The modern and standard way of building software is by following a process known as (SDLC) Software Development Life Cycle. This technique is the quickest way to bring an idea into reality. It demands all hands on the desk to accomplish the goal.
Standard tech companies use this technique to build top products for their clients in a short time. While there are still tech firms who work with a few processes and abolish the rest, there are also firms who don’t even know what the technique is.
SDLC brings a team of people together comprising an analyst, a designer, a developer, testers, and the client. In some companies, these people have their own standalone team, which makes their work easier and faster. A company using the SDLC technique can accomplish a project in a shorter time, sometimes two times faster than companies that don’t use it.
SDLC IN-DEPTH
Most of the top software products in the world started as an idea, then goes to execution following a pattern. People don’t just wake up overnight and start building products. It follows a process and a pattern in other for the product to become a standard. There are six processes of Software Development Life Cycle, some people would argue that it is five, whichever you pick, would work well for you and your team.
REQUIREMENT GATHERING/PLANNING PHASE
When working for a client, people mostly use the term Requirement Gathering, while when building a product, it is referred to as planning. There is not any difference between the two terms, it is the same phase.
This is the first phase after dreaming of your idea or when clients come to you with their needs. It is the process that involves determining the feasibility of the project.
In this phase, everything about the idea is being written. The features, colours, performance, how it would look like, etc.
ANALYSIS
The analysis phase is the next step after planning and gathering requirements. This is the phase that defines and documents the project requirements. The analyst or a team of analysts would go through all the requirements thoroughly and fish out the unnecessary and impossible demands by the client. In this phase, the team analyzes the opportunities and competitors.
In some companies, the process would move to the first stage. This is just to work out the documented project requirements with the client. In other companies, the process moves on to the design phase.
DESIGN
The analyst submits the documented project requirements to the lead designer. The lead designer then takes it to his team and comes up with a design following the documented requirements.
In this phase, the design team designs the system. Not just the User Interface, but also how the system should function, the business rules, and the process digrams.
The company shows the client the (prototype), a design of how the product would look like upon completion following the documented requirement presented to the design team. If the client is okay with what he sees, the project moves to the next phase.
IMPLEMENTATION
In the implementation phase, the product is built using the design prototype and documented requirements for the project. A team of software developers would work together to bring the product into reality.
In this phase, developers write code to build the project following performance, accessibility, and development standards.
TESTING
The testing phase involves software testers who test and analyze the product upon completion by the team of Software Developers. In this phase, the defects are being reported, tracked, fixed, and retested until it reaches the quality as demand by the client in the documented requirements file.
MAINTENANCE
Building is 40% while maintenance is 60%. When the product is released to the market, the maintenance is done for new and existing customers. In this phase, the maintainer receives queries from customers facing difficulty and help them fix it. The maintenance phase involves customer support.
SDLC Models & Methodologies Explained
Big Bang Model
Is the simplest model in the Software Development Life Cycle. It requires less planning, lots of coding or programming, and lots of funds.
Waterfall
The Waterfall SDLC model is the classic model of development. It is called waterfall because the model develops systematically from one phase to another in a downward fashion. As each phase completes, the project spills over into the next step. Every phase has to be completed before the next phase starts and there is no overlapping of the phases.
Agile
The AGILE model puts customer needs first. This method focuses strongly on user experience and input. Agile model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models with a focus on process adaptability and customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of working software products.
Other models
V-shaped model, Iterative development model, DevOps model, Spiral model.
SDLC is crucial because it breaks the long and tedious life cycle of software development. By evaluating each part of the development, it makes it easier and it helps programmers concurrently.
If you find this article helpful kindly leave a comment and leave a clap.
