Narender Yadav / March 29, 2019
For time immemorial, the waterfall framework defined and dominated the world of software development. By incorporating a sequential design process across the Software Development Life Cycle, the framework worked wonders for projects with clear objectives and stable requirements.
But the emergence of Agile changed everything; by building software incrementally in spurts – instead of delivering everything towards the end – Agile made the traditional, sequential waterfall method seem redundant.
Rather than spending months or years building software, Agile enabled a team of developers to work in short daily or weekly cycles to incorporate features. As the universal adoption of Agile makes the traditional Software Development Life Cycle less relevant, the System Development Life Cycle is taking center stage for systems programmers – especially today when security has become the foundation of every product.
The System Development Life Cycle is the new SDLC in today’s modern agile world. It integrates modern technologies and practices into the development of new systems such that security can be ingrained into the solution from the very beginning – rather than after the solution has been deployed – as an afterthought.
It requires development teams to clearly outline the process and define milestones that ensure security reviews are carried out at the end of each project phase. The System Development Life Cycle offers a birds-eye view of the entire project: from objectives and timelines to resources and personnel involved.
Designed to meet changing needs, it provides deliverables that meet design and development standards for each step of the project and requires teams to maintain extensive documentation throughout. Because verification is done at each stage, the framework aims to improve the quality of the final system.
What are the various stages?
The System Development Life Cycle follows a similar approach to the Software Development Life Cycle. Nevertheless, what makes it different from the Software Development Life Cycle is that the System Development Life Cycle is more comprehensive and takes a more holistic approach to system development.
The Software Development Life Cycle is more focused on the software aspects of development such as planning, architecture, testing, and deployment. Along with software development, the System Development Life Cycle involves infrastructure management, change management as well as end-to-end people, process, and technology management. Also, the System Development Life Cycle drives added focus on the security aspects of the system or application under development.
Here are the various stages:
As individual software products start becoming an integral part of larger, mission-critical systems, it’s time to embrace a framework that ensures proper functioning of the product – in isolation and as a part of a larger ecosystem.
With security being an indispensable part of modern systems, the Systems Development Life Cycle takes a holistic approach to ensure that all components within the system are well integrated and meet adequate security levels. It provides a clear view of the entire project and helps meet design and development standards at each step. In essence, the Systems Development Life Cycle is the new SLDC that aims to produce high-quality systems that meet (and even exceed) user expectations.