Software development life cycle is a process that occurs during a software project by thesoftware development company.

It a structured plan for how to develop, maintain, replace and alter software. It is the methodology to increase the quality of software.

It is a framework designed for cost-effective and compatible software. 

There are various types of software development life cycle methodologies as follows:

1. Kanban: Any size of the project can follow this methodology if it's not having clear project requirements and want it to be cost-efficient.

2. Waterfall: If you have a small project which requires 100 hours of development and want it to be cost-efficient, it is the best option. However, project requirements and purpose must be clear.

3. Scrum: If you have a large project which needs 300 plus hours for development and requirements are not clear a person must go for this methodology. One must use it when fast changes and task prioritization is done frequently.

4. Agile: Any project size development can be done with it. It is basically a step-by-step process and after every step, the customer can view the result. 

Now let's discuss the phases of the software development life cycle.

Software development life cycle may differ with organizations and what kind of methodologies they choose. But in most cases, it's the same with every organization. 

1. Requirements Analysis 

It is the most fundamental step of the life cycle. It is prepared by the senior or experienced team members as it is a crucial part of gathering information from the client, sales department, market surveys, and trends.  After which basic project approach is designed to know the product feasibility and suitability. 

Planning for the quality control criteria and identification of the risks associated with the project is also carried out at the planning phase. The result of the technical feasibility study is to identify the various technical methods which can be pursued for the successful completion of the project with limited risk. 

We must analyze the project requirements clearly and figure out the risk associated. 

2. Set criteria

The next step is to clearly identify, record, and receive approval from customers or market analysts for the product specifications after the requisite analysis is completed. This is accomplished by a Software Requirement Specification document that includes all items needed to be produced and developed over the life cycle of the project. The software specifications must be defined and developed. 

3. Creating the layout of the product

SRS is the point of reference for product designers to come up with the best design for the product to be formed. Usually, more than one design approach for the product architecture is proposed and documented in the Design Document Specification on the basis of the criteria specified in the Software Requirement Specification. 

Design Document Specification is then reviewed by all the stakeholders and after analyzing various parameters like risk, robustness, design, budget, and time the most suited design is selected. 

4. Design or development of a product

The actual development is starting at this stage of the Software development life cycle and the product is being built. During this stage, the programming code is generated as per the Design Document Specification. If the design is carried out in a structured and detailed manner, the generation of code can be carried out with no difficulty. The programming language is chosen in the respect of the software which is being designed. 

5. Testing

The testing of the product is a representation of all the phases.

This stage refers to the test phase only of the products where the product defects are reported, tracked, fixed, and retested until the product meets the quality standards set out in the Software Requirement Specification. As in modern software development, life cycle testing is done at every stage. 

6. Deployment and maintenance

Once the product has been tested and ready to be deployed, it will be officially released on the appropriate market. Often product deployment takes place in stages, as per the company's strategy. The product may be initially released in a  limited segment and tested in a real workplace which is known as User acceptance testing(UAT). 

Based on feedback or review of the product it may be released as it is or with improvements for the targeting market segment. After the product is released the maintenance of the product is carried out for the existing customer base so that it goes well.

Happy reading!