Developing high-quality and reliable software is a challenging task that demands a comprehensive and structured approach. Here comes the concept of the software development life cycle (SDLC).
It can be defined as a framework that software engineers' team follows that enables them to develop applications that are meeting requirements and timelines and providing value to their users.
We will discuss this software development process and the various software development methodologies (models) employed by developers' teams. Let's start with a detailed overview of software development methodology.
The software development lifecycle (SDLC) defines and organizes the tasks necessary to complete software development. It is the structure and steps the development team follows on all of their projects.
Also known as the product development lifecycle, the process comprises several steps or phases that facilitate the creation of robust applications. The SDLC phases address the complexity that underlies software development and attempts to improve the process. The goal is to ensure that the final results align with the organization's quality and functionality.
Before engaging in the defined SDLC steps, let's discuss why software development teams need to implement and follow SDLC. As we have said before, product development is a complex process that requires designing and engineering work and a lot of communication between team members.
Moreover, according to Stackoverflow developers' survey, there are many more obstacles that impact the project.
Stackoverflow claims that nearly 3 out of 4 workers said they were distracted on the job, with 16 percent claiming that they're almost always distracted. Besides, 34% of employees said they liked their jobs less in a distracting work environment. However, 66% of them had never brought up the issue with their managers. Moreover, employees took an average of more than 23 minutes to return to a task.
Therefore, the software development methodologies are designed to fight almost all these challenges and make the work on the project smooth, and non-distracting at all with effective communication, meetings, management processes, and optimized workload.
So, let's move ahead and discuss how to set the software development model and what steps it should take to be effective.
There are six basic steps in the software development process. Each one is important in its own right, and skipping steps leaves a development team open to failure that could have easily been avoided.
Specific SDLC models have different ways of implementing the steps, and we will investigate them shortly. First, let's take a closer look at the general steps of all SDLC approaches.
The first step in the software development life cycle is the most important in the process. It is where fundamental decisions are made regarding the feasibility of the project. The planning stage also addresses risks and quality assurance issues that may impact development.
After the planning phase of the SDLC, the team will agree on the technical approach that will be used to develop the project while minimizing risk. This step involves input from the customer, industry experts, and internal sales and marketing departments.
When planning is complete, we define and document the product requirements, e.g., what functionality and interface it needs and what tech stack to choose for implementing that.
As a result, we deliver a software requirement specification (SRS) detailing the project sent to the customer for approval. The SRS clarifies what needs to be designed and developed during the software development process.
In the design phase of the software product development life cycle, we consider the overall architecture of the project. The design document specification (DDC) can be helpful here, which often suggests multiple approaches for fulfilling the previously defined requirements.
In the DDS, you can add all details on all module designs and the entire software architecture.
After you have specified all the design aspects, you are ready to start the design development process by creating mockups, wireframes, and prototypes and then moving to the interface.
It's a building phase of the application development life cycle.
The team defines and applies the most applicable programming languages, frameworks, and technologies to product development under the DDS.
Interestingly, giving the DDS and design phase adequate attention can make the development step run smoothly. A detailed and organized DDS paves the way for rapid and consistent module creation.
Some level of testing takes place, for sure, in all phases of the SDLC as work proceeds on the project.
At some point, a thorough evaluation of the application is required to determine how well it achieves the requirements defined in the SRS. The testing phase identifies defects and bugs that need to be addressed and may require multiple iterations to reach the desired quality and functionality in the finished product.
When you finish the testing and fixing phases, it's time to release the product to the market. The application may undergo user acceptance testing (UAT) with a limited subset of users to verify that it is ready for general release.
Though the product is released, the work on it continues. Maintenance is an ongoing process throughout the product's life as bugs or deficiencies in the software are discovered and corrected by the development team.
Our overview of software development methodology and software quality model includes 6 main steps, however, such processes do not stand still, and many companies segment these steps into several more. Here is a more detailed video explaining the software development cycle and stages if you need more information.
Understanding the main SDLC process stages is time to move ahead to the software development methodologies and their different types.
In a nutshell, the system development life cycle methodology is a set of repeatable processes that, when followed, present a path to successful results. These processes have proven to be valuable in helping development teams create quality software.
There are several types of software development methodologies, but the most popular ones are the next one under the Stackoverflow survey:
Besides, Agile popularity isn't unpredictable – under the PwC research, the Agile projects are 28% more successful than those that don't follow any approach.
Of course, implementing the methodology into your project requires time and effort but rewards a lot of benefits for your team and product.
Thus, if you still are not using the methodology for your product development, let's explain why you should start and what advantages you get:
Hopefully, after these, you know that selecting the right methodology can dramatically impact the success or failure of a given project. There are many different types of software development methodologies from which to choose.
Let's look at some of your choices when considering the types of development strategies to use in a software development project.
Here is an overview of some of the software development methodology options available to development teams. We will highlight some of the pros and cons of each product development methodology.
The Waterfall software development approach is one of the earliest ones, having appeared in the 1950s and was defined in the 1970s by Winston W. Royce. Waterfall software development is characterized by a very straightforward approach that follows a rigid series of steps. Each phase must be completed one by one, and there is no going back to a previous step.
The V-Model software design methodology builds on the foundation of the Waterfall model that includes a testing phase associated with each development stage. It is also known as the validation and verification model. The V-Model is one of the most inflexible yet thorough of the various SDLC testing methodologies. Each phase of the model must be completed before the next one begins.
The Iterative software development model builds on an initial set of software requirements and identifies further needs through testing and evaluation. Each iteration of the development process produces a better version of the product.
Requirements are defined as the process is repeated and problems with prior versions of the software are resolved. There is no pre-defined number of iterations when a project commences, as it is understood that the model will be followed until a satisfactory outcome is achieved.
The Spiral SDLC methodology is one of the most flexible options and is usually employed in large-scale projects. It allows highly customized products to come out of the software development efforts.
The model repeats the four phases of planning, risk analysis, engineering, and evaluation until the product is fully refined and finished. Each iteration of the four phases starts to identify development risks and the best ways to avoid them.
The Agile software development strategy is based on an incremental and iterative approach to software development. As a concept, the Agile SDLC model has been adopted by businesses for non-software-related activities, but now it is widely used in the software industry.
It produces many consecutive product releases that contain incremental improvements to the previous versions of the application. Each iteration of the product is thoroughly tested before the project proceeds. To be effective, this model requires setting up an Agile team with specific members.
Kamal Rastogi is a serial IT entrepreneur with 25 yrs plus experience. Currently his focus area is Data Science business, ERP Consulting, IT Staffing and Experttal.com (Fastest growing US based platform to hire verified / Risk Compliant Expert IT resources from talent rich countries like India, Romania, Philippines etc...directly). His firms service clients like KPMG, Deloitte, EnY, Samsung, Wipro, NCR Corporation etc in India and USA.