Can we just deploy the code as soon as it's ready? The honest answer is no. Before writing any code, you need to understand what it is for and who will use it. It turns out that coding is only one part of the project, others including planning, analysis, and so on. If we take all these parts together, we'll get what is called the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This cycle covers all project activities and helps take into account all its nuances. It sounds complicated, but let's review it step by step. The most basic thing is that the project doesn't start and end with writing a code.
Stages
The life of a project consists of the following stages:
- Analysis & planning. This stage is analytical and reflective, where the project begins to emerge. It should answer the question "What issues are there to be resolved?" because your project should be relevant. Taking that into account you significantly increase your chances of making a product that is successful and in-demand on the market. After you have found a number of unsolved problems, you can ask yourself the next question: "What do I want to develop?" and start writing a plan.
- Design and architecture. Okay, you've analyzed the market needs and your capabilities. You also set yourself an attainable goal based on these results. How do you achieve it? At this stage, you need to understand what is it that you are designing and how. For example, you want to develop an efficient, secure, and fun application with many unusual features.
- Development. Time to open your laptop and start working! Now your project is on track. The main thing is to go clearly according to the plan that you made earlier.
- QA and review. Even at this stage new issues can often arise, but be patient, remember that your project will only benefit from this. It's especially great if you manage to screw something up because then you will have a chance to fix everything before release!
- Deployment and maintenance. Hooray, the project is ready! Offer your product to your target customers, start tracking sales engagement. Analyze feedback from users through surveys and recommendations to see if you need to improve anything.
After the last stage, you are likely to improve something, which means that you will have to analyze, plan, develop, and test again. This circle can be repeated many times and will really end only when the product is completely out of date so that any further improvement makes no sense anymore.
Pros and cons of SDLC
The disadvantages of this approach are apparent when the algorithm is not fully implemented. For example, if there's no plan and timeline, then:
- We will work endlessly on the product because there's always something to be done;
- It will be difficult for us to make a complex product since someone will always be waiting for when the previous stage ends;
- The work won't be distributed evenly over time.
Moreover, If we don't consider design and architecture, then:
- It will be difficult to add features to our product since we did not plan for it;
- The application might simply be inconvenient and inviable.
Last but not least, if we aren't doing maintenance, then over time, users will do it themselves. They will find more and more bugs. As a result, they will start using an analog of our app that has fewer issues. On the other hand, if you are working on your pet project or you have a small team of two or three people in which you combine several roles, then it may be easier for you to synchronize your plans in a simple discussion with your colleagues. However, as soon as your team gets bigger, you should already think about the distribution of responsibilities and the workflow.
Conclusion
So, we have considered the full life cycle of an IT project. How it all starts, how and when it can end. Now you know what you should do to develop a truly successful and useful product!