Building software from scratch takes a lot of time. No one can build software without proper planning. That's where the software development life cycle or SDLC comes into the picture.
Software Development Life Cycle is very common in the software industry. With the SDLC framework, the engineers can ideate, design, build, test, and ship software programs. SDLC streamlines the entire process of software development from start point to finish.
Experienced software engineers always adhere to the SDLC while working on any project. But for beginner engineers, it can be a bit difficult to understand the life cycle. Fortunately, SDLC is not a complex thing in the software industry and it’s quite easy to get a grasp.
Learn the various stages and parts of the software development life cycle and you will master it and become a good software engineer. Let’s jump to learn everything about SDLC in the software industry.
What Is Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC?
SDLC is the process of ideating, designing, writing, modifying, executing, and maintaining software programs from start to finish. The process includes various stages to develop software programs for smartphones, desktops, servers, and many other devices.
It’s a methodology that streamlines the entire development process for complex projects. Instead of spending too much time aimlessly building software programs or services, SDLC makes everything easier and faster.
The Phases of Software Development Life Cycle
The SDLC has seven distinct stages that are essential for streamlined operations. These stages can change as per the teams, companies, and project requirements.
#1 – Planning
Planning is the first stage of the SDLC in any company. In this stage, the team comes together to brainstorm, generate ideas, discuss the features, and do many other things. This is a brainstorming process and takes a good amount of time to complete.
Planning is the backbone of the entire SDLC as without it, nothing can function smoothly in the development phase. The team works on strategizing the approach towards development, collects the requirements for the stakeholders in the project, assigns the work to respective teams and the costing process is complete.
If the feasibility of development, costing, stakeholder requirements, and timely completion are possible, then the developer team moves toward the next stage of SDLC.
#2 - Requirements
There are certain requirements from the key stakeholders in the project. In the planning phase, certain requirements are collected and these requirements can be broken down into actionable steps.
The requirements stage collects more information regarding the requirements for the project, resources required for fulfilling the project, and also the inputs needed from other teams and stakeholders.
This is another crucial step, as it defines the trajectory of the entire SDLC with the broken-down steps for fulfilling the end goal of the software development process.
#3 – Design
Once the engineering team collects all the data about the project, they start with the design process. The design includes mockups, wireframes, process designing, task allocation, and streamlining the entire development stage.
The engineering team will have to develop the software design documentation, which includes a list of components, features, requirements, programming language selection, design mockups, team members, work allocated to each member, and many other things.
The Software Design Documentation is the holy bible for all further stages of the Software Development Life Cycle.
#4 – Development
Now, the actual development phase of the SDLC begins. In this phase, the engineering and development team work on writing the code and finishing the project bit by bit.
This stage is pretty time-consuming and requires team efforts to complete. The front-end team will work on designing the UI and managing the UX part. The Back-end team will work on developing the back-end architecture with all of the features.
The SDD or Software Design Document is the holy bible that has to be followed by the team in this stage. With the streamlined efforts of all the development teams, the software will be ready for the next stage, i.e., Testing.
#5 – Testing
Once the software is completely developed the team moves on to test every aspect and feature of the software. The testing process is rigorous, as finding the bugs, security vulnerabilities, errors, and many other issues is a very important part of the SDLC.
In the Testing, the engineering team uses the Manual and Automatic testing methods. Depending on the software or a service, the mode of testing is opted. The Testing includes code review, manual testing, automation testing, unit testing, and many other processes.
If some issues are found during the testing stage, they are referred back to the Development team for fixing in real time. The Testing phase continues till all of the issues and vulnerabilities are fixed and the software is marked ready for deployment.
#6 – Deployment
Once every part of development and testing is completed, the software program is marked ready for Deployment. In this stage, the software is ready to be launched for the customers.
The team can launch it in the Alpha or Beta mode to perform further testing or just release the software as a final version to the customers. The stage does not end here as the engineering team will collect the user feedback and update the software program to enhance the experience.
#7 – Maintenance
As the customers start using the software, there will be certain feedback and issues that arise during real-world usage. The maintenance stage is an active stage, which runs for a long time.
The engineering team has to keep a constant eye on the user feedback to continuously fix the bugs and issues to provide better user satisfaction. With the quick response to the issues, the software stays stable and reliable for the client.
The maintenance stage operations vary depending on the development framework used by the engineering team.
What are the Different Development Frameworks Used in SDLC?
The SDLC runs on various frameworks, which are necessary for all the stages of this cycle. Let's check out a few different SDLC models.
#1 – Agile Model
The Agile model is a modern framework used in SDLC phases. Its aim is to divide the development phase into different chunks to streamline the process. The Agile Model requires stringent and thorough planning, which can reduce the overall speed of the entire development phase.
This framework is suitable for small and medium projects and not for big complex projects that have multiple features to build from scratch.
#2 – Waterfall Model
The Waterfall Model is the most commonly used Software development life cycle model. In this model, the phases are arranged in descending order. The phases depend on the outcome of the previous phases and that’s why it's called the Waterfall model.
This model is quite efficient in the entire SDLC, as it breaks the processes into small interdependent chunks for streamlining the development and deployment. The waterfall model is suitable for all sorts of software projects.
#3 – Iterative Model
In this model, the engineering team focuses on a small set of feature sets and starts working on the project. As the software completes, new features are added with each iteration of the software.
The iterative model is beneficial for complex software projects, where user feedback is very important. This model is perfect as the time spent in correcting the issues and bugs after deployment is saved.
#4 – Spiral Model
The spiral model is a combination of the Iterative Model and the Waterfall model. In this model, the engineering team designs the project in the Waterfall model but follows the iterative approach to perfect each phase and move to the next phase.
For large projects with numerous requirements, the Spiral Model proves beneficial.
#5 – Big Bang Model
The Big Bang Model is a structure-less approach to software development. In this model, the developers work on the software without any planning or design documentation.
They directly dive into the coding with the basic vision of the end product and keep improving in the process. This model is suitable for smaller projects and smaller teams to complete the project in a short time.
Final Words
Building software might sound easy, but it involves a lot of processes, phases, and compliances. With the Software Development Life cycle phases, the developers can plan everything in advance and just follow the steps.
This not only streamlines the entire process, it saves a lot of time and resources spent on the project. Every software engineer should learn to master the fundamentals of SDLC frameworks and phases to become an expert.