What Is the Software Development Life Cycle?
For any tech startup, it’s important to have a strong grasp of the Software Development Life Cycle, or SDLC. You will need to understand the workflows that go into taking a product from concept to market release as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.
In this guide, we’ll cover the ins and outs of the Software Development Life Cycle as well as its impact on recruiting the technical professionals needed to facilitate this process. By the end of this article, you’ll be empowered to find high-quality talent to get your product on the market as soon as you possibly can.
The Software Development Life Cycle
The Software Development Life Cycle, often abbreviated as the SDLC, is a methodology that uses clearly defined processes to create high-quality software. The goal is to generate software of the highest quality for the lowest cost possible and in the shortest time possible. In other words, quality up, cost and time down.
The SDLC methodology has six distinct phases. Although there are a few different models used for software development project management (including the waterfall mode, the Agile model, the spiral model, and more), these six phases remain the same throughout. In this section, we’ll cover the six phases and the questions you’ll need to ask yourself at each step.
Phase #1: Requirement Analysis
Ask yourself, “What are the current problems?” This phase involves getting input from stakeholders such as programmers, customers, salespeople and industry experts. You will want to collect data on the strengths and weaknesses of the current system in order to set goals for improvement.
Phase #2: Planning
Ask yourself, “What do we want to achieve?” Using findings from phase one, the team will need to determine the costs and resources available for implementing new requirements. This phase also involves risk assessment and determining project feasibility.
Phrase #3: Software Design
Ask yourself, “How will we go about achieving our goals?” This phase involves turning the software specifications into an actual design plan that will then be reviewed by stakeholders. The team will put together software architecture to determine what will be needed. It’s crucial to collect and incorporate stakeholder input to avoid roadblocks down the line.
Phase #4: Software Development
This is the time to build what you want – the actual development starts here. It’s important that all of your developers stick to the agreed-upon blueprint from the previous phase, and you will want to create guidelines to standardize code style and practices.
Phase #5: Testing
Ask yourself, “Did we get what we wanted?” This phase involves testing for defects and deficiencies in order to find out if the actual product meets the specifications determined earlier on in the process. If not, it’s time to make some changes.
Phase #6: Deployment
Now, it’s time to actually launch the product. The goal is to allow users to begin benefitting from the project, although many organizations slowly launch the product through different deployment environments for testing or staging. This is one way to catch any last-minute mistakes before it’s released to the market as a whole
How Does the Software Development Life Cycle Affect Recruiting?
Each stage of the SDLC involves different roles – so companies looking to deploy this approach have unique recruiting and hiring needs. The recruitment timeline will also be affected by the SDLC, as certain roles may need to be filled faster than others in order to ensure your startup’s product launch goes as planned.
Working with a recruiter to fill these technical roles can help speed up the hiring process while keeping costs down. If you work with a recruiter, it’s important to ensure that you are partnering with one that is experienced working in tech and working with startups.
Recruiters like us understand the fundamentals of the SDLC and will help you gain confidence in finding the technical roles you are looking to fill.
Closing Thoughts
Recruiters can help you find the best fit faster. When you’re a lean startup looking to keep costs and time to market low, you need a top-tier team to executive the SDLC quickly so you can get your name out there. Technical recruiters can help you find high-quality talent to make that happen – plus, you’ll save time and money compared with doing it on your own.