Software Development Project: Phases Overview

By Basil Tesler, Intetics Co./ Web Space Station 

www.intetics.com

Abstract
Most materials discussing the phases of a software development project are intended for the developers community. I decided to take a different look at the issue and help those novices who are going to outsource a software development project to an outsource service provider (OSP).

Software development isn't all about the code. In fact, coding is part of the overall project lifecycle. The project phases that I'm going to review in this article are a slightly modified version of the classical sequential model that is appropriate for a lot of projects. However, you shouldn't think that this model is universal throughout the industry and that it can't be modified; on the contrary, almost each business applying this model adapts it to the specific needs of real situations.

The typical software project includes the following phases:

1. Requirements Analysis and Definition. System Overview
2. Estimation
3. Functional Specification and UI Prototype
4. Software Architecture and Test Plan
5. Implementation (Coding) and Testing
6. Release. Delivery and Installation
7. Operation and Maintenance

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