Software Development Life Cycle

Transform vague stakeholder expectations into precise, documented requirements. Define what the system must do — never how it should do it.

• Vision — The big picture and project goals
• Functional Requirements — What the system does
• Non-Functional Requirements — Performance, security, and scalability
• Constraints — Hard limits and boundaries
• Assumptions — Accepted unknowns

• Is the vision clear to ALL stakeholders?
• Are requirements measurable and testable?
• Are constraints documented explicitly?
• Have assumptions been validated?
• Can non-functional requirements be measured?

Convert functional requirements into system structures. Define the problem domain, establish boundaries, model use cases, and define architectural decomposition.

• Problem Domain — Define system boundaries
• Mission Use Cases — Core system purpose flows
• System Use Cases — All user-system interactions
• Actors — Who interacts with the system
• Architectural Decomposition — Layers, modules, and interfaces

• Are domain boundaries drawn explicitly?
• Are ALL actors (human and system) identified?
• Do use cases cover every user goal?
• Is the architecture scalable for future requirements?
• Are external interfaces and APIs defined?

Implement the designed architecture. Frontend and backend teams build the system following the approved specifications, data models, and workflow designs.

• Entities (Data Model) — Define data structures
• Flowcharts — Implement application logic flow
• Pseudocode — Plan logic before writing code
• Sequence Diagrams — Object interaction ordering
• Frontend and Backend — UI, APIs, business logic, and database

• Does the code match the approved architecture?
• Are coding standards enforced via peer reviews?
• Are edge cases and null values handled?
• Is unit test coverage adequate?
• Is pseudocode drafted before coding?

Systematically verify that the system meets every requirement. Find and eliminate defects before they reach real users in production.

• Unit Testing — Individual component correctness
• Integration Testing — Combined module behavior
• System Testing — Full end-to-end flows
• UAT — User acceptance validation
• Performance Testing — Load, stress, and scalability

• Are ALL use cases covered by tests?
• Are non-functional requirements validated?
• Are test cases traceable to requirements?
• Is regression testing automated?
• Has the product owner signed off on UAT?

Move the tested system into the live production environment. Configure infrastructure, run migrations, activate monitoring, and execute the go-live plan.

• Environment Setup — Servers, configurations, and secrets
• Database Migration — Schema and seed data
• CI/CD Pipeline — Automated release processes
• Smoke Testing — Post-deployment verification
• Rollback Plan — Defined revert strategy

• Is a rollback strategy clearly defined?
• Are monitoring and alerts active?
• Is the deployment window communicated to stakeholders?
• Are secrets and configurations secured?
• Is data migration reversible?

Monitor and keep the system healthy. Respond to user feedback, patch production bugs, and feed learnings into the next SDLC iteration.

• Corrective — Fix reported production bugs
• Adaptive — Adjust to environment changes
• Perfective — Performance improvements
• Preventive — Refactoring and reducing tech debt

• Is monitoring surfacing real issues early?
• Is user feedback channeled into the backlog?
• Are hotfixes following a proper process?
• When does the next SDLC cycle start?