Software development life cycle refers to the standard process used to design, create, and test software. The number of steps in this process varies from company to company and software to software.
Step 1: Plan
In the planning phase, project leaders develop the budget required and the schedule of the overall development of the software. They also determine the team members involved in creating the product or service and the potential customers who may use it. To determine the project requirements, team members, and customer base, the project planners solicit feedback from stakeholders such as sales representatives and subject matter experts to ensure that what they create will satisfy the intended needs.
Step 2: Define the Requirements
Defining the requirements for the software features and capabilities can begin along with the planning process. For example, a social media app would need an option for connecting with friends, while an inventory program could require search capabilities. Requirements also include identifying the resources needed to build the project. For example, a team might develop software that controls custom manufacturing machinery to control production quality and reduce costs. The machine is necessary for this process of operating efficiently.
Step 3: Design and Prototyping
The initial design of a software application is like an early version that demonstrates how it looks and works. The prototype is shown to stakeholders, which gets their feedback on whether or not the changes should happen in development where code will need rewriting if anything needs changing later down the line. The final design of the software application results from multiple iterations of the initial design that changes over time with feedback from key stakeholders.
Step 4: Software development
Once the initial design is in, the software developers begin drafting the code that serves as a foundation or framework for creating the whole coding architecture. A small project can be written by a single developer, while a large project might be broken up into stages or components and worked on by several teams. Project managers use a Source Code Management or Access Control application in this phase to help developers track changes to the code. The system also helps ensure compatibility between different team projects and makes sure that the target goals are being met.
Step 5: Testing
The importance of testing cannot be understated, and automated testing is an excellent way of getting started. For complex deployments, creating a simulated production environment helps you test reliability in one place. QA engineers test the functions individually but also look at how they work together. Performance testing makes sure that the software does not hangs or lag when processing data while being accessed from multiple sources. The testing phase helps eliminate the number of bugs and glitches that users might encounter. As a result, this leads to increased user satisfaction and a better usage rate.
Step 6: Deployment
In the deployment phase, businesses make their applications available to the intended users through platforms such as automated distribution or even a simple download link on the website. Some companies may also distribute apps directly to mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, or PDAs.
Step 7: Operations and Maintenance
Once the application has been deployed and it is doing well in the hands of the users, it’s time to find and fix bugs. Bugs are reported by users and need to be fixed because they could lead to new development cycles. Also, continuous improvements and optimization are required to ensure that the application is up to date with the users’ requirements and the operating systems that it runs on.
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