8 Stages of the Software Development Life Cycle

Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) is the process of planning, creating, testing, and deploying software. It is a pre-defined framework adopted by software enterprises. Each product or project is build on a different software development model such as Waterfall, Spiral, V-model, Rad, Agile, etc., so the SDLC varies according to models. In this blog post, we shall check out the 8 stages of the software development life cycle.  

Ideation  

This is the stage where we brainstorm our ideas. The ideas may not be concrete or executable, yet we can note them down. The aim behind doing this is to refine the ideas in the upcoming stages to bring innovation into the picture. The process can be done in group discussions manually or with the help of software tools. Some of the AI-based tools for this process are Milanote, XMinds, etc. Irrespective of the methods, the stakeholders are always a part of the discussion. The client’s needs are on priority in all the stages.  

Planning and Analysis  

In this stage, the ideas are refined and filtered based on market trends, client’s needs, the budget estimate of the project, time, etc. The features and functions of the software product are defined and documented. The Software Requirements Specification (SRS) document is created in this phase.  

Feasibility Study  

Here, the practical resources to implement the above plans are listed. The feasibility study considers economic factors, legal standards, technical needs, operational feasibility, time frame, etc. The Software Requirements Specification document from the previous stage comes in handy here.  

Prototyping  

A sample model of the intended software is created. The user can interact with the software. Based on their inputs, the product is refined. In some cases, the prototypes undergo modification or are discarded. Sometimes more than one prototype is given to the users allowing them to choose the best option.   

Development  

In this phase, the designs are converted to functional software. The source codes are written by the developers using the previously decided tools, languages, and frameworks. Testing and debugging from the developer’s side are carried out in this stage.  

Testing  

After the source code is written, it is tested by the test engineers either manually or by using tools like JIRA, Jenkins, Selenium, etc. The code may be free from bugs, but it should pass all the test cases also. The testers frame the test cases test the software accordingly. The testing team re-sends it to the development teams when the test cases do not get satisfied. 

Deployment and Delivery  

The software is deployed in increments into the marketplace or ground reality. Depending upon the enterprise, the deployment process begins either manually or automatically using Application Release Automation (ARA) tools to the production environment. These tools are mostly linked with the continuous integration tools to facilitate successful incremental releases of the working software. In this phase, the functioning software is delivered wholly to the production environment if the increments are successful. Otherwise, the increments are rolled back and fixed and then deployed again.   

Monitoring and Maintenance  

Once the software product is delivered, it is constantly monitored to look out for defects and issues that the user might encounter. The user feedbacks and reviews are analyzed. The respective teams fix the defects or improvise the software products. The bug fixes may not flow through the entire cycle, but a well-planned process is carried out so that the fix doesn’t introduce other problems. This practice is also known as regression.  

Conclusion 

I hope this blog post gave you a clear idea of the 8 stages of the SDLC. The tasks in each stage may be performed together, or are independent but any successful product development requires cooperation and smart work across all the teams. Understanding the user’s requirements and queries clearly would help to optimize the whole software product development process.