Software Development Life Cycle: A Guide To Phases And Models

People these days are willing to develop complex things in order to simplify their day-to-day lives.

Why not think of self-driving cars, smart homes, and other innumerable things that you can see around.

In order to ease all these things, the best software development company is required to develop a powerful software solution.

Any project software is the ultimate epitome of feature richness and complexity. No matter how complex any software is, it is essentially required to be reliable, easy to maintain, inflexible.

To achieve this objective, planning every step of the software development life cycle is crucial to ensure the success of the product.

If you have been walking in any software development company even at the smallest level that probably you can understand that SDLC is a ritual in the company.

However, assume that you have no understanding of the concept, this writing will help you align with everything about SDLC.

In this article, we will talk about the software development life cycle in-depth, along with its phases and models.

An Introduction To Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Software development life cycle is a systematic vertical for developing software that ensures the accuracy and quality of the final product.

The top software companies in USA aim to develop supreme quality software solutions that can fulfill user expectations.

SDLC process is inclusive of building a detailed plan that can explain the planning, developing, and maintenance-specific software requirements.

Every phase of the SDLC process has its own specific life cycle and deliverables that are required to be fed in the next phase.

With SDLC customized application software solutions, customers can enjoy predictable software development processes. The reasons for which SDLC is crucial are listed below:

1. It allows project managers to control the project
2. It offers visibility for the engaged and involved parties
3. The process can keep going on until the requirements are fulfilled
4. The best IT development company uses SDLC to mitigate the project risks

Phases Of Software Development Life Cycle Process

The software development life cycle process involves seven phases. Let us have a brief of these phases:

1. Planning

It is the first phase in SDLC where the foundation of the project is laid. This is inclusive of calculating the material cost, developing the project budget and timetable according to the target goals, and developing the project team.

2. Defining requirements

This is a crucial phase in which a custom software development firm determines what the application is supposed to perform along with its requirements.

Defining requirements refers to understanding the resources that are essential for building the project with accuracy. For example, any social media platform would need the potential to connect with friends or reliable users.

3. Design and prototyping

The designing and prototyping phase of SDLC draws a way through which any software solution can work. The major aspects of Designing are inclusive of architecture, user interface, platform, programming, communication, and security interface development. The software development companies in USA are well versed in prototyping that demonstrates the fundamental idea of the Application's look and work.

4. Software development

It is the actual writing phase of the SDLC cycle. In this stage, the application is broken down and worked upon by several teams of professionals. It helps the application designers and developers to easily track the change in the application interface and programming codes. At this phase project managers can ensure the compatibility of multiple teams on a single project with the help of the SDLC process.

5. Testing

Testing is critical for the application as it guarantees the success and prevalence of the product in the long run. Many application testing can be automated as per the requirements like security testing and the rest can be easily performed in specific environments. The testing run by a leading custom software development company must ensure the accuracy of every component of the application.

6. Deployment

In this phase of SDLC, the application is made readily available to the users. Many companies choose to automate the deployment phase for further convenience. Application deployment can be complex, that's why prefer hiring experienced app developers for your project.

7. Maintenance and operation

This is the last phase of the SDLC life cycle in which application development is finished, testing is done, and the final product is released in the market. In this stage, the users can detect bugs that were left unnoticed during the application testing. Hence the application developers resolve the issues and maintain the application.

Models Of Software Development Life Cycle

The top software development companies in USA rely on various models to ensure the convenience and credibility of the platform. Let us go through these models-

1.Agile

This model was built by developers to prioritize customer requirements. It refers to the methodology that lays emphasis on the user experience and streamlines their input. Agile Models seek to offer software cycles faster to the users and respond actively in the market 

2. Iterative

Iterative application models allow developers to build the initial version of the software solution within no time. The leading app development companies hire dedicated developers to review and improve the application in various small steps/ iterations. 

3. DevOps

This model incorporated the operations related to the software solutions in the development cycle. The advantage of this model is that it receives feedback from the users on the application implementation and design steps 

4. Other models

There are various SDLC models having an array of differences corresponding to their core operations. Many companies prefer using the LEAN process for software development requirements. The names of other models are- waterfall model, V model, spiral model, etc. 

The Bottom Line

In this article, we have gone through the aspects of the software development life cycle along with understanding its necessity, phases, and models.

The process of software development requires extensive planning and thought after approach.

All software projects begin with necessity gathering, thorough discussion, and accurate implementation of the Designing, and testing components.

Depending upon your project size, user preferences, and market activity you can proceed with the aforementioned SDLC models for further reference.