The Nine Steps of Software Product Development Life Cycle
If you want to develop great software, you need to establish a proper plan and process. An organized approach with precise procedures and strictly defined steps, known as Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), can help you transform your idea into a unique software solution.
A software product development cycle involves several steps. They are as follows:
- Brainstorm ideas
Brilliant ideas lead to excellent products. But, ideas must receive a thorough evaluation before adoption. In addition to evaluation, establishing means to achieve company objectives, determining solutions, and selecting the project’s scope are all part of the planning phase of the software development or product development process.
Here are a few more points that you can probe upon in this phase:
- Define your objectives
- Make a list of the features that your software will have
- Look into different software developments
- Brainstorm how you can make your product stand out
- Discuss who your target audience is
- Make a rough sketch of the software
- Utilize your analytical skills to create a user story
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2. Plan and analyze
A feasibility study is a critical element of the app discovery process. It helps you determine the technical and financial aspects of your software development process. When designing your product’s roadmap, carefully consider the time, resources, key activities, estimations, and ROI, among other things related to it. In addition, conducting a comprehensive analysis helps anticipate the potential risks during the new product development.
3. Go through the Proof of Concept (PoC)
After completing your second stage, you can begin working on a proof of concept (PoC). A Proof of Concept is one of the most critical phases of the cycle. This step aids you in validating your idea and determining whether the software product development processes will deliver for your company or not. In addition, this step identifies the technical feasibility, probable outcomes and potential roadblocks, and the extent of work required to overcome them in the project.
4. Design
Once the PoC is successful, the design team creates a thorough software architecture that encompasses all of the software’s features. This step is all about achieving the right balance between what the user wants and the corporate goals. Your software’s product design should contain prototypes and final mockups, all of which should be customer-centric. So, ensure to keep the user interaction and final output in mind when creating wireframes, standards, procedures, and end goals for this phase.
5. Go through the Proof of Value (PoV)
Proof of Value (PoV) delves deeper into the product’s significance to your company. It helps you in finding whether or not your objectives are attainable. Using the PoV approach, you can examine a single instance from beginning to conclusion, inspect all of the pieces along the route, and grasp the gaps. A PoV helps predict a product’s potential earnings and allows you to judge the likelihood of success.
6. Develop the code
The development phase consists of writing code and transforming design documents into the software. Here, your software engineering team ensures that the code complies with the software specifications and the stakeholders’ requirements — from alpha, beta, and release to the final production build.
7. Integrate and test
To make sure that the code is clean and accomplishes the business goals, have your quality assurance team run several tests, including functionality testing, systems integration, interoperability, and user acceptability testing on the product. Make sure to integrate product testing as a mandatory step in your process. This way, you can verify that your application is working effectively.
8. Deploy and keep a track
In this stage, the final solution is released in a step-by-step manner with an implementation strategy. Finally, once the software is completed with data and component transfers, the freshly designed and tested application is released to production with only the specific changes provided in the following releases. Note: It may be a straight release when the project is simple or a staggered release (in stages) if it is complex.
9. Maintain and upgrade
This phase receives special attention. Here, the product is fine-tuned, updated, and enhanced based on real-world input. This phase is the perfect time to improve the application’s features, update its performance, and adjust them in response to the end user’s demands by adding new capabilities.
At the end
The software product development life cycle can be adjusted to meet the needs of any project. It’s a framework for equipping every team member involved in technical and non-technical activities to deliver high-quality code and a solution that meets project goals.
But remember, no matter how diligently you follow these nine steps of an effective software product development life cycle, the onus always lies on talented developers and engineers to flawlessly execute the entire process.
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