Phases Of The Software Development Life Cycle

Have you heard about the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)? Do you want to know what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle? 

Great news! We are here to share what is Software Development Life Cycle. We are also going to talk about what are the 7 phases of SDLC. 

Whenever we decide to put out a software which solves a problem and makes our lives easier, how do we actually reach the point where our software is being used? 

Do we just write the code for the software we want to develop and feel that the work is done? Can we start using that software just after that? 

Well, this is not what happens. 

Just like humans have a birth cycle, the software which we develop also has a life cycle. 

This cycle is said to be the Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC. 

Right from thinking about what kind of software we want to actually using it, the Software Development Life Cycle covers it all. 

…and this Software Development Life Cycle is divided into phases. Today, we will be learning what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle. 

So, let us get into it by getting to know what is Software Development Life Cycle?

 

What is Software Development Life Cycle?

Each software or product goes through a certain step of stages and procedures for it to become high-quality and match the business standards. 

The Software Development Life Cycle is the methodology for building effective and efficient software. 

The Software Development Life Cycle is divided into different phases and we will be talking about them in this post. We will be discussing what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle under this post.

The Software Development Life Cycle is divided into 6 broad phases. So, what are the 6 phases of SDLC? 

The 6 phases of the Software Development Life Cycle are named below:

 

1. Planning and Analysis
2. Design
3. Implementation
4. Testing
5. Deployment
6. Maintenance

 

Let us get to know about what are the 6 phases of SDLC in detail.

What are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle?

Now, it is time to look into each of the 7 phases of the Software Development Life Cycle in a better way. 

So, let us talk about what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle.

 

#1 Planning and Analysis

What is Planning? It is a term we use in our everyday life. But, what does ‘planning’ in the Software Development Life Cycle signify?

When working on putting software out for your customers, it is vital to plan your software and its requirements.

Planning involves connecting the gap between where we are and where we want to go. 

Planning allows you to come up with innovative ideas and strategies for your product without getting distracted from your objective.

The planning stage of the Software Development Life Cycle is an essential feature of product management. It defines the scope for managing your software project. 

It lays out the outline for the development of your software. Hence, making it easier for you to proceed to the next step.

So, what happens after you are done formulating a plan for the development of your software?

We do the detailed analysis of the software which we want to develop.

In planning and analysis of the Software Development Life Cycle, after covering the planning part, a detailed analysis of the business requirement, possible risks and the potential measures to make changes in the development of your software are documented by the analysts and experts.

The analysis phase of SDLC determines the final blueprint of your software for the decision making process.

 

#2 Design

After planning and analysis for the development of your product is done, we proceed towards the design phase.

Now that we have the plan and the necessary documents listing the requirements for the development of our software, we move to the designing phase of SDLC.

As the name suggests, this is the phase where the actual designing of your software takes place. 

A simple example would be the designing and prototyping of the UI/UX of an application.

Before you put out the actual software, it is important to know how it will work, perform various functions and what will be the algorithms used for solving the problems. 

The software is then reviewed and alterations can be made based on the feedback of the team and the partners in the Software Development process.

All of this is covered in the design phase of the Software Development Life Cycle.

 

#3 Implementation

So, now that we have the final design for developing our software, what is next?

Well, it is now time to start with actually building and developing our software. This is the part where programmers and developers play their role. 

The design for our software which was previously finalized and the prototypes which were made before, now take form of the actual software. 

Now, we implement our designs. So, what happens at the implementation phase of the Software Development Life Cycle?

In the design phase, we were only answering the question of how we want our software to work and perform functions. 

In the third phase, that is the implementation phase of the Software Development Life Cycle, we take that answer and start working on it. 

The code for the software which we want to develop is built in this phase. 

We can say that it is one of the most crucial phases of the Software Development Life Cycle. This is due to the reason that not only the code should be effective and of high-quality, but also that high-quality code should be developed swiftly and in a quick way. 

 

#4 Testing

Taking our discussion of what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle, let us move towards the fourth phase of SDLC. 

The next phase in the Software Development life cycle is the testing phase. So, what is the testing phase in the Software Development Life Cycle?

The name of the phase says it all!

In all the previous 3 phases of the Software Development Life Cycle, we went from planning what we are going to do, to analyzing what we need. 

We also looked into how we are going to develop what we want our software to be like, to actually go through its implementation. 

Now, it is time that we answer the question of ‘Did we succeed in developing what we wanted our software to be?”

To answer this question, we have the testing phase. 

In this phase, we check the software we developed for any defects and what we can do to fix them. 

You won’t buy a car just on the basis of the description the car salesperson tells you. Right? You would want to take a test drive and see if you can drive it with ease and be comfortable.

Similarly, you would also not like to engage with a software which gives you an uncomfortable experience. 

To ensure the quality of the software that we are developing, the testing phase hence plays a vital role. 

 

#5 Deployment

So, after going through the above phases of the Software Development Life Cycle, we now are ready to install this software and start using it. 

The deployment phase of the Software Development Life Cycle, is the phase where the software after its testing, is moved to a production environment. 

The process of deploying the software is highly automated and is deployed the moment it receives a green flag. 

 

#6 Maintenance

Now that our software is deployed, will it be okay to stop here? Is all the work completed?

No, this is not the case. 

It is important to constantly maintain and check the software to see if it is working correctly or not. Any defects which are encountered should be fixed so that the quality of the software is ensured.

 

Summary:

The Software Development Life Cycle provides us with a direction about how we should develop our software in a practical way to enhance the quality of our software. 

Various organizations across the globe use this model of the Software Development Life Cycle to build their software and put it out for the people to use. 

SDLC methodology is truly a beneficial way of improving your software and creating amazing software which solves a greater problem.

 

By now, we hope you have gotten the idea about what are the phases of the Software Development Life Cycle? 

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