What Is the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)? 2024

The software development life cycle (SDLC) creates an environment where businesses and IT departments can collaborate to produce high-quality software. The systematic approach to planning, designing, testing, and deploying software products makes SDLC an indispensable part of successful software projects.

The SDLC evolves with technology. In this article, we’ll look at the state of the software development life cycle in 2024 and consider how its principles can be used to create more efficient software products and optimize application development.

What is the software development life cycle (SDLC)?

The software development life cycle (SDLC) is a set of stages, activities, and tasks that software projects go through. The process model outlines how software development teams build, test, deploy, and maintain their software to achieve top code quality on time and within budget.

SDLC begins with the planning phase, where the development team defines and analyzes the project requirements, goals, and timeline. After the planning phase, the team creates the prototype by designing, building, and integrating different components. Next, the developers evaluate the project, investigate any reported issues, and fix bugs so the software works efficiently before the official launch.

While the goal is to ensure a quality and timely development process, the development cycle also involves routine maintenance to ensure the software remains running without hitches.

Why is the software development life cycle important?

The software development process documents and accounts for each production stage, resulting in quality, timely, and cost-effective software solutions. Highlighting the scope, activities, and stakeholders involved in the development process can help team members better understand their roles and contributions.

The SDLC helps identify likely challenges and potential risks along the development cycle. As a result, teams can brainstorm solutions to problems before they happen, eliminating unnecessary delays in the development process and improving productivity.

Key benefits of the software development life cycle

There are several key benefits to using an SDLC process, and they fall into the five distinct categories highlighted below.

Improved project budgeting

Software development teams can see what resources are needed when, such as developers, designers, or specialized skills. During the planning and analysis phases, project managers can identify the project scope, objectives, and requirements, allowing for a more accurate estimation of the project’s budgetary needs.

Each phase of SDLC then contributes to better project budgeting by offering visibility into resource allocation and proactive adjustments. This helps teams move efficiently from one development stage to the next phase.

Increased visibility

Throughout the project, stakeholders can more easily see where it’s at in the SDLC. This can help teams adjust their workflows, answer customer questions, and identify unforeseen roadblocks.

Each phase has specific milestones and deliverables, allowing project managers to track the project’s progress. The SDLC also provides visibility into resource allocation, so teams can have the right human resources, tools, and infrastructure.

By conducting analysis and risk assessment at each phase, teams can identify and mitigate risks early on, minimizing their impact on the project’s timeline, budget, and quality.

Enhanced security

SDLC strategies can help software development teams identify and address security vulnerabilities early in development. Development teams can help ensure products are secure and protected against cyberthreats, which is particularly important in today’s digital age.

Software development teams can develop products that secure both the company’s and their customers’ data more efficiently by implementing secure coding practices, conducting regular security testing, and following industry best practices in the software development life cycle.

Increased customer satisfaction

By adopting SDLC strategies, development teams gain a deep understanding of project goals and end users’ expectations, allowing them to design software tailored to the target audience.

This approach allows for the creation of interfaces and functionalities that improve the user experience and address specific user needs effectively. For instance, a mobile app development team can use SDLC principles to test prototypes and determine the most user-friendly interface for different screen sizes and operating systems while incorporating key functionalities like live chat, checkout, or social media integration.

The SDLC enhances customer satisfaction by addressing pain points, incorporating essential features, and delivering a user-friendly product.

Regular updates

The software development life cycle doesn’t end when the product launches; it requires constant maintenance even after production and launching.

During these routine checks, development teams typically fix bugs and improve performance on existing functionalities based on consumer feedback. End users can enjoy frequent updates with new functionalities and a better experience with a more efficient software development process.

How SDLC works

The need for software development methodologies dates to the 1950s. At the time, computers were often larger than a refrigerator and programmed using punch cards and vacuum tubes.

Since then, software engineers have sought to create and implement methods to accelerate software development. Now, the SDLC is used to reduce time-to-market while building intuitive software for clients.

Today’s SDLC promotes:

• Individuals over processes and tools
• Adapting to new needs
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration

All software development life cycle models involve various stages. Although these strategies can vary from model to model, we’ll look at the following SDLC sequence:

1. Planning
2. Requirement gathering and analysis
3. Designing
4. Building and developing
5. Testing
6. Implementation
7. Deployment
8. Maintenance

Throughout these phases, teams often use iterative models that allow for repeated cycles of development and refinement. This approach, combined with practices like development, security, and operations (DevSecOps), helps ensure that application security is integrated from the start and maintained throughout the development project.

1. Planning

The planning phase begins the cycle. It’s the time to define the project goals and milestones, attaching a timeline, personnel or skill set, and budget for each activity. While each company may have a unique approach to development planning, this phase typically involves understanding the client’s expectations, listing project objectives, identifying the target audience, and highlighting project requirements.

For example, let’s say a company wants to create an e-commerce store. The planning phase would involve deciding on the target audience and suitable features, like live inventory tracking, video product catalogs, and integrated social media. The project lead can conduct surveys and analyses to know the exact expectations of the end users.

Once the team knows customer requirements and the product’s expected features, the design team can collect the client’s input to determine the project’s feasibility and set timelines, milestones, and budgets.

2. Requirement gathering and analysis

Requirement gathering involves collecting all relevant information from the client and using it to create the product, ensuring their expectations are met. To do so, business analysts and project managers meet with the client to discuss software requirements in detail.

The purpose of this meeting is to more thoroughly understand the client’s wants and needs, including a description of the software, who the end user will be, and its overall purpose. This information is then written into the software requirement specification (SRS) document.

Once the team creates the SRS document, they pass it to the client for approval. The SRS document can then serve as a guide throughout the designing and development processes.

3. Designing

During the design phase, the project team develops a working software prototype based on the desired features and user requirements.

The software design process typically requires designers to create and test several design elements and ideas before selecting the final prototype. The implication of the design to the entire software development process is that it guides the developers to create a working representation of the client’s expectations while considering user-friendliness and multiscreen compatibility.

For example, if a team is developing an online shop, the design phase might consider the back-end framework, shopping cart features, payment features, and user experience parameters. They might also consider how the checkout page should display to the customer.

4. Building and developing

In the building and development phase, developers define and create the application structure with specific components, set up databases and data stores, and write code for all system components. The goal is to replicate a functional version of the prototype using appropriate programming languages and frameworks.

To illustrate this phase, let’s consider a company wanting to design a software application to manage its customer relations and create a better customer experience. During this phase, developers and programmers might use tools like Java, Ruby, and Python to make the software application.

Proper scrutiny is required to mitigate any issues and bugs acquired during the build phase. All business requirements, design documents, and other information gathered are considered during the building process. This phase often incorporates continuous integration to ensure smooth integration of new code with existing components.

5. Testing

In the testing phase, developers—especially DevOps professionals—verify the software meets the predetermined requirements, designs, and other quality standards. Without proper software testing, the system may contain bugs or vulnerabilities that can go unnoticed and potentially lead to serious problems when put into use.

An example of this is deploying an application to a live environment like the Google Play Store. The application must be tested on various screens beforehand to ensure it works as intended. This includes validating data input, measuring application performance, and confirming security features are up to parameters.

Unit testing is a crucial part of this phase, where individual components are tested in isolation to ensure they function correctly. Additionally, quality assurance (QA) processes ensure the overall quality of the software meets or exceeds expectations.

6. Implementation

The implementation phase is where the design created in the design phase is implemented into the necessary application programming interfaces (APIs) and project components. The result of this phase is a fully functional product.

After implementation, the final product requires further testing to address all bugs and discrepancies before release. The team measures the software against the specifications in the SRS document and sends a test version to reviewers. The feedback gathered during this phase allows developers to make necessary product changes before full implementation.

7. Deployment

The deployment phase typically consists of putting the software into a production environment so it’s accessible to users. After successful deployment, customers can use the newly developed software. In some cases, the client may request user acceptance testing before deployment to ensure the software meets expectations.

User acceptance testing involves testing the newly created software and ensuring it performs correctly and meets specific requirements.

8. Maintenance

The maintenance phase is the final step and is just as crucial as the previous steps. Its primary function is to keep the software up to date and performing optimally. It requires ongoing software review, management, and improvement once cleared for public release.

Without the maintenance phase, the software might become unusable and fail to meet customer expectations. Typical approaches include directly editing the code, patching errors, and releasing updates when necessary.

Developers must continuously update the software to ensure it works on different devices and platforms, adapts to modern technologies, and uses current security measures. This ongoing process helps optimize the software’s performance and longevity.

Popular software development life cycle methods

SDLC methods are continually evolving. Since its inception with the Waterfall model, the SDLC has changed to fit various scenarios. As a result, software development teams have multiple models to reference. Successful pieces of these models have been hybridized into newer, more refined models.

In this next section, we’ll break down some of the most common SDLC methodologies and explain their distinctions.

All of these methods have found some level of success in the industry, but each brings its own pros and cons.

Popular SDLC models include:

• Waterfall
• Agile
• Iterative and Incremental
• Prototype
• Spiral
• V-Shaped

Waterfall

The Waterfall model—also known as the linear sequential model—was created in the 1970s. This model creates an organized approach to project management.

This methodology focuses on receiving clear requirements from clients and stakeholders so the development team can best accommodate their requests. It requires clear milestones and explanations for team members from clients.

Before the development team can move to another phase, they must complete the current phase.

Phases of the Waterfall method are:

1. Requirement analysis
2. System design
3. Implementation
4. Testing
5. Deployment
6. Maintenance

Pros

• Simple. This model is easily understood.
• Phases. The Waterfall method has clear phases for development teams to follow. ‍
• Manageable. The project is manageable because each phase is clearly defined.

Cons

• Time-consuming. Teams can’t move to another step until completing the previous phase.
• Not adaptable. Teams can’t use this method for projects with nonspecific requirements. Clients must be clear with their requirements for this model to work. ‍
• Not for short-term projects. Due to the nature of the phases, this model may not work well for projects that are short in duration.

Agile

The Agile model formally began in the 1990s and focuses on adaptability instead of strict requirements. An Agile approach to software development empowers teams to meet requirements in a flexible manner.

Agile is particularly helpful for remote teams, as they can use it to combat issues with time zones, communication problems, availability, and more.

Projects following the Agile method are broken into smaller incremental builds. These periods are referred to as sprints. Each sprint usually lasts somewhere between two and four weeks. At the beginning of each sprint, the development team meets with the client to outline the goals of that sprint and then develop and test the code. Finally, they review the features with the client.

This method focuses on:

• Incremental improvements
• Customer feedback
• Sprints between two and four weeks
• Constant testing

Pros

• Adaptability. Agile is incredibly flexible, allowing teams to adjust to requirement changes.
• Improved client satisfaction. Because there’s near-constant communication and clients are given a chance to provide feedback every step of the way, this method may produce higher degrees of client satisfaction.‍
• Quickly add features. Since sprints generally last two to four weeks, features can be quickly added.

Cons

• Requires experience. The Agile method requires very experienced team members.
• Need for clarity. Clients must be extremely clear with their expectations because there’s no SDS documentation. ‍‍
• No documentation. The Agile method focuses on software quality over documentation.

Iterative and Incremental

In 1975, the Iterative and Incremental model answered the Waterfall method’s shortcomings. This model supports the development of a system through recurrent cycles and smaller subsets—it is iterative and incremental.

This model empowers teams to learn from the previous phases and improve on them in the next iteration. Simply put, this model divides a project into smaller, more manageable chunks.

These are the phases of the Iterative and Incremental model:

1. Inception. This phase involves discussing the project’s requirements and scope.
2. Elaboration. This phase is when the identified requirements from the inception phase are worked into the product’s architecture.
3. Construction. This phase occurs when code is created through analysis, design, implementation, and testing. In this phase, the development team references the architecture to create the code.
4. Transition. During this phase, the product is pushed to production.

Pros

• Easily modified. Teams can easily adapt the software to fit new requirements since development occurs in smaller increments.
• Identify risks. Because development occurs in iterations, risks can be identified and fixed early.
• Bug detection. Teams can identify and address issues before the project progresses. ‍
• Manageable. Breaking the project into smaller phases makes it easier to create, test, and manage the software.

Con

• Complete understanding. The development team must have complete knowledge of the product to divide and build it little by little.

Prototype

Development teams using the Prototype model create a prototype before coding the actual software. These models have limited functionalities and are somewhat inefficient compared to the actual software. However, they’re valuable in understanding clients’ needs.

Having a software prototype provides development teams with better client feedback. The client can voice their opinions, and the team can address their concerns before building the actual software.

Pros

• Reduces cost. This model reduces the time it takes to develop the software because any defects are caught earlier, reducing the project’s cost.
• Feedback. Development teams gain valuable insight from clients before they build the software. ‍
• Catch errors. Building a prototype helps teams identify missing requirements before the official build.

Con

• Potential to become complex. Clients are active at every development phase, so they could potentially change requirements. This could end up increasing the scope of the project.

Spiral

The Spiral model has both an iterative and a prototype approach to software development. Each phase in the Spiral model is followed by iterations. It follows a loop design, which represents the phases of the SDLC process.

The Spiral model occurs in four phases:

1. Planning. This phase details client requirements. The development team creates specification documentation to use in the following phases.
2. Risk analysis. During this phase, the development team addresses and analyzes risks by building a prototype.
3. Engineering. During this phase, the development team codes and tests the software.
4. Evaluation. In this phase, the project is handed over to the client so they can assess the software and create plans for the next iteration.

Pros

• Risk analysis. The development team performs risk analysis using prototype models. ‍
• Flexible. The team can make quick changes in the next iteration.

Cons

• Large projects only. This model is designed for and only works well in large projects. It can’t be scaled down for smaller projects. ‍
• Costly. Because this model has the potential for many iterations, it can add up and become quite costly.

V-Shaped

The V-Shaped model, or the Verification and Validation model, executes processes in a V-shaped sequential manner. Verification involves the static analysis technique (review) before producing code. Validation is a more dynamic analysis technique, which tests on existing code.

This model works well for teams made up of members with the necessary technical expertise. The V-Shaped model is best for development teams wanting to detect errors early on or before they cause problems. Teams should use this model when the client has clearly defined requirements.

Some key takeaways of the V-Shaped model are:

• Best for small projects
• Needs clearly defined requirements

Pros

• Track progress. Because of the phases in the V-Shaped model, project managers can easily track progress accurately. ‍
• Highly disciplined. This model requires phase completion before the development team can move on to the next. Teams must complete phases one at a time.

Con

• Not well suited for larger projects. Using this model for larger projects would be very complex, as it doesn’t support the iteration of phases.‍

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Examples of the software development life cycle

In this section, we’ll look at some examples of popular software products that have gone through the SDLC process.

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 is a productivity software suite that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Microsoft follows a structured SDLC process that involves project planning, designing, coding, testing, and deployment.

This process ensures each new version of Microsoft Office is thoroughly tested and meets the requirements and expectations of the end users.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop, a popular image editing software used by photographers, designers, and digital artists, follows an iterative SDLC process. The iterative SDLC process involves continuous testing and customer feedback, ensuring the software continuously provides quality upgrades that address specific user pain points.

As a result, the company ensures each new version of Adobe Photoshop is well-designed, easy to use, and includes new features that meet users’ needs.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a popular web browser known for its speed, reliability, and security. Google follows a highly structured SDLC process that includes multiple phases of testing and feedback.

One company focus area is improving the user experience by integrating app extensions. This helps users access more functionalities without leaving the app.

The company also implements SDLC strategies in other core areas, such as energy conservation, browsing speed, and customer security.

Slack

Slack is a popular team collaboration tool. Slack follows an Agile SDLC process that involves continuous testing and customer feedback. Agile is a project management method that emphasizes iterative development and close collaboration between the developers and other stakeholders involved in the design project.

The Slack process ensures each new feature and update meets the users’ needs, and is well-designed and user-friendly.

Software development life cycle tools

Software development life cycle (SDLC) tools are applications that help software development teams manage the entire software development process—from planning and designing to coding, testing, and deployment.

We look at five popular SDLC tools.

ClickUp

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ClickUp provides an extensive list of project management tools for creating and managing tasks, setting priorities and milestones, assigning tasks to team members, and tracking time.

By providing various customization options, the platform gives users a glance at a project overview on their dashboard and provides frequent notifications on new messages through app notifications and email follow-ups.

Integrations with platforms like Slack and GitHub further boost communication between design teams.

Confluence

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Confluence is another collaboration tool software developers use to communicate and track progress on several moving parts in the development cycle. One key advantage of using Confluence for the SDLC is the ability to create easily readable and shareable documents across different teams.

Team members can share documents in secure and private settings for extra security. The template tools and various integrations with platforms like Jira and GitHub eliminate the need for separate software products.

Bitbucket

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Bitbucket is a Git-based version control system focused on code management, collaboration, and task management. The platform finds relevance in team collaboration and ensuring quality software development thanks to its ability to automatically manage repositories, merge codes, track issues, and detect bugs.

Bitbucket also enables developers to control their source code history, access their code from one centralized location, and easily monitor changes within their code.

Bitbucket supports various version control systems, offering the flexibility to use whichever system best fits your team’s workflow. Due to its easy-to-use interface and integrations with apps like Jira, Jenkins, and Slack, collaborators with less technical experience can work on projects and communicate with team members more efficiently.

Jira

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Thanks to the more than 3,000 app integrations that Jira provides, developers and other stakeholders can work across several platforms. The Scrum boards enable team leads to break Agile methodology projects into smaller tasks for team members to collaborate.

By separating projects into numerous sprint tasks, Jira allows teams to create a road map that’s visible to all stakeholders. This lets everyone see how each task builds up to form a whole project.

At the same time, team leaders can get live updates and reports on task progress and deadlines. Jira’s automation feature also allows teams to program automatic responses to specific triggers.

GitLab

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GitLab helps developers collaborate and manage their software projects. It provides a single platform to streamline the development process, allowing teams to move faster and smarter. GitLab features robust version control, powerful code review, real-time bug tracking, and a host of tools to help developers avoid mistakes and stay on schedule.

GitLab is designed to be easy to use and understand, with features that make it easier to manage, work collectively, and deploy code. It enables teams to track issues, plan their sprints, and coordinate their activities more efficiently.

GitLab also integrates with many other applications, like Jira, Slack, and CircleCI. This helps teams keep everyone in the loop by linking conversations with tasks and automating builds and deployments.

Accelerate your SDLC with top independent talent

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