What are the best practices for managing trade-offs in SDLC?

In my experience, the primary thing that affects all projects is scope. Without adequate appreciation and management of the delivery scope, the project will most likely fail on time, cost, or some combination of all. The primary counter I’ve seen to this is moving to an MVP model, and getting real with project owners on the business and tech team. A real assessment needs to be done to identify what is absolutely critical to deliver given each of the other elements in the 4 variables. Delivery of a project using an MVP model allows for iterative and incremental progress towards the overarching goal

1. Define the value of the outcomes you are delivering 2. Based on your product strategy, which one of the outcomes drives the right metrics for your org? 3. Use data to drive the decision based on your strategy. 4. If you don't have a product strategy, define it and deeply understand how your customers will benefit from delivering on your strategy. In the absence of a solid strategy everything is a best guess. When we guess, we trend toward becoming a feature factory and ignore the hard work of delivering the right outcomes at the right time. Its simple in concept but difficult in practice, but your customers will thank you!

Understanding project goals and constraints is the foundation of successful software development. For instance, in building a new mobile app, knowing the project's primary goal, such as enhancing user engagement, and recognizing financial constraints will guide decisions on features, design, and development. Understanding technical constraints, like compatibility with certain devices, ensures the project's feasibility. By aligning project parameters with business objectives and recognizing potential challenges, you can make informed decisions, effectively manage resources, and deliver a solution that meets expectations. This step is vital for project success and resource optimization.

Before embarking on any software development project, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the project's goals, objectives, and constraints. This includes identifying the key requirements, budget limitations, timeframes, and the expected outcome. For example, if you're developing a mobile app for a startup, understanding their primary goal of quickly gaining market share and their constraint of a limited budget will impact decisions regarding feature prioritization and development speed.

Best way to answer this is to get the stakeholders to determine the business value of the features. Do the same with the engineering team but ask them determine the effort required for the features. Then it is a simple math problem of determining which features have the biggest value and lowest effort. If some of the features have risk or feasibility concerns, then break down those features and quickly address the risks by testing the viability design/implementation. The riskiest elements need to be addressed early and quickly to avoid nasty surprises down the road and close to deadlines.

In a recent software development project, we faced a choice between Agile and Waterfall SDLC methodologies. The project aimed to create a complex, data-driven web application. After a comprehensive analysis, we opted for the Agile approach due to the evolving nature of requirements and the need for continuous client involvement. This allowed us to adapt to changing needs while ensuring that the project remained aligned with the client's vision. Choosing the right SDLC methodology is like picking the right tool for the job; it can significantly impact the project's success. In this case, Agile proved to be the more suitable choice.

A consideration for me is the technology components and deliverables which form part of the overall solution. Some like low/no code lend themselves to being very Agile in approach, whereas migrations require a more waterfall-based approach. This isn't a simple or binary choice, there are trade-offs to be considered.

I reckon practicing the agile methodologies is the best choice as technologies emerging faster. If you do not keep up with the current trends your company going to be bankrupt. For example, a recent AI evolution of CHATGPT made revolutionary in human steps. So the company that can implement and adapt it faster; their domain it's gonna do a huge favor for them. You have to use agile (scrum etc) project management techniques to do so. On the other hand, Agile methodologies its pretty easy much simple to implement and understand which can save a lot of costs and increase productivity.

The choice of SDLC is largely dependent on the type of project and usually whichever methodology chosen is also usually adapted to suit the particular organisation or project. In my experience projects working with COTS solutions like SAP are better suited to Waterfall and custom development projects are better suited to using Agile methodologies but sometimes a combination of the two is the most effective picking the most useful aspects of either and integrating them into your own approach e.g. user stories are an agile concept but could be used in waterfall requirements definition.

Choose the methodology based on the project duration and deliverables expected. For example, do not go with waterfall methodology if all that the customer wants is an MVP for their startup. If you are a service provider, have a repeatable framework ready and never start a project from scratch.

Involve your team and stakeholders in the trade-off process. Seek their input, feedback, and perspectives. Encourage collaboration, creativity, and diversity of thought. Foster a culture of learning and experimentation.

Effective communication and collaboration with stakeholders, including clients, end-users, and development teams, are paramount. Regular meetings, status reports, and feedback loops ensure that everyone is on the same page and that trade-offs are made with a clear understanding of their impact. For instance, involving end-users in user acceptance testing can uncover issues early, avoiding costly fixes in later project stages.

Understand the project goals and constraints Choose the right SDLC methodology Communicate and collaborate with stakeholders regularly and transparently Monitor and control the project performance Use metrics, indicators, dashboards, reports, and reviews to measure and track the progress and quality of the project Review and revise the project and its trade-offs throughout the software development process Understand the context of the project Use quality models and frameworks to guide the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software system Establish a common calculus to guide deliberations Determine how individual team members calculate key trade-offs

Depending on the project methodology or SDLC , some sort of project governance needs to be established. This project governance should also define the reporting mechanism, content, structure, audience, forum etc for effective communication at various levels of stakeholders within the project. This ensures the appropriate communication and collaboration across all levels of the project.

Adding to the list of monitoring and control mechanisms specified here, I strongly advocate a good mix of innovation and time-tested technology/process adoption. Innovation ensures the team is enthusiastic, learning/adopting new technology. Time-tested technology/process ensures predictability and quality of the project output. For the teams that are already in place, make your choices that are aligned with team skills.

In my experience with a software development project, effective monitoring and control were paramount. We used real-time metrics and reviews to detect any deviations and promptly adjusted course. This vigilance ensured we delivered a top-notch product, meeting our objectives and constraints. #SDLC #ProjectManagement

Continuous monitoring and control are critical for managing trade-offs effectively. This involves tracking key performance indicators, such as project progress, budget utilization, and the quality of deliverables. When facing trade-offs, real-time data helps in making informed decisions. For instance, if a project is running behind schedule, adjusting resource allocation or reducing the scope might be necessary to get it back on track.

After project completion, it's important to conduct a comprehensive post-project review. Analyze what went well and what didn't. This not only aids in understanding the trade-offs made during the project but also provides valuable insights for future projects. For instance, if a project had trade-offs between quality and speed, an analysis might reveal that the sacrifices in quality had long-term negative effects, prompting a different approach in the future.

Learn from your successes and failures. Review your trade-off decisions regularly and assess their results. Identify the lessons learned and best practices. Share them with your team and stakeholders and apply them to future projects.

Define Clear Objectives where we can clearly define project objectives and goals from the outset and involve stakeholders to understand their priorities and expectations.Effective Communication is must, so that we can ensure everyone understands the trade-offs being made and the reasons behind those decisions

In my experience , I learned it's important to have clear goals and be flexible in how we work on projects. We should always check if we're making the right trade-offs as things change. It helps a lot to have a team that is skilled and motivated because they make a big difference in managing trade-offs. Also, talking openly about any issues that come up is crucial. And don't forget to plan ahead for potential problems—it makes the whole project stronger.

Risk management: Identifying and mitigating risks is essential to minimize unexpected trade-offs. For instance, a contingency plan for sudden resource shortages can prevent compromising quality or timeline. Scalability: Consider the potential for scaling the software in the future. Decisions made during development should account for scalability to avoid major trade-offs when the system needs to expand. Documentation: Maintain thorough documentation throughout the SDLC to ensure that past trade-offs and decisions are well-documented. This knowledge can be valuable for troubleshooting and making informed decisions in future projects.

Use data and analytics to support your decision making and evaluate the trade-offs. Collect relevant and reliable data from various sources and use tools and methods to analyze them. Use metrics and indicators to measure the impact and outcomes of your choices.

These days Event storming is becoming quite popular to iron out requirements. Also you can follow a bottom up approach ( finalize the database entities and relationships first ) and move back iteratively by creating the software design and data flows towards the front end. Or a top down approach by designing the UI and UX first. These 2 approaches help iron out quite a few unknowns proactively.