What is Software Development Life Cycle

The creation and development of any product occurs gradually, going through several mandatory stages, some of which can occur in parallel.

The life cycle of an IT project is a continuous process that ends only when a decision is made to close it. If you have an idea for a product and you have approached a software development solutions team, get ready: there is a lot of work ahead.

Assessment and planning

This is perhaps the most responsible and important of all the steps in creating a successful software system. All the information collected is used to plan the approach to the project.

In addition, quality assurance requirements are planned and various risks associated with the project are identified. The result of the analysis is the identification of various technical approaches that can be used to successfully implement the project with minimal risks. Plan for what you can control and be aware of what you cannot plan for. This will help you get a solid foundation for moving on to the second stage.

Software Requirements Specification

Once the analysis of the main requirements is completed, the next step is to clearly define and document the product requirements, as well as to have them approved by the customer. If one of the goals of the first stage is to understand and analyze the requirements, then at this stage all the goals should be written down, this is a protection for both parties.

You must clearly define and record what needs to be done using the SRS (Software Requirements Specification). The document contains all the product requirements that need to be designed and developed during the project life cycle.

Design

SRS is a guide for developers to propose the best architecture for a product. There are usually several approaches to designing a product architecture. All proposed approaches are documented in a DDS (Design Documentation Specification), and the best design approach is selected. This approach very clearly defines all the architectural modules of the product, as well as its relationship with external and third-party modules.

Development

This is where the development and assembly of the product begins. All the program code, new modules and features are developed based on DDS. Perfect documentation will help the best implementation. The development team is involved in this stage. The written code should be covered by unit tests. Then you test the new features with other modules using integration tests. These activities are performed by the development team.

Quality assurance

Quality assurance includes all stages of the life cycle. Product defects are recorded, monitored, corrected and retested. This happens until the product reaches the quality standards specified in the SRS. At this stage, a team of manual testers is involved in the development process.

Delivery and support

Once the product has been tested, it is released. Sometimes the implementation is done in stages, following the business strategy. The product may first be released in a limited segment and tested in a real business environment, this is UAT testing (User Acceptance Testing). Then, based on the feedback, the product may be released as is or with suggested improvements. After the product is released to the market, it is supported by the existing customer base, and at this stage, support teams are also involved.

Guidelines for Creating a Software Development Plan

The goal of software development services is to fulfill product requirements. If you want to learn how to create and release high-quality software, you need to follow a plan.

Break the process into modules

Developing the entire software plan at once is an impossible task. You will have to break the process down into subtasks. You should use a modular system: define each section of the plan as a module and the team members responsible. Set realistic deadlines for each module and make sure that all teams are aware of the scope of their work.

Real-time research area

Research is a critical process when creating a software development plan. Market research results, user feedback, and focus groups should be available to all team members in real time along with their updates.

Update plan

A software project for planning is an ongoing process. Priorities are constantly changing. Software development must be up-to-date, so team members need to return to it regularly. Keep previous versions in case there are disputes about the project.

Conduct pilot testing to get user feedback

Once a feature is developed, you should test it with users. The result should be reflected in the SDP. Interaction with users may change the focus from one development approach to another or acquire new resources. All these changes should be documented when planning the software development project.

Conclusion

The development of any program, whether it is a small procedure for processing information coming to the console or a complex software product, consists of several stages, and the competent implementation of the software development project plan is crucial for obtaining a good result. It is difficult to write a project plan at once, so it should be divided into subtasks and a person responsible for each SDLC stage should be assigned.