differences between SDLC and Agile Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Processes?

Agile Software Development is based on iterative processes which could also fall under the category of an SDLC process because they’re both considered development methods that include agile method iteration. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes. Software development teams need to consider each of their own goals and what they hope to achieve as a team in order to choose the most appropriate method. Software developers can’t just assume that one process will work for everyone on every project and that each programming language n the software industry will be perfect for each project life cycle and actual software development process.

Over to you

As this blog post comes to a close, you can see that Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes are an important part of Software Development, and we hope you learned a little bit about them today. If you need assistance in this matter, check out what our software development company has to offer!

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Don’t miss other equally valuable articles prepared by software development experts from CrustLab. Below you will find articles related by topic or by the author.

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Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Phases & Models

What is SDLC?

SDLC is a systematic process for building software that ensures the quality and correctness of the software built. SDLC process aims to produce high-quality software that meets customer expectations. The system development should be complete in the pre-defined time frame and cost. SDLC consists of a detailed plan which explains how to plan, build, and maintain specific software. Every phase of the SDLC life Cycle has its own process and deliverables that feed into the next phase. SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle and is also referred to as the Application Development life-cycle.

Here, are prime reasons why SDLC is important for developing a software system.

• It offers a basis for project planning, scheduling, and estimating
• Provides a framework for a standard set of activities and deliverables
• It is a mechanism for project tracking and control
• Increases visibility of project planning to all involved stakeholders of the development process
• Increased and enhance development speed
• Improved client relations
• Helps you to decrease project risk and project management plan overhead

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SDLC Phases

The entire SDLC process divided into the following SDLC steps:

Phase 1: Requirement collection and analysis

Phase 2: feasibility study, phase 3: design, phase 4: coding, phase 5: testing, phase 6: installation/deployment, phase 7: maintenance.

In this tutorial, I have explained all these Software Development Life Cycle Phases

The requirement is the first stage in the SDLC process. It is conducted by the senior team members with inputs from all the stakeholders and domain experts in the industry. Planning for the quality assurance requirements and recognization of the risks involved is also done at this stage.

This stage gives a clearer picture of the scope of the entire project and the anticipated issues, opportunities, and directives which triggered the project.

Requirements Gathering stage need teams to get detailed and precise requirements. This helps companies to finalize the necessary timeline to finish the work of that system.

Once the requirement analysis phase is completed the next sdlc step is to define and document software needs. This process conducted with the help of ‘Software Requirement Specification’ document also known as ‘SRS’ document. It includes everything which should be designed and developed during the project life cycle.

There are mainly five types of feasibilities checks:

• Economic: Can we complete the project within the budget or not?
• Legal: Can we handle this project as cyber law and other regulatory framework/compliances.
• Operation feasibility: Can we create operations which is expected by the client?
• Technical: Need to check whether the current computer system can support the software
• Schedule: Decide that the project can be completed within the given schedule or not.

In this third phase, the system and software design documents are prepared as per the requirement specification document. This helps define overall system architecture.

This design phase serves as input for the next phase of the model.

There are two kinds of design documents developed in this phase:

High-Level Design (HLD)

• Brief description and name of each module
• An outline about the functionality of every module
• Interface relationship and dependencies between modules
• Database tables identified along with their key elements
• Complete architecture diagrams along with technology details

Low-Level Design (LLD)

• Functional logic of the modules
• Database tables, which include type and size
• Complete detail of the interface
• Addresses all types of dependency issues
• Listing of error messages
• Complete input and outputs for every module

Once the system design phase is over, the next phase is coding. In this phase, developers start build the entire system by writing code using the chosen programming language. In the coding phase, tasks are divided into units or modules and assigned to the various developers. It is the longest phase of the Software Development Life Cycle process.

In this phase, Developer needs to follow certain predefined coding guidelines. They also need to use programming tools like compiler, interpreters, debugger to generate and implement the code.

Once the software is complete, and it is deployed in the testing environment. The testing team starts testing the functionality of the entire system. This is done to verify that the entire application works according to the customer requirement.

During this phase, QA and testing team may find some bugs/defects which they communicate to developers. The development team fixes the bug and send back to QA for a re-test. This process continues until the software is bug-free, stable, and working according to the business needs of that system.

Once the software testing phase is over and no bugs or errors left in the system then the final deployment process starts. Based on the feedback given by the project manager, the final software is released and checked for deployment issues if any.

Once the system is deployed, and customers start using the developed system, following 3 activities occur

• Bug fixing – bugs are reported because of some scenarios which are not tested at all
• Upgrade – Upgrading the application to the newer versions of the Software
• Enhancement – Adding some new features into the existing software

The main focus of this SDLC phase is to ensure that needs continue to be met and that the system continues to perform as per the specification mentioned in the first phase.

Popular SDLC Models

Here, are some of the most important models of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC):

Waterfall model in SDLC

The waterfall is a widely accepted SDLC model. In this approach, the whole process of the software development is divided into various phases of SDLC. In this SDLC model, the outcome of one phase acts as the input for the next phase.

This SDLC model is documentation-intensive, with earlier phases documenting what need be performed in the subsequent phases.

Incremental Model in SDLC

The incremental model is not a separate model. It is essentially a series of waterfall cycles. The requirements are divided into groups at the start of the project. For each group, the SDLC model is followed to develop software. The SDLC life cycle process is repeated, with each release adding more functionality until all requirements are met. In this method, every cycle act as the maintenance phase for the previous software release. Modification to the incremental model allows development cycles to overlap. After that subsequent cycle may begin before the previous cycle is complete.

V-Model in SDLC

In this type of SDLC model testing and the development, the phase is planned in parallel. So, there are verification phases of SDLC on the side and the validation phase on the other side. V-Model joins by Coding phase.

Agile Model in SDLC

Agile methodology is a practice which promotes continue interaction of development and testing during the SDLC process of any project. In the Agile method, the entire project is divided into small incremental builds. All of these builds are provided in iterations, and each iteration lasts from one to three weeks.

Spiral Model

The spiral model is a risk-driven process model. This SDLC testing model helps the team to adopt elements of one or more process models like a waterfall, incremental, waterfall, etc.

This model adopts the best features of the prototyping model and the waterfall model. The spiral methodology is a combination of rapid prototyping and concurrency in design and development activities.

Big bang model

Big bang model is focusing on all types of resources in software development and coding, with no or very little planning. The requirements are understood and implemented when they come.

This model works best for small projects with smaller size development team which are working together. It is also useful for academic software development projects. It is an ideal model where requirements is either unknown or final release date is not given.

• The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a systematic process for building software that ensures the quality and correctness of the software built
• The full form SDLC is Software Development Life Cycle or Systems Development Life Cycle.
• SDLC in software engineering provides a framework for a standard set of activities and deliverables
• Seven different SDLC stages are 1) Requirement collection and analysis 2) Feasibility study: 3) Design 4) Coding 5) Testing: 6) Installation/Deployment and 7) Maintenance
• The senior team members conduct the requirement analysis phase
• Feasibility Study stage includes everything which should be designed and developed during the project life cycle
• In the Design phase, the system and software design documents are prepared as per the requirement specification document
• In the coding phase, developers start build the entire system by writing code using the chosen programming language
• Testing is the next phase which is conducted to verify that the entire application works according to the customer requirement.
• Installation and deployment face begins when the software testing phase is over, and no bugs or errors left in the system
• Bug fixing, upgrade, and engagement actions covered in the maintenance face
• Waterfall, Incremental, Agile, V model, Spiral, Big Bang are some of the popular SDLC models in software engineering
• SDLC in software testing consists of a detailed plan which explains how to plan, build, and maintain specific software
• Perl Tutorial: Variable, Array, Hashes with Programming Example
• WebPagetest API Tutorial with Example
• Difference Between Waterfall vs Spiral and Incremental Model
• Capability Maturity Model (CMM) & it’s Levels in Software Engineering
• Incremental Model in SDLC: Use, Advantage & Disadvantage
• What is RAD Model? Phases, Advantages and Disadvantages
• Spiral Model: When to Use? Advantages and Disadvantages
• What is Waterfall Model in SDLC? Advantages and Disadvantages

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SDLC Models: Agile, Waterfall, V-Shaped, Iterative, Spiral

Updated: May 22, 2024

Published: August 4, 2017

There are so many different SDLC models in software engineering, and choosing the best one for your project is half the battle on the way to creating a successful product. People have already developed frameworks for efficient project management called software development methodologies. In the article, we’ll look at the most common ones, see what steps they include, and discuss how to choose the most suitable option according to the requirements.

What is software development life cycle, and why does this notion seem so challenging and complicated at first? SDLC is one of the basic notions of software development. It stands for Software Development Life Cycle. SDLC is a continuous process, which starts when a decision to launch the project is made and ends at the moment of its complete removal from the exploitation. There is no universal SDLC model. They are divided into groups according to some factors, and each approach has its strengths and weaknesses.

Evolving from the first and oldest “waterfall” SDLC model, their variety significantly expanded. The diversity of SDLC models is predetermined by the vast number of product types – starting with web application development services to complex medical software implementation. And if you take one of the SDLC models mentioned below as the basis – in any case, it should be adjusted to the features of the product, project, and company. You can see the most used and reliable SDLC models on the list below:

• Waterfall model
• Iterative model
• Spiral model
• V-shaped model
• Agile model

The SDLC models define how the process is organized, in which order the potential risks are eliminated, and the problems are solved. We’ll look into some of the models, discuss their similarities and differences, and name some of the most beneficial and comfortable to work with. 

By the way, the frequency of communication between the programmers and other details related to the collaboration within a team are also defined by the SDLC model. While planning all details, the project manager should choose the model according to the team size, working schedule, etc.

For example, all software development life cycle models under the adaptive type will not be suitable for large teams and yield results only in groups of approximately 5 to 10 people. Later in the article, we’ll discuss two main types of SDLC models – “adaptive and predictive” or “heavyweight and agile.” 

So, no matter what software development approach you’ve chosen, each has the core stages which every software product goes through.Let’s explore those stages as it is essential to understand different SDLC models in detail.

List of the Content

• Software development life cycle: phases
• Types of SDLC models in software engineering
• SDLC models
• How to choose the SDLC model
• In conclusion

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE: PHASES

There are many different SDLC models in software engineering, and they vary according to many factors. Still, the sequence of software life cycle phases usually remains the same, with a few exceptions. Let’s see what software life cycle phases there are and what should be done during each.

Stage 1. Planning And Requirement Analysis

Requirement gathering and analysis are crucial for a software life cycle. There are many people taking part in this stage and many processes going on. In short, specialists try to look at the project from the business perspective and understand whether it’s worth the investment. 

Each software development life cycle model starts with the analysis, in which the stakeholders of the process discuss the requirements for the final product. The goal of this stage is the detailed definition of the system requirements. Besides, it is necessary to ensure that all the process participants clearly understand the tasks and how specialists will implement every requirement. Often, the discussion involves the QA specialists who can interrupt the process with the adjustments even during the development stage if it is necessary. Also, a project manager defines the technologies used in the project, team load, limitations, time frames, and budget. The most appropriate project decisions are made according to the specified requirements.

Business analysts perform the most crucial part of the work at this stage. They actively communicate with a client, conduct meetings, and ask questions. The goal is to receive a precise application’s concept, document it, and present it to the team to rely on during the further stages.

To be more specific, let’s name the deliverables of this stage. Along with the project manager, the business analyst does the cost estimate and defines the scope of work. Depending on the software development model, the requirements may be very strict or just sufficient to start the work. The project manager, in turn, should form the initial working plan and split all tasks correctly between the team members.

What are the deliverables of the requirement analysis phase?

During this stage, specialists form the basis needed for further development. It includes a Software Requirement Specification document, application wireframes, mockups, and a prototype (optional).

Requirement analysis should be approached seriously by the specialists because it is a foundation of all further work.

Stage 2. System Design

The system design stage is practically an extended version of the plan developed during the first phase. So, all gathered info about the product is being analyzed and systematized. The information received during the requirement analysis stage was primarily described in words, and at the design stage, the plan is amended with the technical details.

So, the developers are designing the architecture at this phase of the software life cycle. All the different technical questions that may appear at this stage are discussed by all the stakeholders, including the customer.

Specialists who work actively at this phase are software engineers, system architects, database specialists, designers. And of course, BA, PM, and tech leads remain a permanent part of the software development process.

So, to conclude, the deliverables of the system design stage include system and database architecture, wireframes and mockups of the app’s screens, etc. Each time a system component is created, it should be documented at once.

Stage 3. Development

After the requirements are approved, the process goes to the next stage – actual development. It is the most lengthy stage of the SDLC. Up to this point, all necessary information about the product is ready, and all details are thought out and designed. Developers’ task is to assemble them into one working infrastructure by putting them into code.  So, they start to write the source code while keeping in mind previously defined requirements. The system administrators adjust the software environment. Frontend programmers develop the user interface of the program and the logic for its interaction with the server.

Programmers actively communicate with the designers because the functionality must be consistent with the design. That’s why designers may change something in the mockups, or devs may make minor changes to the features’ implementation.

The programming itself assumes four stages:

• Algorithm development
• Source code writing
• Compilation
• Testing and debugging

Apart from the developers, PM plays an essential role by controlling that the documentation, system design, and other components fall under the relevant standards. He is also responsible for managing teams and consistent product delivery. 

So, before moving on to the next phase, programmers need to code back-end, front-end, databases, APIs, integrations, etc.  After everything described is completed, the team moves to the testing stage.

Stage 4. Testing

The testing phase includes the debugging process. All the code flaws missed during the development are detected here. QA specialists document them and pass them back to the developers for fixing. The testing process repeats until all the critical issues are removed, and the software workflow is stable.

The activity during this phase may vary depending on the testing types adopted by the QA engineers. They do manual testing with the help of such methods:

• Acceptance testing
• White-box testing
• Grey-box testing
• Black-box testing
• Unit testing
• Integration testing

If QA specialists opt for automated testing, they use numerous frameworks and solutions that ease the process.

QA engineers can receive some testing results only after the demo version of an app is published, and they can interact with it as users. The data based on it helps to understand whether the product corresponds to business requirements as well as to the technical ones.

Stage 5. Deployment

When the program is finalized and has no critical issues, it is time to launch it for the end-users. After the initial program version release, the tech support team joins. This department gathers user feedback for further analysis. They also consult and support users during the exploitation.

In Agile development, a DevOps engineer is responsible for app releases and deployments. DevOps specialists use the CI/CD principles (continuous integration and delivery) to facilitate the release processes. Among their responsibilities there are:

• Automating the delivery pipeline
• Source code management
• Code containerization
• Configuration management

DevOps engineers use various tools to achieve faster product deployment — for example, Jenkins , Docker , Git , and others.

Sometimes, the DevOps team includes from 3 to 5 specialists. So that, separate people are in charge of release management, automation, QA overseeing, and security management. But, in some cases, only one high-skilled person takes on all of these responsibilities.

A product manager is responsible for analyzing the data gathered based on the first feedback from real users. So that a team can make conclusions about which practices were successful and which ones they better replace. 

This information helps a business analyst or a product manager understand whether all features are necessary or missing. It provides them with a clear picture of what people want. So, the application adjustments are not uncommon after the initial release.

Maintenance includes two types of work if we divide it roughly: supporting initially created functionality and adding new features. Usually, it involves the maintenance agreement, where the responsibilities of a software provider are strictly defined. It targets more the support of the existing features and outlines how many online consultations and departures to the client are included, what time is suitable for contacting the team, and other details. However, this document also covers the frequency of software updates.

When it comes to the technical side of the issue, a project manager analyzes the feedback after the initial release and assigns the developers to fix bugs and add updates. Significant updates are made according to a particular schedule, and some minor changes are implemented by a DevOps engineer frequently.

While programmers fix bugs and add new features, a DevOps specialist plans, and schedules the ongoing release. After the developers’ work is done, DevOps releases a new version to an app distribution platform or the server if we’re talking about the web apps.

So, if support and maintenance are entirely entrusted to the software development provider, this process doesn’t have timeframes. However, customers may take responsibility for the product maintenance themselves, and in this case, they contact a service provider only in some critical cases they can’t manage on their own.

Want to know more about the software development process?

Curious to find out what specialists take part in each stage, how long it takes, and how much it costs?

TYPES OF SDLC MODELS

If we’re speaking about the classification of SDLC models and methodologies, they can be divided into numerous groups according to different criteria. However, let’s see what the main types of SDLC models are.

There are two core software development life cycle models: heavyweight (predictive) and lightweight (agile). Heavyweight processes imply that the scope of work is predefined in advance. That’s why they are also called predictive. They require a significant contribution from the programmers and weighty documentation. Traditionally, companies chose a heavyweight approach for streamlining and organizing extensive projects. However, now this type of SDLC models has lost its popularity. It decreases project efficiency because of the unnecessary bureaucracy implied.

Today, it is replaced by lightweight or agile processes, also called adaptive. They are a good compromise between overly strict discipline and its total absence. Agile methodologies require a much smaller amount of documentation in terms of a software life cycle.

For example, an adaptive approach considers various customer requirements, such as the necessity of constant application modifications. Predictive SDLC models, in turn, are only growing in complexity with the emergence of unplanned changes. 

Heavyweight methodologies are pertinent in the context of strictly defined requirements and large teams of specialists. Agile tactics are best implemented in terms of frequent amendments to the initial plan and relatively small groups (up to 10 people working in one team).

Predictive SDLC Models

Predictive (heavyweight) models include:

There are many more options, but these are the most common ones. Let’s discover the main characteristics of each. We won’t dive deep into the phases of each model because they are pretty similar. So, let’s find out each model’s peculiarities and pros and cons. 

Adaptive SDLC Models

Among different SDLC models and methodologies, adaptive (agile) are the brightest candidates nowadays. The agile approach opens up new possibilities for specialists, enables more flexibility, and puts the communication between people ahead of the blind plan following. Realizations of Agile models include:

Later in the article, we’ll look into each in detail.

SDLC MODELS

Waterfall sdlc model.

The waterfall is a cascade SDLC model that presents the development process like the flow, moving step by step through the phases of analysis, projecting, realization, testing, implementation, and support. This SDLC model includes gradual execution of every stage. Waterfall implies strict documentation. The features expected of each phase of this SDLC model are predefined in advance.

The waterfall life cycle model is considered one of the best-established ways to handle complex projects. This approach allows avoiding many mistakes that may appear because of insufficient control over the project. However, it results in pervasive documentation development. It is beneficial to the developers who may be working with the product in the future, but it takes a long time to write everything down.

In some cases, the feedback loop is included. It allows making short reviews of each stage’s result and applying some minor amendments. This loop enables specialists to return to the previous phase for a short period.

If something significant changes in the initial plan, a team should wait until the very last stage to return to the beginning and pass all software life cycle phases again.

In the table below, you will find the advantages and disadvantages of the Waterfall SDLC model.

Use cases for the Waterfall SDLC model:

• The requirements are precisely documented
• Product definition is stable
• The technologies stack is predefined, which makes it not dynamic
• No ambiguous requirements
• The project is short

Iterative SDLC Model

The iterative model resembles a waterfall model, but there is quite a considerable difference between them. For example, let’s suppose there’s an app that contains ten core features. In the waterfall case, all ten functions will be thoroughly planned during the requirement analysis and design phases and then steadily implemented during the development stage. The iterative model is quite different. It implies that the whole process is divided into a particular number of iterations, and during each of them, developers build a limited number of features. 

So, the Iterative SDLC model does not require a complete list of requirements before the project starts. The development process may start with the requirements to the functional part, which can be expanded later. The process is repetitive, allowing to make new versions of the product for every cycle. Every iteration (that lasts from two to six weeks) includes the development of a separate component of the system. After that, this component is added to the features developed earlier. Speaking with math terminology, the iterative model is a realization of the sequential approximation method; that means a gradual closeness to the planned final product shape.

For example, during the first iteration, the team has decided to work on three features out of 10. While creating them, developers pass all stages of the software development process, starting from the requirement gathering to the deployment and maintenance. When they move to the next set of functions, the development cycle starts over.

Use cases for the Iteration model:

• The requirements for the final product are clear from the beginning
• The project is large and includes complex tasks
• The main task is predefined, but the details may change in the process

This approach results in constant learning, meaning that during each iteration, the team makes observations and brings new ideas to the next iteration. 

Spiral SDLC Model

Spiral model is a combination of the Iterative and Waterfall SDLC models with a significant accent on the risk analysis. The main issue of the spiral model is defining the right moment to take a step into the next stage. The preliminary set timeframes are recommended as the solution to this issue. The shift to the next stage is done according to the plan, even if the work on the previous step isn’t done yet. The plan is introduced based on the statistical data received in the last projects and even from the personal developer’s experience.

Use cases for the Spiral model

• The customer isn’t sure about the requirements
• Significant edits are expected during the software development life cycle
• Risk management is highly essential for the project

V-shaped SDLC Model

The V-shaped algorithm differs from the previous ones by the work approach and the architecture. If we visualize this model, we’ll see that there appears one more axis, unlike the waterfall and iterative models. Along with the first one, they constitute the V letter.

The V-model is called this way because of the scheme’s appearance and because its primary priorities are Verification and Validation. Stages positioned along the left axis display the verification phases, and the ones on the right are responsible for validation.

Let’s clear the terms in a few words, so there’s no misconception. Verification and validation mean different things, though they seem pretty similar. The goal of verification is to determine whether the software is consistent with the initial technical requirements. Validation, in turn, should confirm whether the product corresponds to the business needs, whether it serves its intended purpose, whether it acts as planned. To summarize, verification accounts for aligning features with the technical requirements based on the business requirements. Validation manages the last ones. 

These concepts include different types of product testing. These methods are located along the respective axes. One on the left side necessarily has an associated one on the right. For example, the requirement analysis stage corresponds to acceptance testing, system design to system testing, architecture design to integration testing, etc.

To summarize, the V-shaped SDLC model is an expansion of the classic waterfall model, and it’s based on the associated test stage for every development stage. This is a rigorous model, and the next step is started only after the previous one is over. Every phase includes the current process control to ensure that the conversion to the next stage is possible.

Use cases for the V-shaped model:

• For the projects where accurate product testing is required
• For the small and mid-sized projects, where requirements are strictly predefined
• The engineers of the required qualification, especially testers, are within easy reach

HOW TO CHOOSE THE SDLC MODEL

When it’s time to choose the software development approach, there’s a strong chance of getting confused over numerous options. However, if you learn a little about each, it all starts shaping up. Each software development methodology has some significant distinctions that you may proceed from. In addition, it’s usually project or delivery managers who are in charge of choosing the right approach. Their knowledge of the peculiarities of each methodology noticeably facilitates the task.

Still, let’s find out what logic is implied in choosing the technique that will make the best fit for your project. Firstly, it’s necessary to think about:

• How precise the requirements are
• How lengthy the project is
• How complex the project is
• How large the budget is
• How extensive the client wants the documentation to be

As soon as you have answered these questions, you should integrate them with your knowledge about software development techniques. Let’s briefly go over each question.

If we’re talking about the unclear requirements, the Agile software development process is a win. Iterative and Spiral models do fit as well.

When the timeframes are limited to short, Agile is the correct answer. Due to the possibility of amending changes anytime and working simultaneously on many features, it significantly reduces the timeframes. 

Some people may still consider Agile not stable enough to leverage it in large projects. It may seem that predictive models provide more permanence and sustainability that should theoretically result in fast product delivery and high app quality. However, it’s nearly impossible to plan a project that lasts one year or even more. No one can predict all the minor details that may appear in the middle of the process. That’s why heavyweight methodologies often face unexpectedly increased time frames when one subtle change in the scope results in the cascade of changes and ruins all plans. Such a software development approach is suitable for smaller projects with fewer requirements.

Starting software development with the Waterfall or V-shaped model when the budget is relatively low is questionable. Such models require numerous cycle repetitions leading to increased development time and, consequently, the budget.

It’s all quite clear about the documentation. It’s already been discussed that despite all advantages an Agile approach has, extensive documentation is not among its strengths. If a client requires detailed documentation, it’s better to opt for heavyweight techniques like Waterfall, V-shaped, or Iterative methodologies.

Does it still seem like there’s too much information to make the right choice? As visualization makes it easier to perceive the data, some people form a table to put all the questions and methodologies. They mark the respective boxes as “+” or “-.” Then, choosing the best option becomes very straightforward.

The table may and should be amended with some more questions, but you can see the main points to understand the concept in the presented table.

One more crucial thing to say is that you can continually optimize the existing model. You don’t have to follow all instructions blindly. They exist to guide you through the process, but you can optimize the duration of the stages or add some more if you consider it necessary. 

Methodologies eliminate the need to invent new management and development techniques. They are a framework for the software development process. Also, they provide every team member with a clearly defined plan so that everyone understands what they’re doing, why, and what’s the final goal.

Different models were created during the SDLC evolution to meet a wide variety of development requirements and expectations. Nowadays, the world is moving towards flexibility instead of excessive regularity and orderliness. Still, agile approaches perfectly combine responsiveness and well-organized project management.

Are you in the process of choosing the best software development approach for your project, but a vast number of options make you hesitate? 

Share your ideas with the specialists of EXISTEK. We’ve been working on different projects, so we’ll find the most appropriate approach for you.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 5 stages of software development?

The software development process usually includes 5 main steps that include:

• Requirement analysis
• System design
• Development
• Deployment and maintenance

These 5 phases may be amended by some others, or their names may differ depending on the software development methodology. However, traditionally, exactly these five steps are considered the necessary basis.

How is SDLC different from STLC?

These two terms are often used interchangeably although they mean different things. The first one stands for software development life cycle and describes the stages that software passes while being built. The second term is about testing. It streamlines the testing process by dividing it into particular phases as well.

How are development methodologies classified?

Software development approaches are divided into two major groups: heavyweight (predictive) and lightweight (adaptive). The first group includes techniques that require creating a detailed plan and its further following. Such models include Waterfall, V-shaped, Iterative, etc. The second type contains flexible methods that allow making changes in the process. It includes Scrum/XP, Kanban, etc.

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Understanding Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Models

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a systematic approach used in software development projects to ensure the creation of high-quality software that meets client requirements. From the foundational stages like feasibility study and planning to the advancements of Agile methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the evolution of SDLC, uncovering the transition from traditional models to the approaches of Agile development.

A structured SDLC involves several stages and additional components, each contributing to the overall success of the product engineering process .

Stages of SDLC :

1. Feasibility Study: Before the inception of a project, a feasibility study is conducted to assess technical, economic, and operational viability, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and the feasibility of a certain project.

2. Planning: This initial phase involves defining project goals, scope, timelines, and resource allocation. Stakeholders collaborate to establish a clear roadmap for the project.

Depending on the project size different stakeholders may get involved, for a project of a larger magnitude would include:

• Clients/Customer Representatives
• Project Managers
• Development Team
• Quality Assurance/Testers
• Business Analysts
• Executive Leadership
• Marketing and Sales Teams
• Legal and Compliance Teams
• Support and Maintenance Teams

3. Requirement Gathering and Analysis: During this stage, requirements are gathered with the support of Business and tech teams. These teams interact with stakeholders to understand their needs and expectations of the software. The requirements are then analyzed and multiple iterations are done to make them ready for the design process.

This process can take up to months based on the levels of clarity, availability of resources, scope of the project, and timelines.

4. Design: The design phase creates a blueprint for the software’s architecture, user interface, and user experience ( UI/UX ). Software architecture refers to the structure or framework of a software system. It outlines how various components of the software interact with each other, how data flows within the system, and how different modules or layers are organized. It includes the key components, functionalities, and relationships, to ensure scalability, maintainability, and performance.

5. Prototyping: Some SDLC models may include prototyping to create a preliminary version of the software, allowing for early feedback and requirement refinement.

6. Implementation: Also known as the coding phase, this step involves writing code based on the design specifications. Developers integrate various components and functionalities. Key activities include coding, integration, database development, and continuous testing. Configuration management tools, code reviews, and documentation are essential for code consistency and understanding. Deployment planning, performance optimization, and security implementation are also crucial aspects of the implementation phase.

7. Version Control: Version control is a system that tracks changes to files and documents over time, allowing multiple contributors to collaborate on a project while keeping track of different versions of the files. It helps manage code or document revisions, track changes made by different team members, revert to previous versions if needed, and maintain code integrity and collaboration. Version control systems also facilitate collaboration, code review, and merging changes from multiple contributors.

Several version control tools are available, each with its features and capabilities. Some popular version control tools include:

• Subversion (SVN)
• Microsoft Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC)
• Apache Subversion (Apache SVN)

8. Testing: Quality assurance is paramount in SDLC. Testing teams conduct various tests such as unit testing, integration testing, and user acceptance testing to identify and rectify defects.

9. Deployment: Once the software passes testing, it is deployed to production environments for end-users to access and utilize like:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• DigitalOcean
• Docker Swarm

10. Documentation: Comprehensive documentation , including technical documents and user manuals, aids in the development, testing, deployment, and maintenance phases.

11. Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating risks is an integral part of SDLC. Risks can be categorized into various types, such as technical risks (e.g., software bugs, compatibility issues), project risks (e.g., scope creep, resource constraints), business risks (e.g., market changes, regulatory compliance), and external risks (e.g., third-party dependencies, geopolitical factors).

12. Compliance and Regulations: Adherence to regulatory requirements, security standards, and legal frameworks is vital, ensuring the software meets industry standards and protects user data. Hence the teams work towards mitigating any losses (monetary or goodwill) that can occur in the future.

13. User Training and Support: Providing training materials, user guides, and support mechanisms aids in ensuring smooth adoption and usage of the software for the end-users.

14. Post-Implementation Review: A post-implementation review (PIR) helps evaluate the project’s success, gather feedback, and identify lessons learned for future improvements.

The evolution of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models encompasses a broad range of approaches , from traditional methodologies to more Agile frameworks, each offering unique advantages and catering to different project requirements.

Traditional SDLC Models

• Waterfall Model: The Waterfall model is a linear and sequential approach to software development. It follows a step-by-step process where each phase (requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance) is completed before moving to the next. This model is characterized by its structured and predictable nature, with well-defined milestones and deliverables for each phase.
• V-Shaped Mode: The V-Shaped model is an extension of the Waterfall model, emphasizing testing at each stage of development. It follows a similar sequential process but includes corresponding testing phases (e.g., unit testing, integration testing, system testing) for each development phase.
• Spiral Model: The Spiral model combines elements of traditional and iterative development. It involves multiple cycles of development, where each cycle includes planning, risk analysis, prototyping, development, and testing phases. The Spiral model is particularly useful for projects with high complexity and evolving requirements.
• Incremental Model: In the Incremental model, the software is developed and delivered in increments or iterations. Each increment adds new features or functionalities to the software. This model allows for early delivery of working software and incremental improvements based on user feedback.
• Prototype Model: The Prototype model involves creating a preliminary version of the software (prototype) to gather user feedback and refine requirements. The prototype serves as a basis for developing the final software product, incorporating user feedback and iterative improvements.

Agile Methodologies

Agile methodologies , including Scrum, Kanban, and Lean Software Development, have gained popularity for their flexible, iterative, and collaborative approach to software development. These methodologies focus on delivering value to customers through continuous feedback, adaptation, and prioritization of features.

Here’s a brief overview of each Agile methodology:

• Scrum: Scrum is an Agile framework that emphasizes iterative development in short cycles called sprints. Cross-functional teams work collaboratively to deliver small, incremental releases of working software. Scrum ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives promote transparency, communication, and adaptability.
• Kanban: Kanban is a visual workflow management method that visualizes work items on a Kanban board, typically divided into columns representing different stages of work (e.g., to do, in progress, done). Teams use Kanban to limit work in progress (WIP), prioritize tasks, and optimize flow for continuous delivery. Kanban promotes efficiency, flexibility, and real-time visibility into project status.
• Lean Software Development: Lean principles focus on eliminating waste, maximizing value, and optimizing processes in software development. Lean practices include value stream mapping, continuous improvement, customer collaboration, and just-in-time delivery. By reducing unnecessary work and focusing on delivering customer value, Lean methodologies improve efficiency and quality.

Advantages of Agile over Traditional Models

• Flexibility: Agile methodologies allow for changes and adaptations based on customer feedback and evolving requirements, unlike the rigid structure of traditional models.
• Collaboration: Agile encourages collaboration among cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and customers throughout the development process, fostering transparency and shared understanding.
• Faster Time-to-Market: Agile’s iterative approach enables quicker delivery of working software increments, leading to faster time-to-market and responsiveness to market demands.
• Customer Satisfaction: By prioritizing customer value, Agile methodologies result in products that better meet user needs and expectations, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction.
• Adaptability to Changing Requirements: Agile allows for flexible and responsive handling of evolving requirements throughout the development process.
• Continuous Integration and Delivery: Agile promotes frequent integration of code changes and regular delivery of working software increments, leading to fewer integration issues and higher-quality software.
• Feedback-Driven Development: Agile emphasizes continuous feedback loops with stakeholders, users, and team members, ensuring alignment with user expectations and early issue detection.
• Cross-Functional Teams: Agile teams with diverse skills collaborate effectively, addressing complex technical challenges and delivering holistic solutions.
• Quality Assurance Integration: Agile integrates quality assurance practices throughout development, reducing defects and enhancing overall product quality.
• Risk Management and Mitigation: Agile encourages proactive risk management, helping teams identify and address risks early for project success.

The evolution of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models signifies a transition from traditional, linear approaches to more Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, and Lean Software Development. This evolution reflects a shift towards more efficient, customer-centric, and responsive software development practices in today’s dynamic business environment.

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Navigating The Two Major Data Trends in 2024

As the data landscape continues to evolve rapidly, businesses are compelled to stay abreast of emerging trends to maintain competitiveness. In the year 2024, two prominent trends are poised to redefine data analytics: the proliferation of Generative AI and the adoption of modern data contracts. These trends not only reshape how organizations utilize data but also underscore the importance of ethical considerations and robust governance in data management. This article explores these trends in-depth, providing insights into effective strategies for implementation and the implications for businesses navigating the data landscape.Trend #1: The Ascendancy of Generative AIGenerative AI, characterized by its ability to create new content autonomously, has gained significant traction across industries. The advent of large language models (LLMs) has propelled Generative AI into the mainstream, with tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Meta integrating Generative AI capabilities into their products. As businesses increasingly rely on AI-driven insights, Generative AI is poised to become an indispensable tool for enhancing productivity and driving innovation.Strategy for Effective Implementation:To leverage Generative AI effectively, businesses must develop a comprehensive strategy tailored to their specific needs and objectives. This strategy should encompass several key components:Identifying suitable use cases:Organizations should identify areas where Generative AI can augment existing processes and generate tangible value. Whether it’s automating content creation, personalizing customer experiences, employee training, or optimizing business operations, identifying the right use cases is essential for maximizing ROI.Comprehensive employee training:Implementing Generative AI requires upskilling employees to ensure they can effectively utilize AI tools while adhering to ethical guidelines and best practices. Training programs should cover topics such as data privacy, bias mitigation, and ethical AI usage to foster a culture of responsible AI adoption.Strong data governance:Robust data governance is critical for ensuring the accuracy, security, and ethical usage of AI-generated insights. Organizations must establish clear guidelines and protocols for data collection, storage, and usage to mitigate risks associated with data misuse or bias.Managing costs and licensing:While Generative AI offers immense potential, it also comes with significant costs, both in terms of technology investments and licensing fees. Organizations must develop a cost-effective strategy for scaling AI initiatives while ensuring compliance with budgetary constraints.Balancing automation and human judgment:While AI-driven insights can enhance decision-making processes, it’s essential to strike a balance between automation and human judgment. Human oversight is crucial for interpreting AI-generated insights, identifying biases, and ensuring ethical decision-making.Ethical considerations:As AI becomes increasingly integrated into business operations, organizations must prioritize ethical considerations and accountability. This includes addressing issues related to data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the potential societal impact of AI-driven decisions.Trend #2: Adoption of Modern Data ContractsModern data contracts have emerged as a solution to streamline data usage and sharing, effectively addressing the challenges associated with broken data integrations and communication gaps between application and analytics teams.Structured Data Interactions:Modern data contracts represent a paradigm shift in how organizations manage data interactions. Unlike traditional contracts, which are static and cumbersome to maintain, modern data contracts are dynamic agreements that evolve with changing data requirements and business needs.Integration into workflows:By integrating data contracts into existing workflows and development processes, organizations can ensure seamless data interactions across disparate systems and applications. This integration enables teams to collaborate more effectively, reducing friction and improving data quality and consistency.Implementation Strategies:Implementing modern data contracts requires a strategic approach focused on collaboration, standardization, and automation. Key strategies include:Developing clear standards:Organizations should establish clear standards and guidelines for data contracts, outlining key parameters such as data formats, schemas, and validation rules. These standards help ensure consistency and interoperability across data systems and applications.Instituting change controls:Change management processes are essential for managing versioning and ensuring smooth transitions between data contract iterations. By implementing robust change controls, organizations can minimize disruptions and maintain data integrity throughout the contract lifecycle.Training and tools:Equipping teams with the necessary training and tools is crucial for successful data contract implementation. Training programs should cover topics such as contract management, data governance, and compliance, while tools such as data modeling platforms and contract management software can streamline the contract development and deployment process.As businesses navigate the complexities of the data landscape in 2024, adapting to the rise of Generative AI and modern data contracts is essential for driving innovation and maintaining competitiveness. By developing comprehensive strategies for AI adoption and data governance, organizations can harness the transformative power of Generative AI while ensuring ethical and responsible data usage. Likewise, embracing modern data contracts enables organizations to streamline data interactions, improve collaboration, and enhance data quality and consistency. By embracing these trends and implementing best practices, businesses can unlock new opportunities for growth and success in the digital age.

The Journey from System Admin to DevOps Superstar

According to a report by the Economic Times, when organizations cultivate a better work environment, the overall experience improves exponentially. They find true meaning in their jobs by prioritizing employees’ mettle, exceeding expectations, and work allocation.Employees seek exposure and opportunities in their jobs. By building productivity and customer satisfaction they enhance their portfolio.Radhakrishnan one of our DevOps superstars, has contributed with his service and time for over 8 years. To commemorate this everlasting relationship we got into a candid conversation with him. Here’s what he had to say about his journey before and with Nineleaps.Radhakrishnan is originally from a small town near Bengaluru, Hosur. After completing his MBA, his interest developed in computers and networking. He successfully gained appropriate knowledge by undertaking network courses and embarked on a journey to becoming a system admin. He enjoyed working for various companies as a system admin.Then came Nineleaps which gave new horizons of opportunities to his mettle. When we asked him about his transition from a system admin to a DevOps engineer, he fondly remembered a quote given to him by our CEO on the day of his selection.“You are on the flight now, just fly,” — Divy Shrivastava.And, so he did.Divy’s words of confidence boosted his resolve. The walk towards DevOps became a sprint, as multiple iterations of knowledge and experience suffused him. The arena of his work leaped and much to his admiration, he realized DevOps to be his passion and soul.Right from the get-go, an intensive training regimen, honing his skills, immersing himself in countless hours of study, and shadowing esteemed senior members of our organization he grasped the crucial importance of comprehending tasks and prioritizing them effectively. Driven by an unwavering desire to learn and prove his mettle, his transition from a system admin to a DevOps maestro was seamless. Multiple training sessions helped him get a deeper understanding of internal and external projects as well as the product, giving him never-to-dull confidence.Learning and development, knowledge transfers, and peer learning are certainly at the core of Nineleaps which helped him become the super engineer he is today. These trainings were both from the client’s side as well as in-house learning at Nineleaps.“In my opinion what sets Nineleaps apart is our dynamic and flexible approach to projects, with extensive focus on Agile methodology we are trained and nourished to build quality solutions for our clients, and also are facilitated with high-tech exposure by working with industry giants and rewarded with the utmost respect and growth opportunities.”To understand more closely we asked him about the challenges he faced at times, and according to him, documentation was a challenge. He feels all the work that the employee is doing must be documented and organized in a proper way as it will help them in the future. He also informed about instances where a person working on a specific problem might face similar challenges later in the same week and not be able to recall what the solution was properly, in such cases documenting everything became important. The organization’s culture was very open and asking questions or requesting help was never an issue which facilitated collaboration in resolving such challenges.Nineleaps became the crucible to test his mettle and with each strike of the hammer, a superstar was born.

Performance Testing Trends: Future of Software Optimization

Performance testing is an integral part of the software development lifecycle as it helps determine the scalability, stability, speed, and responsiveness of an application as compared to the workload given. It is not a standalone process and should be run throughout the software development process.It serves the purpose of assessing various aspects of an application’s performance, such as application output, processing speed, data transfer velocity, network bandwidth usage, maximum concurrent users, memory utilization, workload efficiency, and command response times. By evaluating these metrics, performance testers can gain valuable insights into the application’s capabilities and identify any areas that require improvementUsing AI to automate testing:Performance testing encompasses various stages, each posing unique challenges throughout the testing lifecycle. These challenges include test preparation, execution, identifying performance bottlenecks, pinpointing root causes, and implementing effective solutions. AI can help reduce or even eliminate these differences. AI-powered systems can handle the mountains of data collected during performance testing and be able to produce efficient and accurate analyses. AI can also identify the sources of performance slowdowns in complex systems, which can otherwise be tedious to pinpoint. With AI-driven automation, performance testers can streamline the testing process, ultimately saving time and resources while ensuring reliable results.Open Architecture:Performance testing, which evaluates how well a system performs, is undergoing a significant shift away from relying solely on browser-based evaluations. Instead, internet protocols like TCP/IP are being adopted for comprehensive performance monitoring. This approach emphasizes the need for system components to work together harmoniously while assessing their performance individually. The integration of cloud-based environments has become crucial, as cloud computing is an integral part of modern technology infrastructure. Cloud-based environments provide a flexible and reliable platform that enables seamless integration and coordination of various components, ultimately leading to enhanced system performance. It is crucial to prioritize comprehensive performance testing, which involves evaluating individual component performance, managing loads, monitoring in real-time, and debugging, to ensure optimal system performance.Self Service:When adopting the aforementioned trends, it’s essential to consider practical implementation tips for successful outcomes. For instance, performance engineers can use AI-powered tools to analyze performance data more effectively, leading to more accurate and actionable insights. Integrating cloud-based solutions can provide the flexibility and scalability required for modern performance testing demands. As stakeholders implement these trends, the collaboration between development, testing, and IT operations teams becomes crucial for successful integration and improved application performance.SaaS-based Tools:Testers can now easily set up and execute tests at cloud scale within minutes, thanks to the convergence of self-service, cloud-based testing, SaaS, and open architecture. Unlike older desktop-based tools that demand extensive setup, the emerging tools simplify the process with just a few clicks. Furthermore, these modern technologies offer seamless interoperability, significantly enhancing performance capabilities.Changing Requirements:In classic app testing, testers had to make educated guesses about the software’s use and create requirements and service-level agreements accordingly. However, in DevOps-oriented environments, performance requirements are seen as dynamic and evolving. Traditional requirements are now driven by complex use cases, accommodating different user experiences across various devices and locations. Performance engineering plays a critical role in continuously monitoring systems and proactively identifying and resolving issues before they can negatively impact customer retention or sales.Sentiment analysis:Monitoring production provides insight into server response times but does not capture the true customer experience. Synthetic transactions, on the other hand, simulate real user actions in production continuously. They can range from basic interactions like logging into an e-commerce site and adding products to a cart, to more complex transactions that track performance end to end without actually completing real orders or charging credit cards. Tracking the actual user experience is crucial for identifying bottlenecks, delays, and errors in real-time, as some issues may go unreported by users. Sentiment analysis is a powerful technology that evaluates customer responses based on emotions, providing valuable insights from customers’ reactions expressed in plain text and assigning numerical sentiment scores.Chaos Testing:Chaos testing is a disciplined methodology that proactively simulates and identifies failures in a system to prevent unplanned downtime and ensure a positive user experience. By understanding how the application responds to failures in various parts of the architecture, chaos testing helps uncover uncertainties in the production environment. The main objective is to assess the system’s behavior in the event of failures and identify potential issues. For instance, if one web service experiences downtime, chaos testing ensures that the entire infrastructure does not collapse. This approach helps identify system weaknesses and addresses them before reaching the production stage.Conclusion:As software development continues to evolve, performance testing must keep pace with emerging trends and technologies. By leveraging AI-driven automation, open architecture with cloud integration, and practical implementation tips, stakeholders can optimize their performance testing processes to deliver high-performing and responsive software applications. Real-world examples and a focus on key performance metrics ensure that these trends are not only understood but effectively implemented to achieve the desired outcomes. Embracing these trends empowers software development teams to elevate the user experience, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business success.

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Software Development Life Cycle: Meaning, Phases, and Models

Software Development Life Cycle lays down a clear plan to build, improvise and maintain a software solution. Here is everything you need to know.

Table of Contents

What is sdlc, how does sdlc works.

• Popular SDLC Models

Real-life example of SDLC

Choosing the best model for sdlc.

Every software project starts with an idea, but how do you turn that idea into a working product? The answer lies in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual framework that outlines all software development project activities, from planning to maintenance.

To achieve the benefits of SDLC, one must follow a systematic plan as approaching software development problems chaotically may lead to project failure. This article provides an overview of SDLC, its popular models, and how it can help produce high-quality software.

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Before the 1950s, computing was not elaborate enough to necessitate a detailed approach like the SDLC. However, as the complexity and scale of programming grew, the concept of structured programming emerged within the software industry. This swift-evolution sparked the beginnings of a production framework that eventually evolved into the SDLC.

Software Development Life Cycle is an application of standard practices for developing premium software. SDLC consists of steps such as requirement analysis, estimating feasibility, designing, coding, document, test, deployment, and maintenance. It assists companies in achieving different project goals like faster development, reduction in software development costs , and efficiently catering to customer needs.

The software life cycle clearly outlines every stage of software development by fragmenting the entire process into various phases. It even follows a plan that eliminates bottlenecks of development projects.

This plan starts by evaluating existing systems to find deficiencies, if any. The software is then built through the stages of planning, designing, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Here’s an overview of each stage, also called, as phases:

What are the phases of software development life cycle?

Generally, there are four to ten steps in the entire SDLC development process. However, the number of steps may slightly differ as per the applied methodology or the business goals. For instance, the Agile development process uses the iterative workflow, while the waterfall approach is a linear and documented process with terminal phases.

The phases of software development life cycle remain the same from one methodology to another. More or less, they tend to occur in this order in combinations with some techniques or individually. Let’s look at the stages of software development lifecycle methodologies –

1. Planning and requirement collection

In the planning stage, the team discusses what can go wrong during the development process and derive solutions. Moreover, the team decides and documents the technologies, restrictions, workload, budget, and interaction with third parties.

The specialists meticulously do the task of requirements gathering to present a solution fine-tuned to their needs during the SDLC phase. As a result, developers can clear any doubts in this stage only.

2. Analyzing feasibility

The next phase in the SDLC process is analyzing and documenting the software needs. Also, this process is done with the help of a document called ‘Software Requirement Specification’ (SRS). This document contains almost everything from designing to developing strategies throughout the project.

In the feasibility analysis stage, the development team ascertains that the software is functional, fulfills all users’ requirements, and cannot be replicated in the future. If the software meets these requirements, only then it’s practically, financially, and technically feasible for an enterprise to go ahead with.

The design phase includes many things that are broader than just a product designer’s task in software development, getting clear and specific details to visualize the end product and overall software architecture. Then, based on the feasibility analysis, the software development team works on building the product’s design.

In the design phase, developers focus more on the threat modeling process to detect and eliminate possible threats or prepare a mitigation plan. As a result, it becomes easier for software engineering teams to create strategies to address them effectively. Similarly, the product designers work closely with wireframes that act as a reference point between them and the client.

Wireframes assist software engineers in making the development process faster and meeting customer requirements more effectively. In addition, they are an excellent way to test MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and get early feedback to reshape the product as per the client’s requirements.

The software development phase is most likely the longest part of the SDLC process as it requires involvement from the development team to create the final product that contains all the necessary features. However, this approach has guidelines, standards, programming languages, and tools to develop cutting-edge software.

Program development designs should be appropriately assessed in this phase, utilizing internal and external development tools. Initial testing, user training, deployment, acceptance testing, and management approval issues are documented at this stage. Moreover, the development team can also get support from project managers, tech leads, and other professionals to eliminate unexpected bottlenecks within the process.

After the development phase, an app’s code gets released into the production environment. Then the quality analysts start looking for errors, bugs, and other possible issues within the software. Next, they check the features against customer expectations and verify the product requirements.

There are multiple testing methodologies for SDLC like integration testing, unit testing , performance testing, system testing, application security testing, etc. Here are the processes that the QA team follows to test the software –

• Planning: During the planning phase of the STLC, all testing strategies are defined. What to test, how the test needs to be done, and who will test it.
• Testing: Testing aims to detect and solve technical issues in the source code and assess the overall product usability and performance. The test engineers perform it in parallel with the development process or at the dedicated testing stage.

Want to know more about end-to-end functionality testing?

• Reporting: The testing logs and test closure reports are prepared and provided to the stakeholders. The team holds a retrospective meeting to document the issues during the development and improve them accordingly.

These steps remain the same in any software testing process, but their duration may vary as per project size and business requirements.

6. Deployment

Now is the time to launch the software in the market. First, developers will take one final look at the new system and then work with content writers and quality assurance professionals to create detailed documentation. Including this, the development team can prepare for the product launch at this stage itself.

In the deployment phase, the software development team is ready to collect and analyze user feedback to get a clear idea of how their product is performing and how they can improve it to boost overall customer satisfaction.

7. Maintenance

Software development is a never-ending process; it continues even after the final product delivery. One needs to upgrade the product as per system requirements and detect bugs to improve the user experience and future enhancements. Moreover, the developers may witness a bug or issue in the live software.

Other than this, tracking and reviewing the network’s performance, environment stability, and product behavior post launching is advisable. As the product has reached the final stage, it needs to be stable and faster. The maintenance phase is significant to meet existing customer needs with ease.

Popular Software Development Life Cycle Models

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models can provide developers with a robust structure to ensure a smoother transition from the beginning to the end of a project. In addition, the entire SDLC process can be narrowed down to the form of different models that can be used for project-based work.

However, the choice of a suitable SDLC model depends on the context of the project and business requirements. You can think of an SDLC model as a set of programming tools that can let you deliver better software.

The best thing about software development life cycle models is their flexibility. Let​​’s see them one by one –

1. Waterfall

The waterfall is the oldest SDLC methodology used for the Software Development Life Cycle. It was first introduced in Winston Royce’s paper in 1970. And since the last 20 years, the waterfall methodology has been widely used by developers and software engineers across the globe.

As per the waterfall model, the software development process goes through all the software development lifecycle phases without any overlapping. It is a linear-sequential life cycle model, so any stage in the development process can begin only after completing the previous one. Teams are mainly large, and everyone on the team works within their silos.

The development team enters the coding phase of the software once the entire architecture, data structures, and functional software designs are ready. Only after then integration and validation will get started.

In 2001, around 17 software pioneers created the ‘ Agile Manifesto ’ as an alternative to eliminate the limitations of waterfall methodology. The software development lifecycle in the Agile approach treats design, requirements, and testing as a part of an existing process rather than time-consuming steps. As a result, the overall software development process becomes much faster.

Agile is gradually becoming a mainstream technology expanding its reach beyond coding. It is more focused on an interactive approach as it enables clients, developers, and testers to work together throughout the entire project. Overall, the agile model is suitable where minimal documentation is required, and the location is also the same.

3. Incremental

In the incremental model, developers can break down the software requirements into different standalone modules. Incremental software development contains multiple steps like high-level design, implementation, testing, and maintenance. Other than that, each iteration passes through the phases mentioned above.

After delivery of the first increment, the system goes into production. The first increment is often a core product where the developer addresses basic requirements and adds new features in the subsequent increments.

The software generation process has become much faster thanks to the incremental method. Moreover, this method is flexible enough as it leads developers to make changes at any stage of development. Also, clients can easily approach each build and quickly identify any errors.

4. Big bang

Big bang is the simplest model in the SDLC that does not follow any specific process and requires minimal time for planning. This model combines the efforts, time, and resources to build a product per customer requirements. However, it may happen that the end product might not meet the actual needs.

Generally, the big bang model is used for smaller development projects where only one or two engineers are needed. It helps new developers to develop their skills and gain some on-hand experience. In addition, the big bang model is cost-effective and does not require many resources and additional management staff.

Barry Boehm introduced this term in his paper named “ A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement ” in 1986. Touted as one of the most flexible methodologies, the Spiral Model takes a cue from the iterative model and its repetition.

Furthermore, a project passes through four phases — planning, design, development, and evaluation — over and over in a “spiral” form until completion. Besides that, the spiral model facilitates you in building custom software and implementing user feedback right from the beginning of the development process. As a result, it becomes easier to create a more user-centric product.

Derived from the Waterfall model, V-model is also called the Verification and Validation model for the SDLC process. Moreover, the V-model is characterized by a corresponding testing phase for every development stage. In a V-shaped model, every new step starts only after completing the previous one.

V-model is preferred when an expert-level technical team and resources are available. In this model, parallel testing ensures that all bugs and defects are known at the early stages. If any change is required, you should update the SRS document accordingly.

We have discussed the steps for software development life cycle, and now we will look at the practical application of the software development life cycle process. This example is about building an eCommerce platform. Let’s look at the SDLC steps one by one:

• Planning: In the planning phase, the eCommerce project manager and business analyst will collect requirements from stakeholders regarding how the eCommerce platform will work and what features it requires. Then, they will create detailed SRS (Software Requirement Specification) documents. After this, the business analysts will get the SRS documents reviewed by the key policymakers and stakeholders to get them approved.
• Designing: The SRS documents will be sent to the eCommerce software development team at this stage. First, the development team will carefully review the document to understand client requirements. Then, eCommerce developers will build a suitable architecture, and designers will create web pages after approval.
• Development: Coders will take over eCommerce platform development in this phase. They will code the web pages and APIs required to add various functionalities.
• Testing: In this step, the tester will do end-to-end functionality testing. They will ensure that the e-commerce platform is working seamlessly without any bugs.
• Deployment: At last, the developers will deploy code and offer end-users the final version of the e-commerce solution. After that, a similar process will be followed while integrating the latest features.

Selecting a suitable model for Software Development Life Cycle is a feat as very few organizations know the criteria for choosing the best SDLC model that adds value to their operations. Before considering a framework for a given SDLC methodology, we need to look at some steps to get the selection right –

• Gain enough experience and familiarity with the chosen model. Furthermore, you should know the context in which the SDLC model can fit.
• Study the stakeholder requirements, business domain, technical capabilities, and constraints.
• Analyze the suitability of the model against your team’s size and skills, projects, the technology that you are going to integrate, and your software engineering capability.
• Make a decision matrix that defines each option’s score and weight. Also, document and share this decision with the related stakeholders after analyzing the results.

Closing thoughts

The Software Development Life Cycle is a systematic process to ensure end-product quality. Adhering to an appropriate and secure SDLC is essential for any project’s success. Yet, the software development journey contains various milestones and challenges too. Without a laid path and a sense of direction, the development efforts will likely fall apart.

Successful organizations can take this process to the next level to embrace changes more effectively. An expert like Simform helps you develop a clearly defined plan to achieve this goal. Simform offers advanced services that you can integrate into your SDLC to build products much faster.

In addition, our skilled developers can help you create an enterprise-grade development plan and help your team create a suitable level of software development life cycle security.So what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us today with your software development idea!

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Hiren Dhaduk

Hiren is CTO at Simform with an extensive experience in helping enterprises and startups streamline their business performance through data-driven innovation.

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Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) is the implementation of computer-facilitated tools and methods in software development. CASE is used to ensure high-quality and defect-free software. CASE ensures a check-pointed and disciplined approach and helps designers, developers, testers, managers, and others to see the project milestones during development. 

CASE can also help as a warehouse for documents related to projects, like business plans, requirements, and design specifications. One of the major advantages of using CASE is the delivery of the final product, which is more likely to meet real-world requirements as it ensures that customers remain part of the process. 

CASE illustrates a wide set of labor-saving tools that are used in software development. It generates a framework for organizing projects and to be helpful in enhancing productivity. There was more interest in the concept of CASE tools years ago, but less so today, as the tools have morphed into different functions, often in reaction to software developer needs. The concept of CASE also received a heavy dose of criticism after its release. 

What is CASE Tools?

The essential idea of CASE tools is that in-built programs can help to analyze developing systems in order to enhance quality and provide better outcomes. Throughout the 1990, CASE tool became part of the software lexicon, and big companies like IBM were using these kinds of tools to help create software. 

Various tools are incorporated in CASE and are called CASE tools, which are used to support different stages and milestones in a software development life cycle. 

Types of CASE Tools:

• Diagramming Tools:  It helps in diagrammatic and graphical representations of the data and system processes. It represents system elements, control flow and data flow among different software components and system structures in a pictorial form. For example, Flow Chart Maker tool for making state-of-the-art flowcharts.  
• Computer Display and Report Generators:  These help in understanding the data requirements and the relationships involved. 
• (i) Accept 360, Accompa, CaseComplete for requirement analysis. 
• (ii) Visible Analyst for total analysis.   
• Central Repository:  It provides a single point of storage for data diagrams, reports, and documents related to project management.
• Documentation Generators:  It helps in generating user and technical documentation as per standards. It creates documents for technical users and end users.  For example, Doxygen, DrExplain, Adobe RoboHelp for documentation.  
• Code Generators:  It aids in the auto-generation of code, including definitions, with the help of designs, documents, and diagrams.
• Tools for Requirement Management: It makes gathering, evaluating, and managing software needs easier.
• Tools for Analysis and Design : It offers instruments for modelling system architecture and behaviour, which helps throughout the analysis and design stages of software development.
• Tools for Database Management: It facilitates database construction, design, and administration.
• Tools for Documentation: It makes the process of creating, organizing, and maintaining project documentation easier.

Advantages of the CASE approach: 

• Improved Documentation: Comprehensive documentation creation and maintenance is made easier by CASE tools. Since automatically generated documentation is usually more accurate and up to date, there are fewer opportunities for errors and misunderstandings brought on by out-of-current material.
• Reusing Components: Reusable component creation and maintenance are frequently facilitated by CASE tools. This encourages a development approach that is modular and component-based, enabling teams to shorten development times and reuse tested solutions.
• Quicker Cycles of Development: Development cycles take less time when certain jobs, such testing and code generation, are automated. This may result in software solutions being delivered more quickly, meeting deadlines and keeping up with changing business requirements.
• Improved Results : Code generation, documentation, and testing are just a few of the time-consuming, repetitive operations that CASE tools perform. Due to this automation, engineers are able to concentrate on more intricate and imaginative facets of software development, which boosts output.
• Achieving uniformity and standardization:  Coding conventions, documentation formats and design patterns are just a few of the areas of software development where CASE tools enforce uniformity and standards. This guarantees consistent and maintainable software development.

Disadvantages of the CASE approach: 

• Cost: Using a case tool is very costly. Most firms engaged in software development on a small scale do not invest in CASE tools because they think that the benefit of CASE is justifiable only in the development of large systems.
• Learning Curve: In most cases, programmers’ productivity may fall in the initial phase of implementation, because users need time to learn the technology. Many consultants offer training and on-site services that can be important to accelerate the learning curve and to the development and use of the CASE tools.
• Tool Mix: It is important to build an appropriate selection tool mix to urge cost advantage CASE integration and data integration across all platforms is extremely important.

Conclusion:

In today’s software development world, computer-aided software engineering is a vital tool that enables teams to produce high-quality software quickly and cooperatively. CASE tools will probably become more and more essential as technology develops in order to satisfy the demands of complicated software development projects.

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