Introduction to Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Explore the project phases of the software development lifecycle from planning and requirements to design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance, and learn the roles that drive each phase.

Developers understand why project phases matter by seeing how requirements, testing, and other lifecycle activities interact across the full software development lifecycle.

Explore the project manager role in the software development lifecycle, a traffic cop who oversees planning, communication, risk awareness, and roadblock removal to keep multiple teams aligned.

Act as the project interpreter, the business analyst elicits true requirements from SMEs and translates them for developers and quality assurance, then documents the needs to design better software solutions.

Lead testing, identify bugs, and ensure requirements are met to prevent bad code from production, while collaborating with business analysts to embed proactive quality measures across the SDLC.

Architects provide the big-picture design for software, aligning hardware, software, and data across developers. They plan modularity, design standards, and a robust data model for scalability and consistency.

Developers build applications within the architect's design standards and collaborate with business analysts to understand needs. They provide feedback to refine the data model and address potential design issues.

Identify and manage stakeholders early, as they drive project success or failure. Consider internal and external users, regulators, decision-makers, and potential opponents to shape scope and needs.

Identify stakeholders by power and interest, monitor high-power, high-interest groups, and communicate with managers to prevent issues, while noting the salient model’s legitimacy and urgency as alternative approaches.

Explore the waterfall software development lifecycle, where requirements, analysis, design, and testing proceed in distinct, gate-validated phases, contrasting it with agile and highlighting clear roles, heavy documentation, and phase gates.

Explore the waterfall model's phased approach and the project's team roles. See how project managers, stakeholders, SMEs, business analysts, developers, architects, and quality assurance ensure quality delivery.

Examine the pros and cons of the waterfall life cycle, including clear structure and late testing, and note it suits highly repeatable, inflexible projects like pacemaker software.

Illustrate how interpretation errors in waterfall create mismatches between needs and built software through a subject matter expert–business analyst–developer chain. Highlight how agile addresses these misinterpretations in software development.

Discover how agile and scrum cut interpretation problem by delivering value in two-week sprints with integrated teams. Embrace failing fast feedback, continuous improvement, and a people-first focus over heavy documentation.

Explore agile scrum roles, including the scrum master as a servant leader, a product owner, and cross-functional developers, business analysts, and quality assurance, and how they differ from waterfall.

Explore the agile manifesto and its shift from waterfall, prioritizing individuals and interactions over process and tools, working software, customer collaboration, and delivering one piece of working functionality per sprint.

Explore agile concepts that replace heavy waterfall docs with user stories, daily standups, and incremental sprints led by a servant scrum master and product owner, delivering maximum value.

Explore agile's ability to embrace change through backlog-driven priorities, frequent user feedback, and two-week sprints that deliver working code while balancing limited documentation and scope unpredictability.

Compare waterfall and agile across scenarios from home building to government projects to show when each approach fits software development and project management.

Explore how project scope, cost, and time constrain software initiatives and how waterfall and agile treat these as a triangle with two fixed and one variable.

Explore when to use waterfall or agile in the software development lifecycle, with concrete examples from home building, software, hardware, government, medical devices, and wedding planning.

Discover how a center of excellence balances enablement and protection for citizen developers in low-code environments, setting governance, standards, and risk controls while enabling rapid, safe deployment.

Discover how ideas evolve into projects through the SDLC, from proposal and prioritization by the center of excellence and citizen developers to team building, testing, and deployment.

Citizen developers bear multiple roles across the SDLC, from gathering requirements and design to testing and deployment, guided by a center of excellence to ensure quality.

Explore the software life cycle essentials, including requirements gathering, quality assurance, database usage, data modeling, automation design, security, and center of excellence resources for citizen developers.

Leverage tool training, vendor support, and expert forums to master automation tools across the SDLC. Explore standards, requirements, testing, quality assurance and mentorship resources to accelerate your development journey.