Software Development Life Cycle is the application of standard business practices to building software applications. It’s typically divided into six to eight steps: Planning, Requirements, Design, Build, Document, Test, Deploy, Maintain. Some project managers will combine, split, or omit steps, depending on the project’s scope. These are the core components recommended for all software development projects.

SDLC is a way to measure and improve the development process. It allows a fine-grain analysis of each step of the process. This, in turn, helps companies maximize efficiency at each stage. As computing power increases, it places a higher demand on software and developers. Companies must reduce costs, deliver software faster, and meet or exceed their customers’ needs. SDLC helps achieve these goals by identifying inefficiencies and higher costs and fixing them to run smoothly.

The steps of SDLC

Planning

In this phase, project leaders evaluate the terms of the project. This includes calculating labor and material costs, creating a timetable with target goals, and creating the project’s teams and leadership structure. Planning can also include feedback from stakeholders. Try to get feedback from potential customers, developers, subject matter experts, and sales reps. Planning should clearly define the scope and purpose of the application. It also sets boundaries to help keep the project from expanding or shifting from its original purpose.

Define Requirements

Defining requirements is considered part of planning to determine what the application is supposed to do and its requirements.  Requirements also include defining the resources needed to build the project. For example, a team might develop software to control a custom manufacturing machine. The machine is a requirement in the process.

Design and Prototyping

The Design phase models the way a software application will work. Some aspects of the design include Architecture, User Interface, Platforms, Programming, Communications, and Security.

Prototyping can be a part of the Design phase. A prototype is like one of the early versions of software in the Iterative software development model. It demonstrates a basic idea of how the application looks and works. This “hands-on” design can be shown to stakeholders. Use feedback o improve the application. It’s less expensive to change the Prototype phase than to rewrite code to make a change in the Development phase.

Development

The actual development phase is where the development team turns product specifications and business requirements into code that makes the product. 

This SDLC phase can take quite a lot of time. It’s important to have a set timeline and milestones so the software developers understand the expectations and you can keep track of the progress in this stage. 

In some cases, the development stage can also merge with the testing stage where certain tests are run to ensure there are no critical bugs. 

Testing

It’s critical to test an application before making it available to users. Much of the testing can be automated, like security testing. Testing should ensure that each function works correctly. Different parts of the application should also be tested to work seamlessly together—performance test, to reduce any hangs or lags in processing. The testing phase helps reduce the number of bugs and glitches that users encounter. This leads to a higher user satisfaction and a better usage rate.

Deployment

In the deployment phase, the application is made available to users. Many companies prefer to automate the deployment phase. This can be as simple as a payment portal and download link on the company website. It could also be downloading an application on a smartphone.

Maintenance

The maintenance stage is the final stage of the SDLC if you’re following the waterfall structure of the software development process. However, the industry is moving towards a more agile software development approach where maintenance is only a stage for further improvement. 

In the maintenance stage, users may find bugs and errors that were missed in the earlier testing phase. These bugs need to be fixed for better user experience and retention. In some cases, these can lead to going back to the first step of the software development life cycle. 

The SDLC phases can also restart for any new features you may want to add in your next release/update. If you are considering an IT Partner to help you boost your digital product through software development best practices, talk to us! At PrimeIT Consulting you can rely on a team of highly skilled software developers to support you to jump start your business.