Software Development Life Cycle is used by the software industry to design, develop and test high-quality software. The software development life cycle motive is to produce high-quality software that meets the requirements of customers and even exceeds customer expectations. SDLC reaches completion within times and cost estimates. It is the acronym of the Software Development Life cycle.
SDLC i.e. Software development life cycle is a long-standing concept in the world of IT, and it is an iterative process which encompasses various activities which constitute the development of a structured information technology system. This term has been used for many decades and comes from a time when the organization was not centralized. When IT has involved in the market, then the software development life cycle has become an essential part of how business or companies build their software program and solutions.
What is Software Development Life Cycle?
Software development life cycle is a framework defining tasks performed at every step in the process of software development. It is meant to be the standard that represents all the tasks required to develop and maintain the software. A software development life cycle is a structured project management model which outlines the phases which are needed to build an IT system and from the inception to the result. The main motive of this system development is to provide significant production of high-quality solutions which would meet or exceed a client’s expectations throughout its stages in the budget and timelines.
Software development life cycle process is followed for a software project within a software organization. It contains an explained plan describing how to develop, maintain, replace and enhance specific software. The life cycle process defines a methodology for improving the quality of software and over the process of development.
There are various stages of a software development life cycle just like the app development. Stages of Software development life cycle is a conceptual required developing and implementing a system. Every step plays a significant role in the development process and differs from others in complexity and required assets.
It consists of the following various stages:
Stage 1: Planning and Requirement Analysis
Planning and requirement analysis is one of the most critical and fundament stage of software development life cycle process as the senior members of the team perform it with inputs from the clients and the sales department. It is also served from the market surveys and domain experts in the industry. All this information is later used to plan the basic project approach and to conduct a product feasibility study in the matter of economic and technical areas.
Planning for the quality assurance requirements and the indication of the risks associated with the project is also performed in the planning stage. The result of the study to describe the several technical approaches which can be followed to implement the project successfully with fewer risks.
Stage 2: Defining Requirements
When the first stage of the software development life cycle is performed then the next step is to describe and document the product requirements clearly and to get them approves from the clients or the market analysts. This stage is performed through a software requirement specification document which contains all the product requirements, which is to be designed and developed during the project life cycle.
Stage 3: Designing the Product Architecture
The software requirement specification is the reference for the product architects to come out with the best architecture to develop the products and based on the requirements specified in software requirement specification more than one design approach for the product architecture. It is proposed and documented in a Design Document Specification. All the essential stakeholders review this design document specification based on several parameters like risk assessment, product robustness, budget and the time constraints. And then one the most refined design approach is selected for the product.
A design approach clearly explains all the architectural modules of the product with its communication and data flow presentation with the third party modules or external modules. The internal design of all the modules should clearly describe with the minutest of the details in design document specifications.
Stage 4: Building and Developing of the Product
Building and developing of the products is the stage o software development life cycle where the actual development starts and the work is created. The programming code is made according to the DDS during this stage. When the design is operated in a detailed and organized way, then the code generation can be accomplished without much hassle. The developers of the product should follow the coding guidelines as defined by the organizations and programming tools like compilers, interpreters, debuggers and many more which are used to create the code. Many different advance level programming languages are C, C++, Pascal, Java, which reused for coding. The programming language is chosen concerning the type of software being developed.
Stage 5: Testing the Product (Test)
Testing of the product stage is mainly a subset of all the other stages as for the modern software development life cycle models, and the testing activities are almost involved in all the stages of software development life cycle. Testing products defects are reported, fixed, tracked and also reset to make the product in its quality standards as describes in the SRS.
Stage 6: Deployment and Maintenance of the Market
When the model is tested, and it is ready to be deployed, then it is released formally in the most appropriate market, and sometimes the product deployment performs in stages as per the business strategy of the organizations. Many businesses have their approach, and the deployment of the products happen in various stages according to their organizations. After that, based on the feedback, the products are released as it is or with suggested enhancements in the targeting market segment. When the product has released the maintenance of the product is performed for the existing customer base in the market.
Benefits of SDLC
- These software development life cycles formal review is done at the final of every stage, which allows maximum management control.
- This approach makes multiple systems of documentation, and this documentation ensures that the system requirement is traced back to sate the needs of the business.
- It also produces many intermediate products which can be reviewed to see whether they meet the requirements of the users or not and conform to standards. This is worked further on if they require any more creation or tweaks to be made to ensure that the business can get exactly what it needs.
- When the stages of the software development life cycle procedure are taken into serious consideration, then the chances are that your business will end up with an outstanding product. The developers will make software that your users will happily and excitingly talk about your product, and they will also recommend it.
- The team will have comprehensive documentation to work with DDS. They will give the feedbacks of the product managers and stakeholders. Your business will be able to develop a product that will perform the competition in most of the cases.
- By making sure that the research process is done accurately, then this process will allow you to consume your time and money both. This will also improve the communication system between the team members.
- By providing transparency in the workplace will give people tools to know who is who and who does what. This will enhance the speed of development.
- By repeating this process will make a huge difference in future projects.
- This process minimizes the risk level during any development project.
- Software development life cycle process creates a high-quality product that your end-users genuinely love.
Read more: Understanding DevOps: What it is and How it improves software development
If you fail in planning, then your failed planning will result in:
- Wrong products and unsatisfied clients will not give better outcome results, and your customers will talk wrong about your software, and thus no one will dare to buy products from you, and no one will pay for it.
- It will create lousy team communication and as a result in utterly disorganized team management.
- When your product is not well planned, then you will need more time to allocate budget on fixing the bugs and problems that arise from nowhere.
- You will have to spend more resources on fixing bugs and issues, and this will miss the deadlines which can leave your customers unhappy.
- By having a lot of document can make the team perplexed as well, and many forms can also make software development life cycle process cumbersome, and the process will slow down.
Make sure to find the balance between a scarce document and a thorough one to make able your team to be more productive.
Various Models of Software Development Life Cycle
The various models are explained and designed and are followed during the software development procedure. The models as also referred to as software development process models. Every system of the model follows a series of steps uniquely to ensure the success rate in the process of software development.
What are the six primary methodologies?
The software development life cycle provides structure to the challenges of transitioning from the start to end of the project without forgetting any step. Several numbers of software development life cycle methodologies are used to guide professional through their project-based work.
Here are some most common software development life cycle methodologies:
Waterfall Model
The waterfall is one of the oldest and most straightforward of the structures software development life cycle methodologies, and every stage relies on information from the previous stage in this methodologies. Waterfall model is specific to understand, and it is simple to manage. In this model, there is little room for revisions when a stage is completed, and problems cannot be fixed until you step on the maintenance stage. Waterfall model does not worm well if flexibility is required or even when the project is long term and ongoing.
Waterfall model is a linear and sequential approach which is very famous in IT product development sectors. Waterfall model emphasizes the need for constant development advancing from one stage to the next. Waterfall model is simple to follow and clear milestones and deadlines also. This detailed model documentation and reinforces good codding habits. Waterfall model provides a solid structure, but it is not suitable for large and complex projects. This model is highly inflexible to scope changes, and it isn’t easy to estimate time and budget precisely.
V-Shaped Model
V-shaped model is also called as the verification or validation model. V-shaped model view out of the waterfall model. V-shaped model is characterized by a corresponding testing phase for each development stage. The V-shaped model works very similarly to the waterfall model, and like waterfall. Model, each stage also begins after the previous one has ended. V-shaped model is useful when there are new requirements, but it is challenging to go back and make changes.
Iterative Model-
This model is repetition incarnate, and instead of starting with fully known requirements, it needs to be implemented a set of software requirements which is testes ad evaluated to pinpoint the different conditions. The interactive model produces a new version of the software with its every phase. You need to rinse and repeat the process until the complete system is ready. One of the main advantages of the interactive model provide you with a working version early in the process and ensure to make it less expensive to implement changes. But this model can quickly be eaten up by repeating the process over and over.
Spiral Model-
The spiral model is one of the most flexible software development life cycle methodologies. This model takes a cue from the Iterative mod and the repetition. Spiral model’s project passes through for phases over in a spiral way for multiple rounds. The spiral model provides a highly customized product for the building. The customer feedback can be incorporated from early-stage o the project processing in the spiral model. The risk is created a never-ending spiral for the entire project which goes on and on.
Big Bang Model-
The big bang model is a bit of an anomaly among all the software development life cycle methodologies, and this model follows no particular process. The big bang model takes significantly less time in planning. The majority of the resources are thrown away towards development. The customers also not have a solid grasp of the requirements. The big band model is typically used for small projects. This software development life cycle methodology is suitable for small projects with only one or two software engineers. Big bang model is not recommendable for the large or complex projects as a big band is a high-risk model. When the requirements are misunderstood in the starting, then you can go to the end and realize the project may have to be started all over again, and this will need extra resources and time.
Agile Model-
The agile model delivers a working product quickly, and it is considered a very realistic development approach by breaking the product into cycles. The agile model produces ongoing releases with each small and incremental change from the previous release. The product is tested at every iteration. The agile model emphasizes interactions as the clients, developers and even testers work together throughout the project. The agile model depends on customer’s interaction mainly so the project can head the wrong way if the customers are not clear on the path where they want to go. The top-five most popular are as follows:
- Scrum
- Kanban
- XP (Extreme Programming)
- Crystal
- Lean Development
Waterfall-Agile Hybrid Software Development
The agile model has replaced the waterfall model system development life cycle methodology. The agile model has become a significant driving force behind the software development process in the vast majority. This model produces many release cycles where each iteration is tested. The problems are detected, and feedback is obtained from the stakeholders from the entire process. This model also involves evolutionary development and continuous improvements with flexible dramatic changes. This model enables fast development and testing process. The agile model detects the issues quickly and rapidly it fixes that issue also. Accommodates changes or enhancements in this model. This model enhances the communication system and increases receiving feedback continuously. This model provides less emphasis on design and scalability to the documentation.
Read more: How to align test automation with Agile and DevOps?
What is the Importance Of Software Development Life Cycle?
- A software development life cycle allows to lower th complexity of developing a system from scratch, and it is essential to have a software development life cycle in place as it offers to change the concept of the project into a functional and makes it completely in operational structure.
- A software development life cycle helps to process development system and to change management.
- It also helps to gain user experience and policies.
- Software development life cycle process allows to plan ahead of time and determine costs and staffing decision.
- It also defines goals and validates points at each phase of the cycle to increase the quality of the final product.
Which Software Development Life Cycle methodology is right for you?
Every software development life cycle methodologies offer a unique process for several varieties of projects and allow you to encounter your career. The right choice of model also depends heavily on the parameters by which the project is executed.
According to the most invaders, Agile model is the ideal choice as it ensures good planning to get you halfway to success. The methodology, which is known for most efficient for a startup is Agile Software Development Life Cycle model. By choosing an agile model, basically,, it means being able to adapt changes whenever it is required. By choosing Agile model, product teams can adapt to market developments and pivot with limited resources available at the time. This model helps to reduce and eliminate wasteful and meaningless activities.
The agile model reduces not only unnecessary action but also i intentionally avoids the strict prescription. This model values people, the quality of product and communication.
Security in the Software Development Life Cycle:
Because applications remain the top external attack method, we’d be remiss not to mention security in the context of the SDLC.
When it comes to security, the waterfall can be liability and code changes are tough when the security flaws and overflow are found in late-stage testing. Developers work on code that they have not seen for a long time to remediate the vulnerabilities which are not effective or efficient. Software development life cycle models are best for developing secure software or system in part because their iterative approach males are very simpler for changes to arise at any time and so vulnerability remediation is necessary.
By operating on smaller chunks of codes also enable fewer unintended consequences, and fixing bugs is easier and less of impact. The continuous release of agile models has shifted security left and prevents testing bottlenecks. Developers manage the security process just by reviewing the AMD testing code for earlies in the software development life cycle.
Finding a Software Development Life Cycle Model That Works:
Software development in an enormous and personal undertaking process whether you go for an agile model or waterfall model or a hybrid approach. The task of models is almost similar like design, testing and deployment. They also vary in design and process. Selecting the best methodology depends on your own specific project and requirements to meet the customer’s expectations. Suppose your software is mature and the requirement of that software is well defined then you can opt for the waterfall model. If you want to speed to market the product and to gain more customers, then you should consider an agile model. To choose the best for your company to process the development of your product, you must assess your own unique requirements while choosing the model to start your work with.
Read more: Software Testing Lifecycle & Phases
Summary
It is very crucial to follow the software development life cycle process when someone starts developing product. These teams are able to work according to a structures approach for the development of new solutions in a managed and well-organized manner. It is also very important to learn how a software development life cycle will meet the requirements before beginning to start with new systems. This will help to provide the best outcome results. By choosing one of the best software development company with the help of Amplework, life cycle model will help to make the system quickly and effectively.
