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--- Eileen Neumann <eileenn -at- the-wire -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Could someone explain what a software development lifecycle is, and briefly
> what would be involved in documenting it? I have seen various job postings
> asking for this, and would like to know what it is. (I have done a google
> search and other searches.)
Briefly, a software development lifecycle is the process by which an idea becomes a
software product. There are various perspectives available (See John Posada's
suggestion to google SDLC), but essentially SDLCs of all stripes start with an idea
and depict how that idea moves through a development and review process until it
emerges as a finished product.
Documenting an SDLC can be viewed in two ways. The first way is to define the
various steps an organization goes through from the time someone says, "I have an
idea," until the time the organization starts delivering product to customers. This
is documentation OF the process: Idea - Requirements - Design - Coding/Development -
Testing - Release - Customer Support - Product Maintenance. Documentation of SDLC in
this context would be documenting what an Idea is and how it enters into the
process; what Requirements are, how they are developed and reviewed. And so on. The
process, and hence its documentation, can be very simple or very complex.
The second way to define Documenting SDLC is the actual work of writing that goes
into meeting the steps and definitions of an SDLC process, that is, writing
Requirements, Developing Design Documentation, Code documentation, Test Plans and
testing documentation, product documentation, release notes, and Tech Support
information, and perhaps even training.
I've just given a 50,000 foot overview. There are books and books about both
processes and process management in general and about specific SDLC methodologies
that one can spend a great deal of time studying.
---
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