Here at Betty Blocks, we believe that people and processes are at the heart of innovative technology's success. Without the right processes in place, many organizations miss out on optimizing their Software Development Life Cycle to be more effective, which can lead to a lower application adoption rate. To circumvent this, we’ve put together a guide on how to navigate the SDLC model successfully.
Discover how to optimize the SDLC for success with low-code:
People and processes first - technology second
A powerful low-code platform to prototype viable solutions
Increase adoption rate and lower maintenance costs
Employees submit their ideas for review during the ideation phase. This can be done in a simple Excel sheet or with an Ideation Portal built on the Betty Blocks platform. The point is that submitted ideas need to be thoroughly vetted by a team of stakeholders for the target group, needs, components, and business goals to determine the solution’s viability. Likewise, the solution’s scalability, complexity, and integration capabilities need to be taken into account. A tech stack compatibility assessment is also necessary to determine whether the solution is viable within the organization’s existing tech stack. Many of our customers use the Solutions Value Board as a scoring system to help them list the requirements needed to move forward to the validation phase.
Once an innovative idea has passed the ideation phase, it is crucial to establish whether the solution is viable—this is done in the validation phase. Stakeholders will determine if the solution fits with the organization’s current tech stack and capabilities before moving forward with development. This method ensures that the end product can integrate with the company’s IT structure and not pose extra roadblocks when the deployment phase comes around. Based on the outcome of the scoring system and technological capability assessment, stakeholders are able to clearly validate the development of a new solution.
Read more about the ideation phase
Whereas the ideation phase focuses on compiling business requirements, the validation phase comprises the gathering of application requirements, which are known as “scoping” activities. Before moving on to the development phase, the use case is thoroughly evaluated on a high level in terms of functional and non-functional requirements. The application requirements are then translated into user stories, which provide an informal description of the features and functionalities from a user’s perspective. This gives stakeholders and developers a point of reference without having to dive into specific technical details, facilitating a better understanding between both parties. User stories are usually designed in a low-fidelity or high-fidelity format - with the latter being the most detailed and complex.
Next up during the validation phase is sketching out the delivery path, which supports the development process. This is where factors such as risks, complexity, design requirements, and user journey mapping are considered to calculate an accurate timeframe for when the application can be delivered. Naturally, the more complex the use case, the longer the delivery path will be.
All the hard work and due diligence done during the ideation and validation phases pays off during the development phase. By following these steps, teams ensure a feasible end product and keep development risks to a minimum. Now, it’s time to turn validated requirements, components, and features into a tangible solution. With Betty Blocks, developers are able to produce a working prototype rapidly. This can act as an extra safeguard to make sure that the design, functionality, and user experience of the application reflect the correct requirements while keeping overall development time and costs low.
Using the Agile methodology, developers can modularize the application into smaller segments, cementing an MVP by aligning with stakeholders after each sprint has ended. This is also where developers can communicate with stakeholders regarding the development progress. It is best to focus on developing the most critical and complex features first and getting feedback on an inter-sprint basis. Maintaining easily accessible documentation ensures proper maintenance after the deployment phase.
The deployment phase is perhaps the most crucial stage of the SDLC model. Successfully deploying an application requires careful planning, communication, role definition, and environment. It helps to create an outline of which components need to be deployed, which systems are affected, and if backup properties are correctly set up. Seamless collaboration between project managers, developers, QA specialists, and product managers is needed to conduct a successful deployment process. Once the environment is configured and tested correctly, the application can move into the pre-deployment phase. Conducting User Acceptance Testing and cross-referencing the testing environment with the production environment ensures that downtime or a negative impact on the IT infrastructure can be omitted.
To ensure deployment success, teams are encouraged to create a communication plan for both the pre-deployment and post-deployment stages to ensure that all stakeholders are informed and prepared. It’s essential that the team is aware of the deployment schedule, impacts, and changes involved in the process. Once an application is deployed successfully, it is important that the organization supports users through dedicated training sessions in order to cement the adoption rate.
Many organizations underestimate the maintenance phase of the SDLC or simply forego it as part of the SDLC altogether. Software development does not stop even after the solution has been successfully deployed. Instead, it is a continuous iterative process involving corrective, adaptive, perfective, and preventive processes. When a solution is built using a low-code platform like Betty Blocks, the maintenance phase is significantly more overseeable, thanks to orchestrated containers within the visual IDE. This rapidly adaptive method allows organizations to respond swiftly to feedback and changing user requirements, thus keeping the momentum for innovation going.
