Vishal BhatiaAs software solutions are fast becoming more advanced and integrated, they’re becoming more indispensable to our everyday lives. But at the same time, their waxing popularity is upping the stakes in various areas of competition.
The tech world has witnessed various shapes and sizes of innovations and prospects already. From machine plants to learning facilities and everything in-between, software product development services have furnished solutions in uncounted settings.
And as consumers are now used to seeing the creme de la creme laid at their feet, it’s becoming more imperative for a software product development company to implement a pragmatically effective and intuitive software development life cycle (SDLC). There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for an SDLC, but most software product development services usually implement an SDLC in line with the following rundown of key software product development phases:
1. The Conceptualization
This is the foundation of software product development. And if the foundation isn’t set, the success of the software product launch is in jeopardy. This is the stage where a software development company initiates a project by coming up with a brilliant blueprint for the software product development. This blueprint lays out the bare-bones of what is to become a finished software product in the near future.
This phase entails creative brainstorming using various techniques, and it requires an all-inclusive decision-making process. It requires hours of multiple team meetings and deliberations. The roadmap finally adopted must accommodate the elements of the various departments of the development team.
2. The Validation and Analysis
This stage also requires inputs from all the departments of a software development company. It entails the examination of the various elements of the development plan. Each member of the development team should be encouraged to assist in the validation of the development plan’s economic and technical feasibility.
The timeline for the development should be drawn at this stage, and again, every team member should contribute to the estimation of the appropriate timelines for each aspect of the software product development.
The information you gather in this stage will be sufficient to furnish an initial budget. Software development services usually flesh out the budget for a software development here. The findings of the analysis can also sufficiently furnish a spec document as well as risk management plans.
3. Designing and Architecting
In this stage, the granular details of the software development emerge in the design and architecture of the software product. The designers engage in full-swing at this stage of the software development.
They weave details together to form the workflow of the software product in line with the details of the spec documents. They work out the structure of the software and whip up many UI prototypes for you to choose from.
The design phase also helps the software development company to come up with more accurate estimations of timelines and efforts that must be put into the development. This is also the phase where the fine details of the database of a data-driven software product are laid out. These details include the chosen tools, data model and servers.
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4. Coding and Integration
In this stage, coding kicks off in full swing. Different coders undertake various coding tasks according to the dictates of spec documents and design prototypes. They must work to deliver within stipulated time-frames because this phase is usually the most time-consuming of them all.
Most software development services usually opt to break up the coding job into numerous fragments so they can give their clients intermediary updates and expect feedback as per the completion of certain fragments of the coding, instead of keeping the clients waiting without updates until the coding jobs get completed in their entirety. The project manager then oversees the concerted efforts of the various programmers in order to induce coherency and a solid sense of direction in the collaborations.
5. Testing
In the testing phase, the focus is on any possible errors and bugs that have crept into the development. The Quality Control (QC) engineers take charge to access the quality of the lines of codes and functionalities which the developers have assembled. They deploy various frameworks and methodologies to probe for bugs and write test cases.
Other tests implemented in this phase include the User Acceptance Test (UAT), the alpha and beta tests, all of which are performed by potential clients. These tests help reveal a lot of things that are elusive to the QC engineers. Any first-rate software development company reckons client-based tests are as crucial as quality control tests implemented in-house.
6. Release
After the completion of these various phases, the user-ready software undergoes processes that make it available for the target audience to deploy. These processes include undertaking tests and tweaks which confirm it to the standards of vendor sites where the software is submitted, such as the App Store, Google Play, etc.
Other tasks associated with making the software user-ready include exporting the software’s database to the production server for deployment, creating build or zip files to package the user-ready software, etc.
7. Maintenance
The first version of a software will most likely not be the only version released if the deployment of the software’s original version is a success. But even if no subsequent versions are released, the deployment of the first version of the software will still most likely not be the end of the SDLC, as the need for patches and maintenance will arise from time to time.
Conclusion
No matter the nuances in the definition of an SDLC which a software development company deploys for a software product development services, the phases outlined above are always integral parts. The first phase usually revolves around brainstorming ideas for the app development, and then the next phase usually involves the creation of concrete plans.
From there, software development services proceed to create designs and prototypes for the workflow of the software, and then the coders whip up codes for the development before testers wade in to trace out inconsistencies. The user-ready software is then released, updated and maintained at regular intervals. When you’re ready to create your project, be sure to Contact Us, and we’ll work with you to make your project a success.
