Software Development Life Cycle
(SDLC)
What are the 5 steps of Waterfall? - ANS-1. Requirements: This is where you capture
requirements.
2. Analysis: This is where you produce high-level design and test specifications.
3. Development: This is where you develop software.
4. Test: This is where you match the output of the system with the expected outputs defined in
the test specifications.
5. Deployment and Maintenance: This is where the application is deployed to production and
ongoing maintenance continues.
What are some key characteristics of Waterfall? - ANS-1. All planning is done up front with
detailed planning documentation.
2. The scope of work is generally fixed.
3. There are 5 phases: Requirements, Design, Development, Testing, Deployment and
Maintenance.
4. The output of a phase becomes the input of the next phase.
What are some reasons Waterfall does not work in the software industry? - ANS-1. Late delivery
of business value: The customer does not get to see the product until late in the Waterfall cycle.
2. You could realize that the product being built is no longer viable due to change in market
conditions or organizational landscape.
3. You could realize the product has a major flaw that prevents it from being deployed.
In other words, your product development initiative could completely fail after a lot of money and
time had been spent on it.
The software industry is an iterative process and does not work like a Waterfall cycle.
In the software industry, everything changes i.e. requirements, skills, people, environment,
business rules, etc.
, What is one of the earliest models to propose iterative development including a mix of Waterfall
and iterative approaches? - ANS-The Spiral Model.
What is the theme of the Spiral Model? - ANS-That building software iteratively leads to
identification and easier management of risks.
What are the four phases of the Spiral Development Model? - ANS-1. Planning: This phase
includes requirements identification and analysis, identification of stakeholders, and lifecycle
objectives of the system being built.
2. Risk Analysis: This phase includes risk-related activities, such as risk identification, risk
prioritization and mitigation. This is the phase when you build prototypes to mitigate risks.
3. Engineering: This phase is where you perform software implementation activities, such as
design, coding, unit and acceptance testing and deployment.
4. Evaluation: This phase is where you get your stakeholder review and feedback and plan the
next iteration.
What are some key characteristics of Spiral? - ANS-1. Similar to Waterfall, each iteration builds
upon the output of the previous iteration.
2. The Spiral methodology can be visualized by a graph with four quadrants which represent the
four phases of the Spiral Modal, starting with the top left quadrant and going clockwise.
- The top left quadrant is Planning.
- The top right quadrant is Risk Analysis.
- The bottom right quadrant is Engineering.
- The bottom left quadrant is Evaluation.
The X-Axis represents the volume of approval by review.
The Y-Axis represents cumulative cost of the product being built.
What does RUP stand for? - ANS-Rational Unified Process.
What are the four phases of RUP? - ANS-1. Inception
2. Elaboration
3. Construction
4. Transition
(SDLC)
What are the 5 steps of Waterfall? - ANS-1. Requirements: This is where you capture
requirements.
2. Analysis: This is where you produce high-level design and test specifications.
3. Development: This is where you develop software.
4. Test: This is where you match the output of the system with the expected outputs defined in
the test specifications.
5. Deployment and Maintenance: This is where the application is deployed to production and
ongoing maintenance continues.
What are some key characteristics of Waterfall? - ANS-1. All planning is done up front with
detailed planning documentation.
2. The scope of work is generally fixed.
3. There are 5 phases: Requirements, Design, Development, Testing, Deployment and
Maintenance.
4. The output of a phase becomes the input of the next phase.
What are some reasons Waterfall does not work in the software industry? - ANS-1. Late delivery
of business value: The customer does not get to see the product until late in the Waterfall cycle.
2. You could realize that the product being built is no longer viable due to change in market
conditions or organizational landscape.
3. You could realize the product has a major flaw that prevents it from being deployed.
In other words, your product development initiative could completely fail after a lot of money and
time had been spent on it.
The software industry is an iterative process and does not work like a Waterfall cycle.
In the software industry, everything changes i.e. requirements, skills, people, environment,
business rules, etc.
, What is one of the earliest models to propose iterative development including a mix of Waterfall
and iterative approaches? - ANS-The Spiral Model.
What is the theme of the Spiral Model? - ANS-That building software iteratively leads to
identification and easier management of risks.
What are the four phases of the Spiral Development Model? - ANS-1. Planning: This phase
includes requirements identification and analysis, identification of stakeholders, and lifecycle
objectives of the system being built.
2. Risk Analysis: This phase includes risk-related activities, such as risk identification, risk
prioritization and mitigation. This is the phase when you build prototypes to mitigate risks.
3. Engineering: This phase is where you perform software implementation activities, such as
design, coding, unit and acceptance testing and deployment.
4. Evaluation: This phase is where you get your stakeholder review and feedback and plan the
next iteration.
What are some key characteristics of Spiral? - ANS-1. Similar to Waterfall, each iteration builds
upon the output of the previous iteration.
2. The Spiral methodology can be visualized by a graph with four quadrants which represent the
four phases of the Spiral Modal, starting with the top left quadrant and going clockwise.
- The top left quadrant is Planning.
- The top right quadrant is Risk Analysis.
- The bottom right quadrant is Engineering.
- The bottom left quadrant is Evaluation.
The X-Axis represents the volume of approval by review.
The Y-Axis represents cumulative cost of the product being built.
What does RUP stand for? - ANS-Rational Unified Process.
What are the four phases of RUP? - ANS-1. Inception
2. Elaboration
3. Construction
4. Transition
